Thursday, October 13, 2016
Elder of Ziyon
From Haaretz:
The 58 members of UNESCO are expected to vote Thursday on an anti-Israeli resolution that disregards Judaism’s historic connection to the Temple Mount and casts doubt on the link between Judaism and the Western Wall. The resolution is expected to pass by a large majority.
Israel has made efforts to block the resolution or at least soften it, but succeeded only in swaying the positions of a few member states.
The resolution proposal, 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 draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, asserts 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.
Also, the resolution calls the Western Wall plaza by the Arab-Muslim name al-Buraq plaza. Only afterward does the Hebrew-Jewish name “Hakotel Hama’aravi” appear in quotation marks.
The resolution is even worse than Haaretz notes.
First of all, the draft doesn't even say "Kotel." It says
Further deplores the Israeli ... project of the elevator in Al-Buraq Plaza "Western Wall Plaza"...UNESCO is saying that the primary name of the plaza in front of the Kotel is "Al Buraq Plaza," a name that simply didn't exist historically - since there was no plaza there under Muslim rule.
For this reason alone, UNESCO has proven itself to be a sham.
But it goes way beyond this.
It indeed denies any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount:
Strongly condemns the Israeli escalating aggressions and illegal measures against the Awqaf Department and its personnel, and against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif,
In fact it doesn't use the words "Temple Mount" anywhere in the resolution that mentions the site name as Haram al-Sharif/Al Aqsa Mosque 18 times.
There is a very good reason why UNESCO will never admit any Jewish ties to what is unquestioningly Judaism's holiest site: because if it admits it, then not only do Jews have the right to visit, they have the right to pray there under international law. But the resolution deplores Jews merely peacefully visiting their holiest site.
Firmly deplores the continuous storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Israeli rightwing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif;UNESCO is complicit in denying history for the express purpose of denying the human rights of Jews. Which means that UNESCO is, by definition, an antisemitic organization.
The resolution also deplores the Palestinian Arab spree of stabbings, car rammings and shootings of Jews.
Oh, I'm sorry: it deplores Jewish "settlers" and "extremists" from being "aggressive" and doesn't mention any Arab culpability at all:
Deeply deplores the new cycle of violence, going on since October 2015, in the context of the constant aggressions by the Israeli settlers and other extremist groups against Palestinian residents including schoolchildren.This resolution proves beyond any doubt that UNESCO is a worthless and meaningless organization that has been thoroughly divested of any value by its decision to admit "Palestine" as a member.
Here's the full resolution:
Anti-Israel UNESCO resolution (draft) by Eldad Tzioni on Scribd
UPDATE: UNESCO once barely acknowledged that there was a point in time called the "Temple periods." I wonder where they think those Temples were:
Jerusalem between these hills, forms a unique witness to the cultural cradle of the Western monotheistic religions, including Jewish sites identified during,the Temple periods, including the City of David Christian sites identified by Queen Helena including Gethsemane, the Church of the Ascension, Bethany, and the site of the Last Supper, and Islamic sites of the Night Journey of Mohammed.In fact, this was written by Israel (h/t David B) so UNESCO really doesn't acknowledge basic history in its hate of Jews.
UPDATE 2: It passed, 24-6 with 26 abstentions.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.When it is considered a victory to get Western nations to abstain from a vote on Jew-hate, things are not looking positive for the future of Jews in the world.
