When the executive board of UNESCO, the United Nations’ so-called cultural agency, voted recently to approve a resolution referring to the Western Wall and Temple Mount only by their Muslim names, the organization attempted to strip away the Jewish people’s well-documented ties to Jerusalem dating back 3,000 years. The decision represents a shameful act of denying culture and religion.
At a very basic level, it is akin to claiming that the Eiffel Tower isn’t French, the Taj Mahal isn’t Indian or the Great Wall of China isn’t Chinese.
{mosads}Yet UNESCO’s resolution veils, if thinly, a much more sinister objective. By pretending away Jerusalem’s Jewish heritage, the organization’s decision encourages and assists radical Islamic terrorist groups, whose longstanding (and frequently stated) goal is to extinguish not only Judaism from Israel and its holiest city, but Jews as well.
UNESCO’s farcical resolution negates history and aims to undo not only the many centuries of Jewish presence in Jerusalem, but those of Christianity as well. As a result, UNESCO’s transparent efforts to delegitimize Israel are doomed to fail. Jews, Christians and people of good will everywhere are awakening to — and standing united against — the dangers posed by the extremists who find refuge in the corridors of the United Nations and who seek to wield its taxpayer-funded agencies as blunt instruments of religious bigotry.
At a time when UNESCO has found common cause with the radical Islamic extremist groups who aspire to de-Judaize Jerusalem, the United States and her allies must push back against the madness. One way to do so is by demonstrating unwavering support to our democratic and pluralistic ally, Israel. Another is to remove the ambiguities in U.S. foreign policy that can contribute to confusion, both in and out of United Nations agencies, concerning its capital city, Jerusalem. Chief among these ambiguities is whether the United States will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has said on many occasions that his administration will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s enduring and eternal capital, just as the U.S. Congress has done. Trump has lambasted the United Nations for its rampant anti-Israel bias.
He has also shone a glaring spotlight on the Obama administration’s own efforts to undermine the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. For instance, in an amended transcript of President Obama’s remarks at the recent memorial service for the late president and Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the White House removed “Israel” from the “Jerusalem, Israel” dateline.
When UNECSO’s own executive director, Irina Bokova, receives death threats for distancing herself from the resolution and even United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon disavows it, it’s high time that the U.N.’s “cultural” agency look itself in the mirror. If UNESCO does not change its ways, it will have a powerful foe in Trump.
In a Trump administration, Israel will have a loyal and abiding friend in the United States and a leader who will unapologetically locate Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on a map, right where it’s been for thousands of years and where it shall ever remain.
Greenblatt is an executive vice president and chief legal officer of The Trump Organization, co-chairman of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s Israel Advisory Committee, and co-founder of the popular parenting and family website www.inspireconversation.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonDovEsq.
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