Israel Freezes Cooperation with UNESCO over Jerusalem Decision

Ramallah, 14 Muharram 1438/15 October 2016 (MINA) – Israel has immediately frozen cooperation with the UN cultural agency (UNESCO) after the latter adopted a resolution which denied any Jewish connection to Old City of Jerusalem, which Jewish groups referred to as Temple Mount.

The UNESCO decision “deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,” the Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett was quoted by KUNA as tellng Israel Radio Friday.

“The world should openly and loudly object to UNESCO and to anyone rewarding terror. Just as it speaks out against Islamic terror in Tadmor and Aleppo, it must also oppose diplomatic terror in Jerusalem,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on that decision and described it as “delusional.”

“To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it had left,” he further said.

Yesterday, UNESCO approved a text which repeatedly used only the Islamic name for Old City of Jerusalem complex which is also the holiest site in Judaism.

The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)