Tag Archive for: UNESCO

Open Letter to UNESCO RE: Israel

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unesco israelFirst letter to UNESCO:

External Relations and Public Information Service:

I have your recent statement and find it quite inadequate, in that you are still not dealing with historic facts.

Jerusalem was first settled around 3500 BCE, and made the capital by King David, in 1000 BCE, with the temple built by King Solomon. The city’s Jewish history is constantly proven by artifacts found by archaeologists; Muslims have been digging to destroy the Jewish connection. Also under Muslim rule, synagogues and churches are summarily destroyed and the people subject to pogroms and jizya taxes. The city continues to be holy to Christians because of Jewish history.

The Qur’an says: “Pharoah sought to scare them [the Israelites] out of the land [of Israel]: but We [Allah] drowned him [Pharoah] together with all who were with him. Then We [Allah] said to the Israelites: ‘Dwell in this land [the Land of Israel]. When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We [Allah] shall assemble you [the Israelites] all together [in the Land of Israel].” The Quran recognizes the Land of Israel as the heritage of the Jews and it explains that, before the Last Judgment, Jews will return to dwell there. This prophecy has already been fulfilled.

For more than 70 years, UNESCO was to promote global programs concerning Israel’s heritage and history, yet intolerance and antisemitism are on the rise. In fact, it is a UN group that insisted on the removal of three of Israel’s 13 panels because the truth challenged the Palestinian narrative. It is the UN that bends to Islamic demands and places the blame of collateral damage on Israel despite the known Palestinian war tactic of using their own wives and children as human shields. It is the UN that faults Jews for disproportionate retaliation, when if balance were implemented, Israel would owe Palestinians thousands of returned rocket fire. It is also the UN that continues to insist that Israel cede land to their enemy and allows Mahmoud Abbas’s lies to prevail (what other country has won a defensive war and returned land?!).

UNESCO’s education is doing nothing to quell the Palestinian hate speech against Jews and Islamic youth radicalization. UNESCO has not influenced Muslim schools to eliminate Jew hatred from their schools and media. It is not promoting tolerance by calling the Temple Mount and Western Wall by Arab names, or providing protection to Jewish sites when it permits Arab claims to Jewish holy sites, such as Rachel’s Tomb. UNESCO recently acknowledged the City of Hebron for World Heritage status, but mentioned a mosque on site, not the synagogue. It has permitted an exhibit but only after Israel’s name was removed from the title. And, when UNESCO attempts to ‘calm tensions,” it tells Israel to stop protecting itself from the violent Palestinian attacks.

I am unimpressed by UNESCO’s self-aggrandizement while doing nothing to deal with truth, which is the only way to peace. All these activities are merely a way of fueling the evil with your unabashed support, as you continue to have blood on your hands.

Tabitha Korol

Second letter to UNESCO (in reply)

External relations and public information service:

Dear Ambassador Worbs and Director-General Bokova,etal.

I received your May 10 reply written on behalf of Director-General Irina Bokova. The decisions made by members of UNESCO are an attempt to distort history and delegitimize Israel. The proposal was submitted by six of 59 avowed Islamic enemies of the only Jewish State in the world – because their Koran dictates that they spread Islam and establish a global caliphate worldwide, and kill Jews and Christians worldwide, and because they view UNESCO as their co-conspirator.

Islam is expansionist in nature, and the proposal endorses UNESCO’s usurpation of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s tomb as part of a Palestinian state, although they were holy to Jews long before Muslims ever existed. If Palestinians truly cared about these tombs, they would not have set fire to Joseph’s Tomb, another Jewish holy site, now under Fatah control It is not an Islamic desire to treasure and tend the sites, but to seize and destroy Israel’s connections to the land, just as they have done in the past and will continue to do so as they take control of other Western countries, such as Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, etc.

Might I remind the Ambassador and Director-General that UNESCO was formed to contribute to peace and coexistence,

  • not to relinquish Jewish land to the most vociferous;
  • not to honor “Palestinian rights” to holy places originally established and revered by Jews and Christians;
  • not to dismantle the Holocaust studies that UNESCO was to use to protect, promote, and teach history to the ignorant;
  • not to allow Palestinians to dismantle and set ablaze the sites UNESCO was to protect;
  • not to allow the destruction of any cultural sites;
  • not to allow the removal of Israel from maps produced and used by Islamic states;
  • not to blame Israel for the horrific crimes committed by Palestinians;
  • and to realize that the only way to ensure peace is to have Israel, a peaceful nation that gives so much to others – medically, technologically, scientifically, agriculturally, and more – secure the areas and not destroy Israel’s just and legal authority over its own land.

It is time to set the record straight on what is required of UNESCO if the West indeed expects to survive this scourge and fulfill its educational mission for future generations. Muslims appear to have children to spare and sacrifice for destruction; do you?

