UNESCO and Jerusalem –  Only the tip of the Iceberg

The resolution passed by UNESCO this week which declared that Judaism has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall compound in Jerusalem is only the tip of the iceberg.

Other diplomatic decisions concerning the status of the Old City of Jerusalem convey far more serious consequences.

Last year, I asked David Kriss, the EU spokesman as to how the EU defines Israeli activity in the Old City.

Kriss responded that all Israeli activity in the Old City of Jerusalem is considered to be illegal, and that the UN backs up that status which defines the Old City of Jerusalem as an illegally occupied settlement.

I asked Kriss if that “illegal” definition included the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall compound. Kriss answered affirmatively. I asked if prayer at the Western Wall would constitute illegal settlement activity. Kriss’s answer was affirmative.

What can be done to reverse the UNESCO position?

There is one address : The US Congress, especially in an election year, could withhold funds from UNESCO until UNESCO changes its position on the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall compound in Jerusalem.

I was eyewitness to a precedent of how Congress can take action against a UN agency.

In 2001, the news organization that I head, the Israel Resource News Agency,  discovered a Palestinian Ministry of Tourism map that was published by the UNDP, the UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, one of the most powerful outlets  of the UN.   That UNDP map obliterated Israel and even deleted the Jewish Quarter.

I flew to Washington to hand 30 copies of the map to each member of the Middle East Subcommittee of the US House Foreign Relations Committee.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), a prominent member committee, took swift action.

In my presence, Engel called the director of UNDP and demanded that UNDP remove the map immediately and fire the staff that had produced the map.

Engel told the UNDP director that failure to remove the UNDP map would result in immediate US suspension of funds to the UNDP.

The next day, a Palestinian journalist entered the UNDP office in Jerusalem and asked for the UNDP Palestinian tourist map and was told that it had been removed, never to be seen again under UNDP auspices.

The same Palestinian Ministry of Tourism map which deletes Israel was republished by the PA, without the UNDP insignia, and can be viewed at: http://israelbehindthenews.com/palestinian-state-tourism-ministry-map-which-deletes-israel-2/

What is good for the geese is good for the gander.

Imagine, if you would, if a prominent member of the US Congress were to tell UNESCO that they will not get a penny of US funds if they do not reverse the UNESCO declaration that there is no connection between Judaism and the Temple Mount and the Western Wall compound?