The UN’s cultural agency Unesco on 14th October 2016 adopted a motion which marginalises Jewish ties to several holy sites in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, denies the Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem and is a “theatre of the absurd”.
Mr Netanyahu asked on his Facebook page: “Is it any wonder the UN has become a moral farce when Unesco, the UN body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history?”
The resolution downplays Jewish ties to the Western Wall and to the plaza that Jews revere as the Temple Mount and Muslims revere as the Noble Sanctuary.
While affirming the importance of the Old City to all three monotheistic religions, Israeli politicians said the resolution denies the importance of the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary by referring to it and the al-Aqsa mosque only by their Muslim names.
The resolution criticised Israel for policies it says restrict Muslim access to the holy sites.
Mr Netanyahu added: “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 legitimisation it had left. But I believe that the historical truth is stronger and the truth will win.”
The resolution was backed by 24 countries while six countries opposed it and 26 abstained.
The UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia voted against the resolution.
The Palestinian foreign ministry welcomed the resolution, which was adopted on Thursday in draft form.
It is to reach Unesco’s executive plenary next week. Unesco adopted a similar resolution in April.
UPDATE: UNESCO Ratifies Resolution
Under pressure from Western states, Mexico backed away from its initial intention to call for a new vote on the resolution so that it could withdraw its support from the resolution.
6 vote taken last week on a resolution that ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.
Under pressure from Western states, Mexico backed away from its initial intention to call for a new vote on the resolution so that it could withdraw its support from the resolution.
Instead Mexico noted for the record that its position on the matter was one of abstention, but its statement does not technically change the vote numerical count as the 58-member board wrapped up its 200th session in Paris.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its web site that it had abstained in recognition of the undeniable Jewish cultural heritage that is located in east Jerusalem.
It added that it was also doing so out of a deep appreciation for the contribution the Jewish community has played in Mexico’s economic, social and cultural development.
Brazil also spoke at the final board session and indicated that it was unlikely to support such resolutions in the future.
Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen said after the ratification, “We have moved forward a step-and-a-half toward dismantling the automatic majority that the Palestinians and the Arab states have against Israel.”
“Mexico has taken a full step toward abandoning support of the Palestinians, after years of voting without hesitation against Israel.
“The best surprise of the morning,” he said, “is Brazil’s notification that while it did not change its vote this time, it will find it difficult not to do, if there is a resolution with another text that disregards the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall,” Shama-Hacohen said.
He had led Israel’s campaign to halt the resolution’s passage and had always said that he believed it would be approved.
The issue for Israel with this particular resolution, he had said, would be the countries that voted against the text or abstained.
MK Amir Ohana (Likud) welcomed news of Mexico’s new position, particularly given that it had supported a similar resolution that came before the Executive Board last April.
“It’s a great Israel achievement that Mexico, which traditionally votes with the Arab countries, is asking to change its vote,” MK Amir Ohana (Likud) said.
Tuesday’s ratification of the Jerusalem resolution followed a number of dramatic behind the scenes twists and turns.
UNESCO’s Executive Board often approves en masse preliminary votes taken during its sessions. But member states have the option to open resolutions up for debate and/or to change their votes. They can also ask for a delay in the resolution’s approval.
Israel had initially expected that a number of countries would ask for a delay in voting on the resolution all together.
The board’s chairman Michael Worbs had appeared to be in favor of the delay, both because he opposed the resolution and also because he wanted to see a consensus text on Jerusalem brought before the board.
Last Thursday, 26 nations abstained from supporting the resolution and two were absent from the room.
By Saturday night, however, UNESCO’s Arab group pressured Worbs to recuse himself from the proceedings and to hand the matter over to one of his deputies, diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post.
On Tuesday, it was Western countries who pressured Mexico not to call for a new vote on the resolution that spoke of the Temple Mount and it’s adjoining Western Wall almost solely by its Muslim names of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and the Buraq Wall.
Western countries, however, are afraid that Mexico’s actions would empower similar calls for new votes on other resolutions that initially passed by consensus, Shama-Hacohen said.
Given the significance of the matter, the Foreign Ministry has allowed Shama-Hacohen and his staff to be active at UNESCO on Tuesday, even though such work is religiously prohibited abroad on the second day of the Succot holiday.
Separately, Mexico has fired its Jewish Ambassador to UNESCO Andrés Roemer for walking out of last Thursday’s vote on the Jerusalem resolution, because he disagreed with Mexico’s initial decision to support it.
Source: Independent.Co.Uk and Ynetnews.com
