Just a few days ago, UNESCO voted to elect their next Director General to replace the current exiting Director, Bulgarian Irina Bokova. At the end of the process, it came down to two candidates: One from Qatar and one from France. The favorite was Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari, but he lost to French candidate Audrey Azoulay (30-28.) The UNESCO Director General’s position is a 5-year term , open to a second term.
UNESCO is an acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Of the 195 countries members of UNESCO, 60 are either Muslim countries, members of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), or observer members of the OIC. This constitutes almost a third of of the countries part of UNESCO. The fact that UNESCO has a strong anti-Israel bias cannot be denied and its strong Muslim membership might be a factor but it isn’t the ONLY factor. Many other countries represented, also have very strong anti-Semitic sentiment against Israel. The result has been a plethora of resolutions against Israel over the years.
in 2011, UNESCO officially recognized Palestine (107/14) and added the “new state” to its roster. Immediately after, the United States pulled its funding. Then, in 2016 UNESCO declared that the Temple Mount/Western Wall in Jerusalem had no Jewish connection and called it by its Arabic name, thus stripping it from all Jewish identity and opening the door for more violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Continuing on its campaign to delegitimize everything Jewish, UNESCO recently declared that Jerusalem had no right to be the capital of Israel. The vote took place on Israel Independence Day, making one wonder if the date was selected to further humiliate Israel.
The day before the vote to elect the new director, the United States expressed their decision to leave UNESCO over their flagrant anti-Israel bias. Within hours, Israel followed suit declaring that electing French AND Jewish candidate Audrey Azoulay was not enough to keep Israel as a member.
The United States, under the leadership of Donald Trump have been very vocal about their support of Israel. The electing of Nikki Haley has the US ambassador the United Nations has already yielded some amazing changes in favor of Israel. So it is clear that agencies such as the UN or UNESCO can be reformed in favor of a more balanced outlook on world affairs– something they were both started for. What Audrey Azoulay will accomplish as new Director General of UNESCO is yet unclear, but time will tell.
Miss Azoulay served as Minister of Culture (2016-17) in the François Hollande Socialist government. She arrives at a critical time for UNESCO and will have an uphill battle to restore credibility to an agency that has seen its integrity erode over the last decade. But the departure of both Israel and the US–outside of a great loss of financial contributions–might make matters worse for Israel. Two major voices of reason are lost in a community that clearly shows bold animosity against Israel. Miss Azoulay’s challenge will be to ensure that the remaining members will not continue to re-write history “sans Israel.” Her Jewish family heritage gives her an appearance of credibility, but it will be a long road to restore UNESCO’s credibility, at least among those who don’t try to re-write history.
As I see it, UNESCO is part of the global libel against Israel, easily pushed forward by an anti-Semitic community and even more easily accepted by many uneducated masses who couldn’t care less about authentic history.
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Could UNESCO’s vote Justify a Third Intifada?
In a series of moves that clearly indicate contempt for both Christianity and Judaism, UNESCO voted to erase all Jewish connection from the Temple Mount. The decision didn’t happen in a vacuum as UNESCO has a history of anti-Israel bias, but the latest move against the holiest Jewish site will have serious ramifications.
I could spend time presenting a series of evidence for a Jewish Temple and Temple Mount from the Bible, archeology and even secular history (including some from the Muslim side). The proof would do little to convince those who already know that Temple and its surroundings were and still are Jewish sites, and it would do absolutely nothing to change the mind of those who have delegitimized it.
Re-writing history has been elevated to an “art form” by the Palestinian Authority and its cronies. It has taken about fifty years for the Palestinian narrative to become undisputed truth, but Yasir Arafat, the father of “Palestinian Self-Determination” would be very proud of the work of his successors since his death in 2004.
The first thing that we must realize is that the re-labelling of the Temple mount really has nothing to do with any new historical evidence or artifacts recently discovered. If that was a fact, an even stronger case could be made for the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. In reality, UNESCO most likely doesn’t care much about the Palestinian connection–or lack of–to the Jewish site. UNESCO is mostly interested in whatever can be done to delegitimize Israel’s connection to the land, whatever the cost, whatever the lies and whatever the consequences.
