News
Israeli leaders condemn UNESCO approval for controversial Jerusalem motion
Israeli leaders spanning the political spectrum have strongly condemned UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation) approval of a motion which appears to question any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The resolution was submitted by the Palestinian delegation with the support of Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, and voted on yesterday in Paris. The motion accuses Israel of “escalating aggressions and illegal measures… against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif, and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic Status Quo and to immediately stop these measures”.
Although the motion acknowledges that Jerusalem is holy to the three monotheistic religions, the section dealing specifically with the Temple Mount says the site is sacred only to Muslims, failing to acknowledge its significance to Jews as well. It refers to the Western Wall, the world’s most significant Jewish prayer site, by the Arabic term Buraq Plaza, while quotation marks pointedly accompany the Hebrew phrase for “Western Wall”.
The vote was approved by 24 votes in favour to 6 against. The UK was among those who opposed the motion.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the vote saying: “The theatre of the absurd continues with UNESCO and today the organisation has made its most bizarre decision by saying the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.”
President Reuven Rivlin agreed, saying: “No forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem – and any such body that does so simply embarrasses itself.”
Meanwhile, opposition leader and Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog said: “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.”