The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Wednesday approved a new resolution that yet again denies the Jewish link to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The resolution, which refers to the Temple Mount only by its Islamic name, Haram al-Sharif, effectively declares the area holy solely to Muslims. Ten member states supported the resolution, with eight abstaining and two voting against the measure. Wednesday's vote was held using a secret ballot at the request of two member states. The move comes a week after the UNESCO's Executive Board ratified a resolution that ignored Judaism's historic link to Jerusalem. Shortly after the vote concluded, Israel's delegate to UNESCO, Ambassador Carmel Shama Hacohen, called the decision "absurd." "The Palestinians and the Arab states were sure the resolution would be adopted by consensus [rather than by a secret ballot], but their request was denied and only Islamic states, as well as Cuba and Vietnam, stood by their side," Shama Hacohen was quoted as saying by the Walla news website. He said the resolution was "outrageous and has only one place -- in the ash heap of history, alongside thousands of previous resolutions and measures targeting the Jewish people and their heritage." Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon echoed Shama Hacohen, calling the vote "total madness." "UNESCO decided to adopt another surreal decision, even though it is clear that it is divorced from reality," he said. Danon further said that UNESCO "continues to dance to the Palestinians' tune and has made a mockery of itself by its disgraceful conduct." On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted the organization and called the upcoming vote "a theater of the absurd." Netanyahu said: "The forces of radical Islam are destroying mosques, churches and antiquities, with Israel being the only country in the region that protects such places and allows freedom of worship for all religions. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee should be condemned, not Israel." The outcome of Wednesday's vote was hardly a surprise, given the composition of the 21-member World Heritage Committee. Members that were considered pro-Israel, such as Germany, Colombia and Japan, have sat on the committee in previous years but they have largely been replaced by other countries more likely to support anti-Israeli resolutions, including Kuwait, Lebanon, Cuba, and Indonesia. On Monday, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova reiterated her disavowal of the resolution her organization had adopted. In a letter to Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Bokova said she believes the Jewish people's ties to the land of Israel go back 3,500 years. She also pledged to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment in her organization.
Bokova met on Tuesday with Shama Hacohen, International Legal Forum Director Yifa Segal and StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein. They gave her a petition signed by more than 76,000 people that calls on UNESCO to recognize Jerusalem's "deep historic and religious Jewish connection."
