“Two weeks ago, I was shocked to hear that UNESCO adopted a decision denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site. It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone an organization tasked with preserving history, could deny this link which spans thousands of years,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook.
“That is why today I am announcing a seminar on Jewish history for all UN personnel in Israel. I will personally host the lecture at the Prime Minister’s Office. The seminar will be given by a leading scholar of Jewish history and will be free to all UN staff and diplomats, including of countries which voted for this outrageous decision.”
Of course Bibi is right. The decision to disconnect the Nation of Israel from the history of the Temple Mount is outrageous, but no one should be shocked at UNESCO’s erasure of Jewish connection to its holiest site. The organization has been politicizing its decisions instead of sticking to its mandate, which states it has purely educational goals.
The challenge is that Bibi’s own government restricts Jewish access to the mount, giving the impression that the State of Israel does not value its connection to the site. Reverse that and organizations like UNESCO have far less strength to rewrite history.
