UNESCO Archives - Page 2 of 3

June 26, 2017June 26, 2017

WAR ON THE TRUTH: Why Did Israel Ban UNESCO From Hebron?

Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen said the following concerning Israel’s refusal to allow UNESCO to come to Hebron on a fact finding mission:

“As a matter of principle, Israel will not provide legitimization to any Palestinian political move under the guise of culture and heritage.”

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is set to meet from July 2-12 in Krakow, Poland, for its annual assembly. Listed on the agenda is Hebron as ‘Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town, Palestine.’ Given the fact that UNESCO has already denied the connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount and Western Wall area, there is little doubt that the international body would not refrain from continuing to rewrite history.

Shama-Hacohen described the Palestinian request as “tainted by politicization, lies and libel against the State of Israel and against the Jewish people’s connection to the site… the Palestinians have opened another front in the religious and cultural war they are trying to impose on us.”

Jewish Connection to Hebron is Ancient

From the time Abraham bought the double cave from the Ephron as a family burial site in Hebron, the city has served as the foundational place for Israel and the Jewish people whether in the Land or exiled. From King David’s time onward, the burial cave became a site of increased pilgramages. By the Second Temple period, King Herod had to build a giant structure above the cave to service the many Jews who came to visit. This monument/building is the oldest Jewish still standing free structure in the world and can be seen by all who come to Hebron. It was built 650 years before a single Arab stepped foot in Hebron.

Long before the Arabs came to Hebron, the Jewish community thrived and grew and existed in the city well after the Muslim conquest of Israel in the 7th Century. In fact a groups of Jews who had fled the Spanish Inquisition settled in Hebron and revived the failing community.

There they lived until 1929 when the Arabs went on a rampage massacring the Jews of the city, effectively rendering Hebron Judenrein. Jews tried returning after the massacre but were pushed out completely in 1936 as part of a series of Arab riots across Israel. It was not until 1967 when Israel liberated the city that Jews began to come back to their ancient residences.

Today the city is thriving, with young couples and children spread throughout multiple neighborhoods.

The idea that Hebron is a “Palestinian” city is presposterous, but then again when it comes to Jews UNESCO believes in fake history.

So Why Do the Palestinians Insist on Claiming Hebron?

The Palestinians being an amalgamation of various people who migrated into Israel at different times, have no collective or historical national experience. There only long term chance at winning a war against the rightful indigenous nation is to deny that nation (Israel) a connection to the Land. Hebron is key for this strategy as it is part and parcel of Israel’s claim to the entire Land of Israel. Afterall, not only Jews agree that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah are buried there, but Christians and many moderate Muslims do as well.

So the Palestinians must attack the roots of our nation and Hebron is the ultimate place to start. Afterall, if we are denied a connection to our patriarchs and matriarchs, then who are we?

Israel banned UNESCO from Hebron, because the upcoming vote has nothing to do with creating peace or ensuring the Palestinians have individual rights (national rights would be a farce), it has only one aim and that is an assault on a very clear historical truth.

David Ben Gurion said the following about Hebron:

“However, don’t forget: the beginnings of Israel’s greatest king were in Hebron, the city to which came the first Hebrew about eight hundred years before King David, and we will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor and predecessor of Jerusalem, with a large Jewish settlement, constantly growing and expanding, very soon. This will also be a blessing to the Arab neighbors. Hebron is worthy to be Jerusalem’s sister.”

Just two weeks I went with my son and his class to the Cave of the Patriarchs. On the side of the Herodian structure was a place that marked the furthest Jews were allowed to go when the site was run by Arabs. There, as if marking the place where Jewish tears yearned for centuries to have full regained access to our second holiest site is a hole, which was blocked up until after the city was liberated 50 years ago. This hole leads into the cavern containing the tombs of our patriarchs and matriarchs.

