Israel Matzav

UNESCO flushes Israel's protests down the memory hole

Last Friday, I reported that UNESCO had decided to name Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem as a world cultural site... as a mosque. On the same 'festive' occasion, UNESCO also decided to criticize Israel's decision last year to name the Machpeila Cave a Jewish heritage site.

Do you think UNESCO could do any other outrageous things on the same subject? Well, they did.

INN has learned that UNESCO erased from the protocol at which the resolution was voted on the remarks of protestation by Israeli representative Nimrod Barkan. UNESCO claimed that his words were “too aggressive.”

Barkan said afterwards, “The decision is politically slanted, and UNESCO is making a mockery of itself.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a similar statement.

Yes, that's true, but when has that ever bothered them before? For those who have forgotten, the United States boycotted UNESCO from 1984 to 2002. Maybe it's time to reinstate that boycott?

And especially for my non-Jewish readers, who may not realize how outrageous UNESCO's decision is....

“The attempt to detach the Nation of Israel from its heritage is absurd,” a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office asserts, in response to the UNESCO decision to recognize Rachel’s Tomb as a mosque and criticize Israel's inclusion of the Machpelah Cave as a "national heritage site."

“If the nearly 4,000-year-old burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah – are not part of its culture and tradition, then what is a national cultural site?” the statement asked rhetorically.

On Oct. 21, UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization – resolved that "Bilal bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel's Tomb [is] an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories and that any unilateral action by the Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law."

Rachel's Tomb, located less than a kilometer south of the Jerusalem municipal border, has been recognized for more than 1,700 years as the tomb of Matriarch Rachel. Only ten years ago, some Muslims began calling it the "Bilal ibn Rabah mosque" as well. However, no Muslims have been known to pray there throughout the 43 years of Israeli control of the site.

“It is sad,” the PM’s office stated, “that an organization that was established for the purpose of promoting the legacy of historic sites around the world tries, for political reasons, to uproot the ties between the People of Israel and their legacy. The State of Israel, as opposed to our neighbors, will continue to maintain freedom of worship for all religions in these sites.”

What will they think of next?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:02 AM