Several consequences will be felt by this recent vote. They could affect Israel in particular, Jewish people at large and even Christians and Westerners in general. We shouldn’t underestimate what just took place.
The world is increasingly turning its back on Israel (Joel 3:1-2, Zechariah 12:1-3; 14:2, Daniel 12:1). While this shouldn’t be a surprise to those who value biblical truth and the prophetic passages of the Tanach (Jewish Bible), this is very upsetting. Outside of Egypt and Jordan, the whole Middle-East is pretty much at war with the Jewish State. To my surprise, even Jordan (joining the Palestinian Authority), was behind the agenda for promoting such a nonsensical vote. This is very telling at a time when so few countries support Israel, for Jordan to be somewhat of a backstabber.
But the UNESCO vote was not only telling by those who promoted its agenda and those who voted in favor (24 Yes/4 No). It was even more telling because of the 26 countries that abstained. Was it too political of a vote–as it should be– or was it simply that they didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a crossfire between Israel and her enemies. The resulting apathy is equally appalling. Generally speaking, the world has been suffering from “Middle East Fatigue” for a while now, so when UNESCO pretty much voted Israel off the map, the vast majority of the world yawned and changed the channel.
The more pressing issue is the validation of the Palestinian agenda in connection with the Temple mount and it incessant Jewish presence. Palestinians now have UNESCO on their side, as they justify more violence in a possible near future. Who could disagree with pushing Israel the “occupier” off a Palestinian holy site? I am talking about a possible Third Intifada. If that indeed takes place, Jewish blood would end up on the hands of UNESCO, but do they even care?
The few remaining friends of Israel, individually and corporately should be very vocal about this latest turn of events. Not because it happened, since I am convinced more will take place to delegitimize and demonize Israel. We should be vocal because nobody else is. If nothing else, if you want to join me and sleep well at night without the guilt of looking the other way while Israel and the Jews are again being singled out, then speak up please.
Israel always had God on her side. The same God who allowed for the Jewish Temple to be built by Solomon (1 Kings 6, 2 Chronicles 3, Psalm 134. 138, 146-150) and allowed for it to be remodeled and rebuilt under Herod the Great, will protect Israel from destruction (Jeremiah 31:35-37.) He is also the God who will judge the heart of those within UNESCO who repeatedly throw Israel under the bus.
This vote had absolutely nothing to do with world heritage preservation and everything to do with an antisemitic agenda cloaked in Education, Science and Culture (the E.S.C of UNESCO.) Will the world yawn again if the Palestinians start a third Intifada? Of course not…They will blame the Jews for it. After all, don’t the Jews occupy Palestinian soil and usurp a Palestinian holy site for their colonizing purpose? If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, but you better stand in line because you are not the only potential buyer!
With the Help of UNESCO, Palestinian Persistence Could Succeed!
I lost my respect for the Nobel Prize Academy when in 1994, they awarded a joint Nobel Peace Prize to Yassir Arafat along with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. Such political correctness blinding the committee to the point of painting Arafat as a peace hero in the Middle East was nauseating. Man’s propensity for trusting established humanitarian organizations is often based on a name and /or reputation, but as well intentioned as it might be, it shouldn’t be done blindly. The same principle applies to many United nations agency in general and UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) in particular.
Starting with their motto “Building Peace in the Minds of Men and Women”, we realize that their concept of peace might be different from what we are used to. What they mean by peace is more like social justice, that of course is all relative, especially as it pertains to the Middle East. The hypocrisy is unbearable! I am not saying that UNESCO has never accomplished anything worth its motto, of course not! Yet, along with a lot of other organizations, when it comes to Israel, UNESCO is plagued with the virus of double-standards.