Our connection to Hebron is beyond historical or political or even religious. We are bound to Hebron by way of eternal deed. No UNESCO vote can change that. In fact our deed will long outlast UNESCO or any other international body that warps history and seeks to sever the connection between the Jewish people and their Land.

November 30, 2016

The UN Votes to Disconnect Jerusalem from the Jewish People…Again

Today the UN voted to disconnect the Jewish people from their ancient capital and hand it to a people that never existed. This was not the whim of a thin majority of countries, but rather a vast overhwhelming number of UN member states voted for the resolution. Out of the UN’s 193 member states, 147 voted in favor, seven voted against and eight abstained. Those who voted against were Canada, USA, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Naura and Palu. Those who abstained were Australia, Guatemala, Panama, Papa New Guiea, Paraguay and Vanuatu.

The resolution states the following: “Any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever, and calls upon Israel to immediately cease all such illegal and unilateral measures.” It then continues and pushes Israel to “respect for the historic status quo at the holy places of Jerusalem” and “urges all sides to work immediately and cooperatively to defuse tensions and halt all provocations, incitement and violence at the holy sites in the City.”

Daniel Luria, the Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim, an organization dedicated to returning property in Jerusalem stolen by Arabs back to Jewish hands dismissed the resolutions as anti-semitic. “Whoever doesn’t recognize such a clear, obvious and eternal connection and unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the ‘Kotels’ (Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern Walls of Temple Mount) is blinded by hate, a denier of both current day realities (a plethora of archeological finds) and Jewish history, and is an anti-semitic, arrogant fool. Such a person or body is destined the dung-heap of history and will be shunned or forgotten in due course.”

The UN General Assemply decision comes on the back the UNESCO vote, which disregarded the Jewish narritive to the Land of Israel. While the UN vote is non-binding it still gives added energy to a potential UN Security Council collision course before Obama leaves office. If it gets to the security council all bets are off. After all, if it was Jimmy Carter Palestine would have been a reality a long time ago.

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October 26, 2016

UNESCO Does it Again…Should We Be Surprised

UNESCO is on a roll and continues to pass resolutions aimed at undermining the Jewish conenction to the Land of Israel. The latest resolution passed today refers to Jerusalem in connection to Islam only roiling the Israeli government.

Danny Danon, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations said the following:

“UNESCO embarrassed itself by marching to the tune of the Palestinian pipers. All attempts to deny our heritage, distort history and disconnect the Jewish people from our capital and our homeland are doomed to fail.”

The real question is not if the UNESCO vote matters or has teeth, none of these don’t, but with the voting membership clearly Arab what kind of impact does a clearly rigged vote really have?

One possiblity is that it lays the groundwork for the UN Security Council to take decisive action after the Novemebr 8th election. With 13 days and counting the UNESCO resolutions maybe the ammunition Obama will use to justify a non-veto in the Security Council.

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October 19, 2016October 19, 2016

UNESCO, Uman, and the Final War on Jerusalem

It is written in chapter 12 of Zecharia:

1 The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The saying of the LORD, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him:
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it fall to be in the siege against Jerusalem.
3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.

and again in chapter 14:

1 Behold, a day of the LORD cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, but the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fighteth in the day of battle.
4 And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, so that there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the LORD my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee.

UNESCO has finally gone ahead and used its majority Arab membership to rewrite history and erase the deep and unwavering connection between the Jewish nation and Jerusalem. While it states in the text, which can be read in full here, “Affirming the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions…” it clearly and unequicably only acknowledges Jerusalem’s Old City as having Palestinian heritage. Instead of viewing the Jewish return to Jerusalem and the national rectification of recieving back that which was stolen from it during theyears of forced Arab occupation as legitimate these regrown Jewish roots are seen through the veil of increased “occupation”.

Being a world body UNESCO has opened the first shot in the world’s war against Jerusalem as prophesized thousands of years ago. Israeli politicians, religous leaders, and acitvists have responded with anger and declarations. Afterall, nearly all Jews that have some sort of connection to the broader national belief set hold a bond that is unbreakable with Jerusalem. Despite the outcry, there is not much on a political level we can do. That in of itself may be the most painful aspect of all.

