22 October 2015
Media Coverage:
Washington DC, USA, Melbourne, Australia … B’nai B’rith International and The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) have welcomed the decision by the UNESCO Executive Board to steer away from the vile proposal to reclassify the Western Wall as part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. On Tuesday, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova issued a statement deploring the resolution and calling on the UNSECO Executive Board to “take decisions that do not further inflame tensions on the ground and that encourage respect for the sanctity of the Holy Sites.” Today, UNESCO’s Executive Board passed a resolution predictably condemning Israel for a wide range of baseless accusations, but the most offensive proposal—to designate the Western Wall as an “integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque”—was not included in the final resolution. The vote count for the resolution was 26 for, 6 against and 25 abstentions. Abstaining on the vote were Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Malawi, Uganda, Togo, Japan, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.
ADC Chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich and Dan Mariaschin, Executive Vice President of B’nai B’rith International issued the following statement:
“We praise the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States for voting against the resolution at the Executive Board session today. This proposed policy, which would have been a systematic and undisguised erasure of Jewish national and religious history, was shameful and outrageous. While the redesignation of the Western Wall was left out, there are still many other egregious points contained in this resolution supported by many countries. The resolution widely condemns Israeli “aggression” against Palestinians, never mentioning the murderous wave of terror attacks against Israel’s Jews that has left seven dead and 30 injured. It also accuses Israel of denying Muslims the right to worship at the Temple Mount and makes absurd complaints about, among other things, the construction of an elevator at the Western Wall. Furthermore, the UNESCO resolution recycled one of its rote motions that calls on Israel to change the designation of two Jewish holy sites—the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem—as Palestinian historical sites. This is yet another blatant attempt by the Palestinians and a United Nations body to deny Jews their history and identity. We will continue to call attention to these issues to ensure that does not happen.”
For more information, please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on 03 9272-5677