UNESCO, Wednesday take two

After the good anti-Semitic result by UNESCO’s Executive Board was brought home, now on Wednesday, only a week later, the body’s World Heritage Committee is set to vote on a similar text in an effort to strengthen the lie on the most “shocking” or “incredible” (to use Matteo Renzi’s word) resolution: one in which Jews and Christians have nothing to do with Jerusalem and its cultural and archaeological heritage. “[It’s] like saying that the sun create darkness,” said Italian Prime Minister Renzi to Netanyahu.

The light that illuminates UNESCO is again psychedelic: only Muslims, according to the board, and now according to the committee, can claim its cultural heritage and therefore manage, of course, both its institutional and state issues.

Why? Because for UNESCO Palestine is a State: they were the first in the world who admitted “Palestine” as a state. It was back in October 2011, and then, guess what, the following year UNESCO… well, if you tried guessing how the UNESCO used the weapon of its anti-Semitism, we will have to disappoint you.

What it decided in 2012 doesn’t have to do with Jewish heritage, but with the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, that of the manger, the ox and the donkey. The Palestinian Authority spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi immediately declared that it was an important affirmation of Palestinian sovereignty … And this is precisely the point.

All these steps are prone to a political statement that has nothing to do with culture, but only with a policy that includes the criminalization and the denial of any right of the Jewish people to its homeland. It is a planned strategy that involves a deadly diplomatic war, which has been in motion since the days of Arafat.

Now, on Wednesday, the new resolution will not put Italy to the test even after Renzi repentance about his delegation’s vote, because the voting committee consists of 21 states, of which Italy doesn’t belong. And you’re certain, if you look at the list, that there won’t even be any new deliberations about the decisions taken in the previous resolution: the Temple Mount is called in the resolution with just the Muslim name “Al Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and defines it as “a Muslim holy site of worship.”

At least last week text included a passage (peripheral) that spoke of the ”importance of the Jerusalem’s Old City for the three monotheistic religions.” Now this reference is gone. Mexico and Brazil, who also expressed regret over having voted “yes” to the resolution, in addition to Italy which abstained, are not members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee.

After Renzi’s decision, Netanyahu phoned him to express his appreciation, and said, “If the Palestinians continue to adhere to this dangerous path, which is actually a diplomatic jihad against the Jewish people, Judaism and Christianity, they will discover that last week’s surprises from Mexico and Italy are only the beginning.”Actually, the entire stage devised by UNESCO is a sham which conceals a new growing impatience among Abu Mazen’s long-standing supporters due to the fact that Palestinian ideology not only praises terrorism, but also leaves no room for negotiation. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states, not to mention China and India, old proponents of the Palestinian cause tout court, are reviewing their relationship with Israel due to the common war against Islamist terror, as well as to vital interests with regard to technological and economic development.

UNESCO wants to preserve its privilege of retroguard in trying to destroy the Jewish state, so let it be with its suicide attitude. Commenting on Renzi’s position, Netanyahu also said the following: “The change in UN institutions will take some years and will also entail disappointments but these are – without doubt – the first signs of a welcome change.” It would be nice if Italy, after denouncing publicly ,as it has done, the “incredible” choice of UNESCO, would invite its fellow member states to adopt a new stance this coming Wednesday.

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Translation by Amy K. Rosenthal

This article originally appeared in slightly different form in Italian in Il Giornale (October 24, 2016)