The U.N. – UNbearably UNbalanced
The U.N. – UNbearably UNbalanced

Now just when you thought things couldn’t get more comical, along comes the most recent declaration from that lovely world body of clowns – UNESCO!  In their ignorance - and arrogance, they have decided that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has no particular “Jewish connection,” and is, according to them, of utmost Arab/Muslim importance.

Before sinking our teeth into this Fellini-like absurdity, let’s take a good look at the initials UNESCO. It actually stands for, fasten you seal-belts, United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization. Uh, right. About that. Could there be any notion that’s as anti-educational, non-scientific, and totally culturally biased as this latest UN anti-Israel lunacy?

In the “UN Theater of the absurd,” this latest anti-Israel claim, however, stoops to new lows. For it completely ignores all historical and scientific evidence of the great Jewish presence there for more than 2,000 years. I’m reminded of the famous statement by the great Israeli statesman Abba Eban, who said many years ago with great insight: “If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions. “

Abba Eban said with great insight: “If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions. “
A bit off on the actual numbers today, Eban was clearly right about the passing of outrageous anti-Israel resolutions from the UN, which has this perverse obsession with the Middle East’s one and only functioning multi-cultural democracy.  They’ve been utterly hijacked by the Palestinian cause (whatever they may mean), and despite a hundred other areas of the globe in crisis, the UN continues to focus its efforts on tiny Israel and the “oppressed” Palestinians Arabs.

Well that’s what the Arab and Muslim countries would have us believe. Never mind the facts here, folks. Those are pesky little things that get in the way of their true objective – that of getting rid of Israel.  Just for fun, let’s enumerate some of these facts that run contrary to the wild Palestinian claims of Israeli genocide, ethnic cleansing, oppression,  & ethno-centrism.

  • Israel gave away the entire Gaza area to the Arabs. It became an Israeli, Jewish, and Christian free zone, with Israel removing thousands of Jews from their homes. All for the sake of increasing the peace. The Palestinian Arabs were free people there to begin their own dream of building a homeland. Unfortunately they elected a Hamas-led government that, to this very day, doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to even exist. Furthermore, they were in much closer range to Israeli cities and population centers, which quickly became targets for rockets, gunfire, kidnappings, stabbings, murders, and other acts of terrorism.
  • In Israel proper, Palestinians and other Arabs are free to worship as they please and where they please. Muslim women are allowed to pursue advanced degrees, drive cars, and come and go in freedom – something they can’t do in many Muslim countries.
  • How about those signs seen at many a Palestinian Arab demonstration throughout the world that proclaim “Stop Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians!”  And “Israel = Apartheid!” There’s over a million Muslims living in pre 1967 Israel today. They live, work, & play where they choose. There are Arabs in the Knesset. There are Arab judges. And many Arabs serve in the IDF and as police officers. If apartheid means not living together with any other human being besides your own kind, well that would basically sum up the Palestinian  Arabs living in Gaza, who insisted that all “others” vacate the area.  It also aptly describes a whole bunch of other Arab countries where anyone different is deemed an “infidel.” These infidels soon become victims of extreme persecution including torture and death.  
  • Now let’s mention Jerusalem and the Temple Mount area. First, from 1948 – 1967, this part of Jerusalem was under Jordanian control. Guess how they ran things? Jews were given the boot. Synagogues were closed. There was no free access for Jews to these sacred parts of Jerusalem. Not until Israel won the territory back in 1967. How did Israel run things there? Pretty much the same way they’re doing it now. Everyone has access to the places of worship. Doesn’t matter if they’re black, white, yellow, red, or purple. Doesn’t matter if they’re Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. Let’s be honest here. Those who insist that Israel should give away parts of Jerusalem for peace and divide the city into two or more pieces, are really saying that they want it to go back to the pre-1967 format of no Jews/Israelis allowed.
  • There’s been a Jewish presence in this small peace of Middle East real estate for a long, long time.  And there’s a whole bunch of archeological findings, from Hevron to Tzfat to the Judean Hills to Masada to well, you get the picture, that confirm this presence since the times of Abraham. So we’re talking not hundreds but several thousand years of Jews living and often thriving in this land known as Israel. They had their own currency, their own writing system, their own government, and their own capital – Jerusalem. It's all in the Bible but it's also visible in archaeological findings.
  • The P.A. issued a response to this latest UN fiasco stating that now there should be increased pressure on Israel to end the “occupation.” First, if “occupied” means that people now live in areas where other people once lived, then this term applies to pretty much every country in the world. Wherever folks live, for better or worse, one group has displaced another all throughout history. Europe is no exception. The Americas are no exception. The Far East and the Middle East are no exceptions. Stating that Israel is the bad guy and “occupier” here is limited vision at best, and anti-Semitism at worst. History didn’t begin in 1948 or 1900 or even in 1200. It’s an ongoing story that began since people first came on the scene and it is one that continues to develop. Countries and borders of today will change in the future too.
  • What some see as “occupation” may, in fact, be the opposite – one of returning and redemption. Still, the important thing to remember is that Israel continues to make gestures for the sake of peace. They’ve signed documents, treaties, given away huge chunks of land they won in wars of self-defense. Israel desires to live in peace with her neighbors.

UNESCO’s recent holier-than-thou decree does nothing to contribute to this peace process. In fact, it only serves to fuel the hatred and incitement against Israel.

This absurd declaration taking out the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall are meaningless words that blow in the wind. The UN, long corrupted from its’ original purpose, has become a political tool in the hands of those obsessed with slandering Israel. It’s high time to let this wacko organization bite the dust – not unlike the League of Nations. Rather than deal with, for example, the situation in Syria that has cost more than 400,000 lives (on the low estimate side), the Palestinian “cause” once again tries desperately to gain center attention on the world stage.

The US, and all freedom-loving, democratic countries, should pull their funding from the UNESCO and the entire UN, which has long abandoned its noble creed of functioning as “a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together.”  When it comes to Israel, the UN continues to blindly stumble along the path of sowing seeds of disagreement, rewriting history, and perpetuating falsehoods.

The only true peace partner for the Palestinian Arabs is actually Israel. It’s not Jordan or Iran or Syria or any of these other countries that would sell them out in a heartbeat for political gain. And it’s certainly not the UN and UNESCO who, for the time being, sell them a pack of lies. Only with Israel will the Palestinian Arabs have opportunities to live in freedom and peace.  The UN has turned into a complete farce with UNESCO showing its true creed:

UNaccountable. UNacceptably UNacademic. And now - totally UNnecessary.