On Thursday, October 13 in Paris at its executive Board Meeting, UNESCO passed a preliminary measure with 24 votes for, 6 against and 26 abstentions including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany amongst others. The measure is a repeat of another one that was adopted in April 2016, and will be put to a final vote in late-October 2016.
The Palestinian authority continues to propose “Palestinian” sites for inclusion on UNESCO world heritage “in danger” list like the village of Battir in the Judean hills. But this is akin to listing Atlantis–with a hard to prove historicity–as a historical site to be preserved. This is exactly what they are attempting to do with the mosque located atop the Temple Mount. They are trying to give historical credence to a site that–while hosting a genuine Muslim mosque– doesn’t have any Muslim historical significance. One must be reminded that the Qur’an doesn’t even mention Jerusalem by name, but UNESCO isn’t going to be bothered by these kind of details!
Yet that is not enough. They also aim at delegitimizing Israel of any historical connection to the land. It would be one thing to claim that Christianity, Islam and Judaism all have a claim to the land one way or another. But what UNESCO is agreeing to do now, is to eradicate all Jewish history. In fact, they are not even mentioning the Temple Mount and the Western Wall by any Jewish reference but instead is calling it by its Muslim name “Al-Aqsa Mosque” and “Haram al-Sharif”, emphasizing its Islamic significance.
The Jewish Temple was there thousands of years before the mosque which was built hundreds of years after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The Temple’s existence can be proven geographically, historically, archeologically and biblically. There is without a doubt–at least for any serious historian– a Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
So the question remains as to why UNESCO is pushing for the islamization of a recognized Jewish site? The resolution passed in April 2016 calls Israel the “Occupying Power”, accuses Israel of the storming of “Al-Aqsa Mosque” but never mentions the throwing of rocks from the Temple Mount onto Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall. Also in that resolution is an attempt at making the tomb of the Patriarchs which is located in Hebron, a solely Palestinian site.
UNESCO has a long history of site preservation under the World Heritage program. They have done a lot of good to preserve and teach history to the world and as such have established a reputation that currently allows them to move against Israel without being questioned or challenged, except maybe by a few organizations such as ADL or the Simon Wiesenthal Center . This move has nothing to do with preserving history since it isn’t based on verifiable history. As always in most antisemitic attempts, the move is seldom to promote or protect the Palestinian people but more to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
Considering that the April draft was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan, one shouldn’t be surprised at the anti Jewish sentiment. This recent move by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to have UNESCO completely de-Judaize the Temple Mount and Western Wall would have never take root even twenty years ago, but the PA’s patience, endurance and boldness are starting to pay off.
Israel and the Jewish people do not have much of a voice at the United Nations and/or UNESCO, no matter how rooted in history they are. On the other hand, Palestine continues to move forward on the road to world recognition which puts them closer to their only goal; the complete destruction of Israel. UNESCO is well on its way to become a co-perpetrator alongside the Palestinians. Seriously, if the Jewish people have no historical right to the land and they have nowhere else to go, what prevents the enemies of Israel from finishing the job that Hitler started?
UNESCO and Israel: Factual Truth or Fatal Lies?
The United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was started in 1945 as some sort of “intellectual” agency from the United Nations. Their motto is “Building peace in the minds of men and women.” Over the last 70 years, they contributed to, enhanced and preserved our planet from many different perspectives. They indeed have done much good, but lately, as if possessed by the spirit of multicultural tolerance, political correctness and/or historical revisionism, they seem to be interested in throwing Israel under the bus.
Most people have forgotten or didn’t even know that in October 2011, UNESCO recognized Palestine as their 195th member country. Back then, I warned that this would only open the door to more damage done against Israel and the Jewish people. There is no Palestinian culture, history, language, customs or even foods. All of the above are Arab, not Palestinian. But the pro-Palestinian propaganda has been going for long enough for even an organization such as UNESCO to believe it. If Israel is indeed Palestine (which it is not!), then many if not all Jewish archeological and historical sites will become Palestinian/Muslim sites. That is part of the package of historical revisionism, first you lie about history, then fabricate a story to replace factual truth and finally expose the players within real history to a great danger because suddenly they have been delegitimized.
