Jewish Israeli leaders and lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum, and from the top on down, were furious Thursday at the passage of the resolution by UNESCO — the cultural arm of the United Nations — rejecting any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed the resolution 24-6, with 26 abstentions, (2 were absent) naming the Temple Mount only by its Arabic name, and makes reference solely to Al Aqsa Mosque and Haram Al-Sharif, and calling the Western Wall Plaza the Al Buraq Plaza. Its Hebrew name, the Kotel, is mentioned in quotation marks.
The move completely negates the hundreds of archaeological artifacts found in the Old City of Jerusalem in the area of the Western Wall, and among the rubble that was discarded by the Islamic Waqf during its unauthorized construction on the Temple Mount. Many are discoveries that have unequivocally substantiated the Biblical accounts written in the Books of the Old Testament.
No Disagreement Among People of Israel Opposition leader and Labor Party chairman Isaac Herzog accused the UN agency in a Facebook post of rewriting history, distorting the facts and “completely inventing a fantasy” in claiming the Western Wall and the Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish People.
He called the resolution a “terrible lie” that only “serves to increase hatred.” And to those who might be tempted to divide and conquer, he warned, on this matter, “there is no disagreement among the people of Israel.”
‘Shameful, Embarrassing’ Fellow Laborite Eitan Cabel labeled the resolution “anti-Zionist, shameful and embarrassing,” in a blast similar to that of President Reuven Rivlin, who also called it an “embarrassment.”
Speaking from his Jerusalem residence, Rivlin told media, “No forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem, and any such body that does so is simply embarrassing itself.
“We can understand criticism, but you cannot change history.”
Jewish Home Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel urged the government to seize the moment to increase Jewish activity on the Temple Mount.
“Especially now, it’s on us as a government to act in defiance of these decisions and to strengthen the Temple Mount and the Jewish presence on the site holiest to the Jewish people,” he said.