UNESCO Backs Motion Nullifying Jewish Ties to Temple Mount

[OriZ 3,157]

This will do nada to promote peace.

UNESCO adopted an anti-Israel resolution Thursday that disregards Judaism's historic connection to the Temple Mount and casts doubt on the link between Judaism and the Western Wall.

Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the decision while six voted against and 26 abstained while just two were missing from the vote.

The U.S., Britain, Germany, Holland, Lithuania and Estonia voted against the resolution.

A senior source said that the efforts of Israeli diplomats significantly changed the votes of European states, none of which supported the motion. Israeli efforts, he said, succeeded in swaying France, Sweden, Slovenia, Argentina, Togo and India to abstain from the vote.

The resolution, which condemns Israel on several issues regarding Jerusalem and its holy sites, was advanced by the Palestinians alongside Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan.

The resolution asserted that Jerusalem is holy to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. However, it includes a special section dealing with the Temple Mount, which says the site is sacred only to Muslims and fails to mention that it is sacred to the Jews as well. In fact, it mentions neither the Hebrew term for the site – Har HaBayit – nor its English equivalent, the Temple Mount. The site is referred to only by its Muslim names – Al-Aqsa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif.

Opinion: At UNESCO, Jews Have No Standing, but Historical Revisionism Does

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the decision as "absurd theater," adding: "To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China and that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids."

"With this absurd decision, UNESCO lost the little legitimization it had left. But I believe that the historical truth is stronger and the truth will win," he said.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, said in response to the vote: "The Palestinians have lost all support in Europe, including France, Spain and even Sweden. Along with the shift of position of key countries such as India and Argentina to abstention, the vote constitutes a significant achievement [for Israel] compared to the opening conditions for prior votes."

Chairman of the Zionist Union party and leader of the Israeli opposition, Isaac Herzog, urged UNESCO to withdraw the resolution, saying: "UNESCO betray their mission, and give a bad name to diplomacy and the international institutions. Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred."

An image in the Foreign Ministry's brochure that shows the Arch of Titus, depicting the treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem.Foreign Ministry

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in response to the vote: "No forum or body in the world can say that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and to Jerusalem. A body that does so is simply humiliating itself." The president added that "we also understand criticism, but history cannot be changed."

For his part, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said: "This decision is a message to inciters and rewriters of history working tirelessly out of hate."

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League said: "To expunge the Jewish connection to Jerusalem is to deny the very cultural heritage of Jerusalem. This is not only unethical, but it contradicts the role of UNESCO to build intercultural understanding and protect cultural heritage."

Israeli efforts

In the past weeks Shama-Hacohen and Israeli ambassadors in dozens of capitals worldwide attempted to convince as many states as possible to oppose the resolution, or to at least abstain or not vote at all.

The Foreign Ministry issued a brochure with pictures of archaeological findings proving the historic affiliation between the Jews and Jerusalem in general and the Temple Mount in particular, as well as the existence of the Temple Mount at the site where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands today.

One of the findings shown in the brochure is the Arch of Titus in Rome, on which images of holy artifacts that the Romans took as spoils from the Second Temple in Jerusalem are depicted. These include the Menorah, which is the symbol of the Israeli state today.

In a letter Shama-Hacohen distributed to the ambassadors of UNESCO’s executive board’s 58 member states, he wrote that without undermining other religions’ affiliation to Jerusalem’s holy sites, the archaeological facts and historical evidence presented by the accompanying brochure “leave no doubt…of the deepest and longest Jewish presence in Jerusalem since ancient times.”

He wrote that every attempt to distort history and undercut the Jewish people’s ties to Jerusalem “is an attempt to rewrite history in a dangerous, unfair and one-sided manner.”

A senior Foreign Ministry official said Israel received information over the past week that numerous Arab states, including those that signed the resolution proposal with the Palestinians, support it due to public opinion at home. “A number of Arab states have reportedly expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the Palestinians’ moves in UNESCO,” he said.

“They speak out sharply against the Palestinians and say they exaggerate and become more radical but stress they have no choice but to support the resolution out of domestic political considerations.”

Shama-Hacohen told Haaretz the move is a blow to UNESCO, as such acts are the reason for the United States’ continued suspension of its membership fees to the organization.

“The Palestinians’ persistence is costing UNESCO about 100 million euros in American membership fees,” he said. “Just a few days ago the American ambassador said in public for the first time at a debate in UNESCO that decisions about Jerusalem prevent the administration from obtaining a majority in Congress to approve the payment.

“Albert Einstein has already said that insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. The Palestinians and Arabs apparently disagree with him, and try time and time again in the same failed manner to sever the strongest tie between a nation and a certain location in human history,” said Shama-Hacohen. “There is no older, deeper and stronger connection than that of the Jewish people to Jerusalem in general and the holy sites in particular."

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.747314

Edited October 13, 2016 by OriZ

[TBoneTX 43,042]

UNESCO has long been a joke.

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[Dashinka 23,234]

UNESCO has long been a joke.

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Along with most of the rest of the UN.

[OriZ 3,157]

UNESCO has long been a joke.

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Hey, I was speechless, the only thing I could say was surreal

Along with most of the rest of the UN.

Very true.

[OriZ 3,157]

The reality of the absurdity setting in.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Friday assailed the anti-Israel resolution adopted by UNESCO last week, saying that he found it "shocking."

The resolution adopted by the UN's education, science and culture agency disregards Judaism's historic connection to the Temple Mount and casts doubt on the link between Judaism and the Western Wall.

Renzi made the remarks in an interview with Italian radio while on a trip to Brussels. He said that upon his return, he will summon Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to find out why Italy abstained from the vote instead of voting against the resolution.

“I think this is a mistaken, inconceivable resolution,” Renzi said. “It is not possible to continue with these resolutions at the UN and UNESCO that aim to attack Israel. It is shocking and I have ordered that we stop taking this position (i.e, the abstention) even if it means diverging from the position taken by the rest of Europe. I have asked diplomats handling these issues to cease doing so.”

Renzi added: “If anyone wants to say something about Israel, let them say it, but they shouldn’t use UNESCO… To say that the Jews have no links to Jerusalem is like saying the sun creates darkness.”

A senior official in Jerusalem said Renzi’s remarks follow strenuous protests by the Israeli embassy in Rome, headed by Ambassador Ofer Zaks, and the Jewish community in Italy. Since the vote last week the Jewish community had demonstrated against the Italian position in its UNESCO vote, and senior members of the community have published articles and public letters in the press.

“Renzi’s reaction shows he understands the significance of historic truth and the attempt that has been made to erase a part of the history of Judaism and Christianity in Jerusalem,” the official said.

Italy is the third country to notify of a change in position since the vote, against the backdrop of protests by Israel and Jewish communities. A few days ago Mexico considered triggering a special clause in UNESCO’s charter to hold another vote on the resolution, so it could change its position from support to abstention.

In the end, the Mexican government decided to suffice with a statement that it does not support the resolution because its wording is offensive and imbalanced toward the Jewish people and its historic connection to Jerusalem.

The Mexican foreign ministry has also said it has launched an internal investigation to examine why Mexico’s UNESCO representatives voted in favor of the resolution while the Mexican president’s position was to abstain.

The government of Brazil, which voted in favor of the resolution, also said afterward that it would change its position. Brazilian representatives at UNESCO said they were dissatisfied with the wording despite the revisions made and that they would have difficulty supporting such a resolution in the future.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.748572