An agency founded on peace and justice for all is endorsing terrorism and violence and is in the process of rewriting history. On their World Heritage List, UNESCO chooses to list the “Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route” as being in Palestine not Israel. But this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when we see that since 1978, UNESCO has selected November 29th as “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”.
Then in 2012, UNESCO declared that the Jewish site of Rachel’s tomb was also a Christian AND Muslim site and that to say otherwise would be a hindrance to the peace process. Palestinians decided that the site was holy to them and was part of their heritage, even though Islam was only founded 1500 years ago. The site goes back way further than 1500 years and is mentioned in Genesis 35:19 as the place where the Jewish matriarch was buried. It has zero Palestinian connection!
To add insult to injury, UNESCO decided in 2013 that Israel and the United States–while retaining their membership–will lose their voting power because they had both stopped paying their dues after the 2011 inclusion of Palestine. I guess they [UNESCO] got a bit upset when the US contribution equal to 22% of their total budget stopped. I commend the United States and Israel for taking a stand in an age of cowardice and hypocrisy.
Finally, in what I see as another by-product of UNESCO’s historical revisionism of the last 40 years, they declared on April 15, 2016 that the Temple Mount, the holiest of Jewish sites had no Jewish connection. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you–a bridge, I might add, that has no connection to America! (is that how historical revisionism starts?)
This didn’t go well with Benjamin Netanyahu who immediately and rightfully so declared “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 stop.”
One of my professor in Bible college years ago called it the “Salami Effect.” You take a people group, a country or a part of history, in our case Israel and the Jewish people and you start cutting away small truths about them. The slices are so thin that nobody really notices any changes. Eventually, one slice of factual truth at a time, you have delegitimized Israel and the Jewish people.
The last time that the Jewish people were delegitimized was during World War Two, when they were relegated to the status of vermin, virus or even sub-human. The result was the Shoah or Holocaust. If the Jewish people keep losing their land and their history, then they will once again lose their legitimacy as a people, and will be one step closer to being decimated again. Only days before Yom Ha Shoah on Nissan 27, we are reminded of the importance of factual truth!
These moves not only delegitimize Israel and the Jewish people, but hey also embolden her enemies. When Israel makes a legitimate claim, it runs the risk of being countered by people who now have been reassigned legitimacy. All this is being done with absolutely no historical foundation, simply in an attempt to weaken Israel. If factual truth mattered, UNESCO would obviously admit that the Temple Mount existed centuries before Islam was even born in 610 CE. Archeological and historical evidence are here to prove it and it should be exactly what the United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization uses to determine the legitimacy of historical sites. Why is it different for Israel? I think that once again the jewish state is a victim of the ills of double standards. So what exactly is UNESCO trying to accomplish in the Middle East? Are they really applying their motto “Building peace in the minds of men and women” to their actions? How could this possibly be the case?
Don’t Blame UNESCO for Double Standards!
UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) just cancelled an upcoming Jewish exhibit at the last minute, after caving under the intense pressure from the Arab League. The exhibit–co sponsored by the Los Angeles based Simon Wiesenthal Center and UNESCO–on the theme of the land of Israel 3500-year connection to the Jewish people, was set to open in Paris on January 20th. This rather unusual “last minute” cancellation raises several concerns about UNESCO cannot be ignored.
I find it most peculiar for UNESCO to co-labor with the Simon Wiesenthal Center on such an exhibit to the point of having the whole thing set-up and invitations sent-out, and then make an about face just days before the opening. I find it peculiar not because UNESCO should go with such an exhibit but exactly for the opposite reason. In light of the stance UNESCO has taken on the Middle East in the last couple of years, they should have never even considered getting involved in such a project.