For the ancient Muslim, Greek and Roman pagan authors, Jerusalem was a Jewish city. Their texts indicate the unanimous agreement that Jerusalem was Jewish by virtue of the fact that it was founded by Jews, inhabited by Jews, and the Temple located in Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religion.

It is time to acknowledge that Israel is not an “occupier.” Israel successfully defended itself against threats of annihilation by five Arab countries in 1967, and regained control over Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), the Sinai Peninsula, and Gaza. Despite Arab aggression, the UN called on Israel to withdraw from the territories it won from the aggressors (never required of other countries). Israel has been the rightful owner of her land since before the Christian era and was granted legal sovereignty by the United Nations in 1948. Under Israeli rule, all people and religious shrines are respected and protected.

The demand of land for Arab “refugees” is no longer valid, just as it is invalid for the 600,000 Jewish refugees of 1948. It is time that these political hostages moved on and returned to their ancestral homes (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq), just as Jews were absorbed by Israel and all others are absorbed after the displacement that comes from war, particularly as these wars were begun and lost by the Arabs.

Land for peace does not work because the land is not returned when the agreement is breached. Each of Israel’s withdrawals has resulted in the transformation of fertile farms, productive businesses and comfortable homes into war zones with rockets fired at Israel. Perhaps it is time for Mahmoud Abbas, not Israel, to make concessions for peace.

When Syria lost the Golan Heights in its 1979 war on Israel, Syria signed a disengagement agreement, and the Golan became home to 46,000 Druze and Jewish residents who are living together in peace and comfort. The United Nations must stop acting as Islam’s negotiators.

It is time to stop demanding proportionate responses to Arab aggression, or Israelis would be obliged to reciprocate in kind, perhaps with more accuracy. During the Al Aqsa Intifada, from September 30, 2000 to March 2013, 8,749 rockets and 5,047 mortar shells were fired on Israelis; at least 2,257 rockets were fired on Israel in 2012 alone, in addition to blowing up cars, and stoning cars (both acts deadly).

UNESCO (UN Department of Political Affairs) is discriminating against Israel’s 13-panel exhibition, Israel Matters, demanding that three panels not expose the truth, but comply with the Palestinian narrative. It is time to enforce the truth and negate the damage caused by the fallacies that feed jihad.

It is time for the United Nations to stand up to bullying tyranny, despotism, and to start allowing the truth to come into the light. Stop pacifying and supporting Palestinian propaganda. Muslims increase their respect for others when they see a strong adversary. The only way to “calm tensions and increase confidence” is to show your mettle. Truth must prevail because the lies will allow for humanity’s destruction.

UNESCO: Muslims Own the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem

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During  a panel discussion at Pensacola’s Brit Ahm Messianic Synagogue on June 27th following a showing of the APT documentary The J Street Challenge an audience member raised a question about the ancient Jewish claims to Jerusalem in the context of a recent Vatican declaration recognizing a Palestinian State. The panel spoke about the long term Vatican quest for internationalization of Israel’s eternal undivided capital of the Jewish nation that had protected the precincts if the world major faiths. Something that had not occurred during the 19 year occupation of Jordan until the liberation of the holy city by  the IDF on June 7, 1967. Panelist Mike Bates 1330amWEBY Talk Show Host and station  general manager discussed  the fictional Islamic doctrinal claims, based on the legend of Mohammed’s fabled night ride, to the Temple Mount including the  Western Wall –a revered Jewish site over two millennia. In our Iconoclast  post on the Pensacola event, we wrote:

That led to an exposition by Mike Bates about the realities concerning Muslims claims of control over Jerusalem. He noted the legend of the Prophet Mohammed’s dream of a night ride on the human headed horse to “the farthest Mosque” where he meets Jesus and rises to heaven to meet Abraham and other Jewish prophets all deemed Muslim. Bates pointed out that nowhere in the Qur’an is Jerusalem mentioned. Moreover, Muslims did not occupy Jerusalem until The Rash dun Caliphate conquest and submission to Caliph Umar bin –Khattab  in 637 C.E. Caliph  bin Khattab initiated the construction of what ultimately become  the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and established a Dhimma or pct for governance of subjugated peoples of the book, Christians, Jews and others. Muslims claim any conquered land as a possession in perpetuity under a trust from their god Allah. Jews have lived in Jerusalem for more than 3,000 years.

We raise this because this week, a committee of UNESCO approved a resolution condoning these Muslim claims to the Western Wall based on Mohammed’s night legend, virtually excluding from consideration ancient Jewish historical claims and even Christian ones preceding the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem.  Patrick Goodenough  revealed the absurdity of the UN panel proposal in a CNS report, “UNESCO Backs Muslim Narrative on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount”:

A key committee of the United Nations cultural agency adopted a resolution this week whose language implicitly endorses the legend underpinning Islam’s claim to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount — the assertion that Mohammed tied his winged steed there while en route from Mecca to heaven.