Rectifying Our Past, Reconnecting Our Future

As someone who considers himself a follower of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, I journeyed to Uman, Ukraine to be by Rebbe Nachman’s grave for Rosh Hoshanah. Rebbe Nachman made it clear that his followers should continue to visit him for Rosh Hoshonah even after his departure from this world. “There is nothing greater that my Rosh Hoshanah,” Rebbe Nachman stated to his followers.

Of all of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, none is more powerful than his exhortation to spend at least an hour a day in personal solitude in direct conversation with the Almighty. While in Uman I spent most of my time like many others next to Rebbe Nachman’s grave, yet when I wanted to be alone I walked quite a ways from the central area of rebuilt Jewish Uman. Just prior to Rosh Hoshanah I reached a quiet spot overlooking a river flowing out of Uman. It was at this spot I chose to speak to G-d. My hour long session was so meaningful I decided to return near to the same spot the next day, yet chose a different route to get there.

As I approached the area I noticed the color of the earth changed to black beneath my feet and there were broken tombstones all around for as far as I could see. I felt a sense of deep anguish in the area and after my hour long seclusion I located the rebuilt graves of Rebbe Nachman’s grandson and one of his chief students Reb Naftali. Nearby I found a sign noting the area was a the burial place for 3000 Jews slaughtered by the Ukrainians in the pogroms of 1920.

Uman Graves — Destroyed Graves of the 3000 Jews Massacred in the Ukranian Pogroms of 1920

Jewish blood flows throughout Uman. From the Chmielnicki massacre of 1648 that saw nearly 30,000 Jews killed in Uman with over 500,000 in the rest of the Ukraine to the pogroms of 1920 to the Nazi exterminations in WW2. Rebbe Nachman stated clearly his ability to rectify the souls of the dead and the torments of the souls lying in Uman were clearly far greater than other places. Yet, I believe Rebbe Nachman has another agenda (one of many) by asking us to return to Uman year in and year out.

In many ways we are the rectification. After he leaves, the Tzaddik (rightous one) has no physical presence in our world, yet he continues to have an impact due to the fullfillment of his lessons and advice by his followers who are called his legs. It is our praying, singing, and dancing in a place of such pain that rectifies the broken souls left in the area.

The Long-Short Path

In the Talmud, tractacte Eruvin it states that Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah was travelling and saw a child at a fork in the road. He asked the child which way was the best to the city. The child said that one path was a short-long path and the other was a long short-path.

Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah took the short long path and very quickly came to the outskirts of the city and found that it was surrounded by gardens and orchards. He returned to the child and and said: “My child you said this was the short path.” The child responded to him: “No I said it was the long path.” Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah then said the following: “I kissed him on his head and I said to him, happy is Israel that all of them are with from the big to the small.”

This passage has tremendous lessons for our time. We the Jewish nation returned in great haste to our ancient homeland. Miracle after miracle has guided us and yet we insist on playing by the rules of the nations of the world. We rushed back so fast we have gotten lost in gardens and orchards of world politics and forgotten the surest way of crossing the proverbial finish line of redemption. The Jewish people wanted to so much to be back in Jerusalem we set out on the short-long path and cannot truly enter our city in a way that feels lasting. We have been forced to return to the fork in the road and take the other path no matter how long it seems it may take.

For me this path is the path of Uman, which by way of complete and pure faith reminds us that we as a nation are above the normtive rules of time and space. We are forever. Our war is not against UNESCO. They are a pawn played by the Almighty in the march towards fullfiling the prophecies laid out thousands of years ago. Our war is with ourselves; with that part of us that forgot what it means to trust in the Almighty and develop an instrinsic faith in G-d as a real active part of our lives, both personal and national.