It was in October 2011 that UNESCO surprised the world by including the Palestinian authority to its roaster of member nations. This of course was all done in the name of cultural diversity and tolerance, to also prove to the world that the image of the Palestinian Authority and some Palestinians are grossly exaggerated. This was why the Palestinian Youth magazine know as Zayzafouna featured an article in which a ten-year-old Palestinian girl said that Hitler told her in a dream: “I killed them [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world.” The magazine, we were told, promoted democracy and tolerance. Why is it then, that a young girl could write about Hitler being her role model?
Then in 2012, UNESCO declared that the Jewish site of Rachel’s tomb was also a Christian AND Muslim site and that to say otherwise would be a hindrance to the peace process. Palestinians decided that the site was holy to them and was part of their heritage, even though Islam was only founded 1500 years ago. The site goes back way further than 1500 years and is mentioned in Genesis 35:19 as the place where the Jewish matriarch was buried. It has zero Palestinian connection!
To add insult to injury, UNESCO decided in 2013 that Israel and the United States–while retaining their membership–will lose their voting power because they had both stopped paying their dues after the 2011 inclusion of Palestine. I guess they [UNESCO] got a bit upset when the US contribution equal to 22% of their total budget stopped. I commend the United States and Israel for taking a stand in an age of cowardice and hypocrisy.
Maybe this move has something to do with the fact that UNESCO has chosen 2014 to be the “International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”. General Assembly President John Ashe declared that: “Now is the time for vision, compromise and deepening of respect. Let us make this year – 2014 – the decisive year for achieving peace between Israel and Palestine,….I implore all those who have a stake in this outcome – Governments, international organizations, and people everywhere – to do their part.” What is next, “Terrorist Appreciation Day”?
Really Mr. Ashe, how honest is such a statement when the last move by UNESCO appeared to be such a biased decision? What seems to be the problem with such an exhibit as this new one entitled “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel”?
UNESCO has a clear agenda hinging around the promotion and acceptance of Palestine as a bona fide state with voting power at the United Nations and frankly, they are almost there. By inviting Palestine to be recognized at the UNESCO level, they opened a door–maybe not the front door, but a door nonetheless–to an inclusion of Palestine at the United Nations. It is only a matter of time now. It is no longer if but only when!
I think that UNESCO cancelled the exhibit for two main reasons: Fear of the Arab League and fear of the truth.
There is a common denominator between many government agencies and organizations around the world. They seem to all flex to the demands of Islam without ever questioning the motives, along with allowing statements and actions that promote hatred, xenophobia and even killings. These moves are mostly motivated by fear, a fear that is the result of intimidation. That fear continues to lead us to submission to an ideology that belongs to the dawn of the middle Ages.
But consider also the fear of the truth. What could possibly be brought to the public in an exhibit on the Jewish people, the land of Israel and the Bible? This exhibit was organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and UNESCO, under the leadership of Hebrew University professor and anti-Semitism expert Robert Wistrich. Mr. Wistrich is a first class scholar with a superb reputation. One of his many works: ” A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad” demonstrates the quality of his research and the unbiased approach to the age-old issue of Anti-Semitism. He has no axe to grind and simply wants to make the truth available to more people.
I believe that the very truth about Israel being a piece of land granted to the Jewish people by God Himself through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob scares UNESCO. They do not want to face the truth about the Jewish people’s legitimacy, history and archeology in Eretz Yisrael. If they were to face the truth, they would then have to make a decision to support Palestine based on a series of lies. But hey, they wouldn’t be the first ones to move from ignorance to hypocrisy to cowardice and even malice in regards to Israel’s right to exist.
I don’t think that UNESCO is even using double standards when it comes to Israel. They have chosen to side with the enemies of Israel in the name of peace. What peace?
Prime minister Netanyahu was spot on about UNESCO’s decision when he said: “The one-sided approach toward Israel does not advance peace – it pushes peace further away. It strengthens the refusal of the PA to make actual progress in the negotiations.”
UNESCO’s latest move is an outrage that has nothing to do with education, science or culture and everything to do with politics and political correctness. Last time I checked, God never wanted us to be politically correct but simply biblically correct. He even gave us a manual for it!
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105
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