UNESCO has a tough enough time as it is, standing up to wild Israeli claims of legitimacy, without the US Senate piling on. For shame!*
You remember Denver’s founders, don’t you? You know, the pilgrims? The ones who came over on the Mayflower? Surely you remember the founders of Utah. You know:the Catholics. And Rome. It was founded by the Protestants. This is all well known history, right?
It is, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO — you know, the organization with “scientific” in its title. It believes that Jerusalem was not founded by Jews or Israelites, and has nothing to do with its current occupiers: citizens of the State of Israel.
UNESCO recently clarified the history of Jerusalem by voting to reject Israel’s sovereignty over the city, all in the name of science. To make the point especially clear, UNESCO voted on what more than a few misguided citizens of the world call Israel’s Independence Day.
At UNESCO, 22 countries voted in favor, 23 abstained and 10 opposed the Jerusalem-isn’t-Israel measure. Strange, but we thought that science was verifiable, not subject to a vote. But who are we to question the wisdom of the sages at UNESCO? Who are we to say that Denver was founded by gold seekers, Utah by Mormons and Rome by pagans? What do we know?
Here’s who voted no on the measure to deny Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem (pardon all the double negatives; here’s who voted yes to Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem): the US, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo and the UK. Look at how 10 countries from all over the world have lost their respect for scientific sense and foolishly questioned the sages of UNESCO.
We are blessed to know that Sweden voted for the measure, thus denying Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. It’s good to see that settled science and historical truth still rules this beautiful Scandinavian country, not to mention the other 21 countries who voted for the measure.
The one word not included in UNESCO’s name is “Political.” UNESCO is not a political organization, thank goodness; otherwise, we might suspect that politics ruled its dispassionate deliberations. Another word not in UNESCO’s title is “Bias.” It is strictly education, science and culture that carries the day at UNESCO.
Contrast this with the intellectual backwater we call the US Senate. Talk about group think. Talk about a political lobotomy. All 100 US senators signed a letter demanding that the world body end its “anti-Israel agenda.” What a bunch of special pleaders, these US Senators. Can’t they, once and for all, get beyond the influence of the Israel lobby and put an end to their small-minded advocacy of just one single country around the globe? It’s a big world out there! Let the US Senate concern themselves with all countries, not just one.
The US Senators sent their letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who himself acted very unprofessionally when he said a couple of weeks ago that it was wrong to call Israel an apartheid state. Talk about bias from the UN head, who’s supposed to be above the fray.
The US senators wrote: “Too often, the UN is exploited as a vehicle for targeting Israel rather than as a forum committed to advancing the lofty goals of its founders. These actions have at times reinforced the broader scourge of anti-Semitism, and distracted certain UN entities from their original missions.”
The UN, reinforcing anti-Semitism? What world does the Senate live in? Has the US Senate lost all perspective? Sadly, we have to say yes. Further on in the letter the US Senators question not only UNESCO, but the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and the UN Human Rights Council. The gall! It would have been far more appropriate for the Senate to salute the Human Rights Council for recently appointing Saudi Arabia as a council member. This ended a longstanding discriminatory practice against the eminent Arab kingdom for its get-tough-on-crime policy of cutting off people’s hands. Not to mention, Saudi Arabia was also elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which is “dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”So what if Saudi female citizens are not allowed to make their own decisions or drive a car? The short-sighted US Senate cannot see the Saudi forest from the trees —the beautiful Saudi elevation of its country’s women.
Really piling on, the US Senate’s letter then took a potshot at the UN for passing two resolutions denying Jewish ties to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, instead asking the world body to focus on human rights in China, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and South Sudan, as if anything these countries do or don’t do could possibly rise to the level of specious Israeli claims to the Temple Mount!
We’ll hand it to the US Senate at least for this: It confined itself to words. It did not threaten to cut off funds to the UN, while acknowledging that the US is the UN’s largest contributor. We’ll just have to live with the Senate’s misguided bile against the esteemed world body, the last best hope of mankind. The main thing is, the Senate did not cut off funds. It’s never a bad time to be grateful for small mercies.
Hiding behind an insincere sop to equality, the Senate told the UN to “ensure that Israel is treated neither better nor worse than any other UN member in good standing.” Better that the Senate take a leaf out of UNESCO’s book and tell Israel, population 8.68 million, to stop making it so bad for the rest of the world, population 6.5 billion. Tell Israel to stop pretending that Jerusalem, founded by King David of Judea and not mentioned in the Koran once, has anything to do with Jewish people.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
