UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova received death threats after expressing personal opposition to the resolution passed by her organization that denies the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
The anti-Semitic resolution passed by UNESCO on Thursday, initiated by the Palestinians, states that the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site, where the First and Second Holy Temples stood – and the Western Wall are holy to Muslims only.
“Nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space,” Bokova had stated, adding that she would fight against the delegitimization of Israel and Holocaust denial.
“The director-general has received death threats and her protection had to be reinforced,” Carmel Shama HaCohen, Israel’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, said on Monday.
“Israel and the Jewish people do not require UNESCO’s or any other country’s confirmation of the special connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel and Jerusalem in general, and the holy sites such as the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in particular,” Shama HaCohen stated upon the passing of the resolution.
“There is no connection of another people to another place in the world that comes close to the strength and depth of our connection to Jerusalem from a religious, historical and national perspective, a connection that has stood the test of 2,000 years,” he said.
Israel suspends cooperation with UNESCO
Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday.
“Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization,” Education Minister Naftali Bennett declared.
By: World Israel News Staff