President Reuven Rivlin and Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi David Lau criticized Tuesday's decision by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization to ratify last week's resolution denying non-Muslim ties to Jerusalem.
Speaking as a guest in Rabbi Lau's Sukkah in Modiin, President Rivlin called it a "political decision that expresses the lack of recognition of the Zionist existence."
Rabbi Lau responded, "UNESCO, which is supposed to deal in the field of education and culture, made a decision that proves that [its members] have no education, no culture and no knowledge of history, and the prayer we say 'and may You return in mercy to Jerusalem Your city' is stronger than any decision of theirs."