Rebbe Nachman said many times that a great flood of anti-faith would rage around the world and at the end our war would be about recovering our own faith. By bringing us back to the geographical point where we had such faith that we were willing to die for it, we the Jewish Nation are able to recapture that part of us which was lost along the way.

UNESCO has no power to change the truth. In fact, it is telling that the sons of Ishmael who are supposedly faithful to G-d rely on earthly political constructs to erase our history. If they have stooped that low, we have only to reach inside ourselves to rise past them. That is our task and of course let G-d do the rest.

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October 17, 2016

The UNESCO fiasco

Original posted on Roro’s Rantings

The earth is flat. The moon is made out of green cheese. The tooth fairy takes away your baby teeth and replaces them with money (well, that one may be true!). Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall.

The loud crashing noise you just heard was the collective dropping of jaws of Jews and Christians around the world as the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted 24-6 to give preliminary approval to a resolution that denies Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and Western Wall. These are the holiest sites in Judaism, where King Solomon’s majestic Temples once stood.

These most holy sites for Jews are also referred to in the New Testament and saying that the Jews have no ties is denying sacred Christian history as well. UNESCO in essence, by voting in this resolution, is attempting to not just rewrite the bible but has offended both religions in the most epic way. EPIC UNESCO resolution fail!

It is so preposterous that even UNESCO Director General, Irina Bokova, said this in a statement on Friday, “The Al Aqsa Mosque [or] Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit – or Temple Mount – whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism. In the Torah, Jerusalem is the capital of King David, where Solomon built the Temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant. To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site.”

Rewriting the bible….

Unfortunately her strong words have done little to assuage this resolution or angry communities.

At his recent address to the United Nations general Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu remarked that the UN has changed from a moral force to a moral farce. Except that if a farce is really good, it is funny. There is nothing humourous about this latest resolution fiasco.

There is nothing new or funny about Palestinian attempts to rewrite history. This is central to the Palestinian Authorty (ref. www.palwatch.org). By attempting to rewrite ancient and spiritual history, they believe it will support their claims that not only does the 3000 year strong Jewish history in the land of Israel not exist but can be replace with fabricated Palestinian narrative.

This would be easy to believe (have you seen some Pallywood productions? Oscar worthy!) if it was not for the tremendous amount of antiquity that archaeologists have been finding for centuries that support Jewish claims to the land. Well, this and that priceless deed to real estate, The Bible.

Many have tried to erase Jewish claims to the land and the beautiful city of Jerusalem bears the scars of the various empires that tried to claim her. The Roman, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and others. May who tried not only failed but ceased to exist.

Now it is the turn for that rapidly sinking into moral decay institution known as the UN.

My message is simple. My connection to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem is thousands of years long and thousands of years strong. I think I speak for many when I say that when we pray at the Kotel (Wailing Wall) we are bound and held up by the thousands of generations before us and millions of supplications in shared language and intention and the awe of standing before this holy site. It moves us to tears and is a reminder of the chain of generations, linked forever by our identity. It is the welcome home hug Jews get from above when they visit.

We now celebrate Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles) and thousands will descend on the Kotel for the magnificent Birkat Kohanim – the Priestley blessing.

Our Christian brethren will come from the four corners of the globe to march in support of Israel. The spirit in the city will be magnificent.

For it is written:

When Solomon later dedicated the Temple at Sukkot, he asked the Lord to hear the prayers of any foreigners that would come there to pray (2 Chronicles 6:32-33). It may surprise some, but Jesus kept the Feast of Tabernacles as well. On the last “great day of the feast”, he stood in the Temple and cried out: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38) (courtesy http://www.icej.org)

UNESCO seeks to deny both the historical and spiritual connection of Jews and Christians to our holy sites and beloved Jerusalem. No ridiculous UNESCO resolution will change or deny this for us. The UN has become a place that allows for institutionalised Antisemitism.

Say no to this abhorrent spectacle and sign this petition:

Petition

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