BICOM

Israeli leaders slammed a one-sided resolution on Jerusalem’s holy sites passed by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) late last week.

The UNESCO resolution, passed on Friday, does not acknowledge any Jewish or Christian connection to the Temple Mount, the site of the ancient Jewish temples, and instead treats it as a Muslim holy site alone. It even treats the Western Wall as primarily a Muslim site and makes a number of bizarre claims, including accusing Israel of “planting Jewish fake graves in other spaces of the Muslim cemeteries”.

The resolution passed 33-6 with 17 abstentions. The UK voted against the resolution, as did Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. However, France, Sweden and Spain voted in favour.

The resolution was strongly condemned by Israeli leaders. Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid initially drew attention to the decision by writing to UNESCO director-general Irina Bokoa. Mr Lapid wrote “This resolution was an utterly irresponsible intervention in one of the most complex places in the Middle East. UNESCO prides itself on promoting tolerance, interfaith and inter-cultural dialogue, yet it passes resolutions which erase the Jewish people from the historical narrative”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the decision, saying “This is yet another absurd UN decision. UNESCO ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount, where the two temples stood for a thousand years and to which every Jew in the world has prayed for thousands of years. The UN is rewriting a basic part of human history and has again proven that there is no low to which it will not stoop”

The resolution is the latest in a series of moves by UNESCO in recent years which try to ignore or downplay the Jewish significance of religious and archaeological sites in Israel and the West Bank.