One of America’s prominent supporters of Israel says the United Nations has turned “delusional” with its latest snub of America’s key ally in the Middle East.
The U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted Friday to declare the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron as a “Palestinian heritage site.”
It’s just the latest in a series of actions by the U.N. against Israel, including its previous move to call the Temple Mount “Islamic.”
“This recent UNESCO resolution is another delusional U.N. decision which disregards the historical truth and the Jewish people’s deep connection to Hebron,” said Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel.
Staver also is president of Christians in Defense of Israel and founder of Covenant Journey, all in support of Israel.
“To refer to Hebron as ‘Islamic’ denies thousands of years of Jewish history as well as Christian ties to the site. The biblical patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, as well as the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are believed to be buried there, and to deny that is another move toward the Palestinian Authority and Hamas renaming the entire land to Palestine and denying Israel’s right to exist,” said Staver.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution declaring, by a 12-3 vote with six abstentions, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron a Palestinian heritage site.
The committee already had declared the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem and another location in the “state of Palestine” as similar Islamic heritage sites, even though they are in Israel.
Staver noted the Hebron motion was submitted via an expedited procedure, claiming the area was “threatened” and that Israel was “vandalizing” the site.
As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cut an additional $1 million from Israel’s U.N. membership dues. Israel will give those funds to a Museum of the Heritage of the Jewish People in Kiryat Arba and Hebron.
That resolution, brought by seven Muslim nations, emphasized Islam’s claims to the site but ignored the historical facts about Jewish presence there over thousands of years.
UNESCO said at that time it “firmly deplores the continuous storming of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif by Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif.”
East Jerusalem has been part of Israel since the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians want the city as part of a future state.
“Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia,” Fox News reported.
Netanyahu at that time issued a statement on Facebook he titled “The theatre of the absurd continues at the UN.” The statement reads:
Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for over three thousand years.
What’s next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?
Is it any wonder the UN has become a moral farce when UNESCO, the UN body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history?
UNESCO’s drive to rewrite the history of the Temple Mount according to Islam began shortly after it accepted the Palestinians as a member state in 2011. There initially were attempts to have it declared a solely Muslim site, which failed. Since then, resolutions regarding Jerusalem repeatedly have used only the Muslim terms for the Temple Mount area and its adjacent wall.
Carl Gallups, a Christian pastor in Florida and author of the newly released “When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time,” said the hatred of Israel is a sign of the end times.
“The Word of God has much to say about the abject hatred of the revenant nation of Israel in the last days. It also speaks of Jerusalem ultimately being surrounded by enemies and, at least, the temple area – being trampled upon by ‘Gentiles,'” he said.
“To Satan, it is not enough that an ultimate symbol of an ‘abomination that causes desolation’ (The Dome of the Rock) is sitting upon the Temple mount – but now, apparently he is indwelling an organization that fancies itself to be the head of a rising ‘one world order,’ and attempting to assassinate historical truth in the furthered cause of alienating Israel in the last days.”
Earlier this year, when the U.N. got a new secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, he contradicted the panel opinion by declaring, “It’s clear as the sun is clear that the Temple, which was demolished by the Romans, is a Jewish temple.
“No one can deny the fact that Jerusalem is holy to three religions today,” he added.
But the anti-Israel agenda at the United Nations even has moved into the farcical at times.
WND reported in June that Arabs at the U.N. were placing the blame for Palestinian men who beat their wives on Israel.
The outlandish claim came during a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council when a report on violence against women was submitted, reported Palestinian Media Watch.
According to PMW, the report claimed there was “a clear linkage between the prolonged occupation and violence against women.”
However, U.N. Watch Director Hillel Neuer responded immediately.
See his statement:
[jwplayer NjaoMY0e-pszPfxYQ]
The report on “violence against women” was undermined, he explained, “by its subservience to the recurring and unproven assumption … that there is, quote, ‘clear linkage between the prolonged occupation and violence against women.’
“In other words, what you are saying is as follows: When Palestinian men beat their wives, it’s Israel’s fault.”
He asked where was the evidence for a “clear linkage.”
“Where is the data. I don’t see it anywhere in the report,” he said.
And he questioned why those submitting the report had not done the basic comparisons, such as looking at similar statistics from Lebanon, Jordan, and other Arab nations.
“Why have you not done so?” he asked.
Besides, he said, Arab television routinely promotes messages to men about how to beat their wives, he said.
PMW produced a video documenting the messages:
[jwplayer WRaJDBLR-pszPfxYQ]
The U.N.’s actions caught the attention of the U.S. Senate, where all 100 senators signed a letter calling for a change in the international body’s behavior toward Israel.
“Too often, the U.N. is exploited as a vehicle for targeting Israel rather than as a forum committed to advancing the lofty goals of its founders,” the letter states. “These actions have at times reinforced the broader scourge of anti-Semitism, and distracted certain U.N. entities from their original missions.
“As both the U.N.’s principal founding member and its largest contributor, the United States should insist on reform. As duly elected representatives of the American people, we take seriously our responsibility to conduct rigorous oversight of U.S. engagement at the United Nations. We are deeply committed to international leadership and to advancing respect for human rights.
“But continued targeting of Israel by the U.N. Human Rights Council and other U.N. entities is unacceptable. This situation must change. We urge you to engage member states in a comprehensive effort to directly confront and root out this bias.”
The letter, directed to Guterres, followed a statement from U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley declaring, “It is the U.N.’s anti-Israel bias that is long overdue for change.”