Famed as a place of Jewish pilgrimage and prayer, the Western or “Wailing” Wall is the remnant of a retaining wall on the western flank of the platform that once housed the biblical Temples. As such it is the closest point observant Jews are usually able to get to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

But for Muslim leaders wanting to deny Jewish historical and religious claims to the site, it is dubbed the al-Buraq wall, and the area in front of it the al-Buraq plaza. This is based on the belief that the founder of Islam stopped there during his “night journey” from Mecca to heaven, and tethered his legendary steed, al-Buraq, there while he led prayers with a congregation of “Islamic prophets” including Adam, Noah and Joseph.

Now the World Heritage Committee of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has adopted a resolution which refers to the area below and to the west of the Temple Mount as the “Buraq plaza.”

The resolution, proposed by three Arab countries, Qatar, Algeria and Lebanon, refers to the Temple Mount itself as a “Muslim holy site,” with no reference to its importance to Jews.

It slams Israel for various actions in Jerusalem’s Old City, including construction and excavation work. A light railway system whose route passes near – but does not enter – the Old City is said to be damaging the “visual integrity and the authentic character of the site.”

The resolution’s introduction at the World Heritage Committee’s session in Bonn, Germany, brought criticism from Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold, who said it was “full of distortions and is totally disconnected from reality on the ground.”

Gold said in a statement the measure “deliberately ignores the historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancient capital,” and also does not acknowledge Christianity’s links to Jerusalem.

He accused the UNESCO committee of hypocrisy, at a time when jihadists were destroying ancient heritage sites across the region.

“As the historical heritage sites of this area are being systematically destroyed by jihadist forces, such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, UNESCO’s adoption of utterly false allegations about Israeli archeological practices is misplaced and hypocritical, at best,” Gold said.

UNESCO in 2011 became the first U.N. agency to admit “Palestine,” a decision that triggered a U.S. funding cutoff mandated by a 1990 law barring financial support for “the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.”

Goodenough noted the motivation for the UNESCO resolution:

The Palestinians want parts of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, as capital of a future independent state, and Palestinian and Islamic figures have long challenged Jewish historical and religious claims to the mount.

For instance, fatwas attributed to former grand mufti of Jerusalem Ikrama Sabri and former mufti of Egypt Nasr Farid Wasil, dispute Jewish claims to the Western Wall.

“Al-Buraq Wall is part of al-Aqsa Mosque and it is an Islamic endowment,” Wasil said. “Hence, it is not permissible in shari’a for any non-Islamic quarter to claim or possess it. The wall would remain part and parcel of Islamic heritage and endowment forever.”

“Al-Buraq Wall is part of al-Aqsa’s western wall and the whole walls of al-Aqsa are Islamic endowments,” said Sabri. “Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, had honored and blessed the place by tying al-Buraq to the wall, during his Night Journey and Ascension to the Heaven.”

“Hence al-Buraq Wall belongs to Muslims alone in the four corners of the earth and will remain so till Judgment Day. We neither admit nor acknowledge that Jews possess it (al-Buraq Wall) and, also we stress that there is no stone there dating back to Hebrew history.”

This UNESCO  al-Buraq (Western Wall) resolution  based on the fiction of Mohammed’s night ride to “the farthest Mosque” preceded Al Quds or Jerusalem  Day, July 10, 2015  observed during  the last Friday during Ramadan.   The Founder of the Islamic Republic in Iran, Ayatollah Khomenei  declared it as a religious duty for all Muslims to further the “liberation” of Jerusalem . Al Quds Day promotes the Palestinian assertion that Jerusalem should be its state capital reflecting the Muslim claims based on the Mohammed night ride legend.  Qur’anic doctrine and Shariah law considers all conquered territory, whether Jerusalem or Andalusia in Southern Spain, as a Waqf, or trust conveyed by Allah in perpetuity.  The Times of Israel  reported  Jerusalem  Day was celebrated in Tehran with millions marching shouting “Death to  America and Israel”, burning  US and Israeli flags, an effigies of Netanyahu and the Saudi King.  We note that the events in Tehran occurred in the midst of the P5+1 negotiation for a nuclear deal with Iran.

In our July 2015 NER interview with Manfred Gerstenfeld, we asked him about UN engaging in such delegitimization of Israel. He replied:

The UN is a major demonizer and hatemonger of Israel. That includes UN-associated bodies such as the United Nations Human Rights Commission, UNESCO, UNWRA and many others agencies. The UN is supposed to be a moral body. When it comes to Israel its views reflect the extreme moral degradation of this largest supranational body. Hate expressions and double standards against Israel symbolize that.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem.