Haifa City Council Member Shai Blumenthal is demanding that Mayor Yona Yahav change the name of Haifa's UNESCO Square to Cave of the Patriarchs Square in response to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization's decision to declare the Hevron landmark a Palestinian Authority heritage site.
In a conversation with Arutz 7, Blumenthal said that this is a Zionist act that will put UNESCO in its place, as he puts it. He noted "At the time UNESCO decided to recognize the Bahá'í Gardens as World Heritage Sites, noting that Haifa is a city of tolerance and dialogue among all religions, but unfortunately UNESCO then is the complete opposite of today's UNESCO, a political and anti-Semitic organization." He also noted that following a UN resolution in 1975 that Zionism was racism, the city of replaced United Nations Boulevard with Zionism Boulevard.