What’s more absurd than UNESCO’s resolution? Netanyahu’s policy

Yes, UNESCO’s resolution that there is no Jewish connection to the Temple Mount is absurd. But that absurdity is a reflection of the Israeli government and even some Jews’ attitude and actions towards the Temple Mount.

Netanyahu used his clever wit and bravado to denounce the resolution.   He tweeted, “What’s next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?

He makes a good point. But ironically, the same could be asked of him.

Under Netanyahu’s watch, Jewish citizens’ fundamental rights to outwardly express their connection to the Temple Mount are denied ad nauseam.

What’s next, Bibi? Because these are examples of how Netanyahu’s policies are severing a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount:

Jewish men, women, and children are routinely arrested for either the appearance of praying or for actually praying on the Temple Mount. Arrests have included a 76 year-old Jew who said a blessing before taking a drink of water, an elderly man who was one of the paratroopers who “liberated” the Mount in the ’67 War who said a memorial prayer  for his fellow fallen soldiers on Jerusalem Day, a mom for saying a short Chanukah prayer with her children, and a teenager for appearing to pray.

Jews are required to wait in a line while their identification papers are confiscated, examined, and then kept by the police if the Jew is allowed to ascend. Meanwhile non-Jews and Arabs most often are allowed to ascend the Mount at will.

Jews are often denied entrance without explanation to the Temple Mount even after waiting in line for hours.

Political activists who petition for and encourage others to petition for the rights of all non-Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount are banned from the Mount and are threatened with arrest by the government.

Jews are routinely harassed by groups of Arabs on the Temple Mount. Five Jewish teenagers being harassed by Arabs asked the Israeli police to intervene and the Jewish teens were arrested. Yes, you read that right.

A Jewish woman, with snacks in her purse that were “too Jewish,” was banned by the Israeli police from ascending the Mount.

On Holocaust Memorial day, police warned Jews on the Mount to avoid standing still while the memorial siren sounded.

Jews are often prohibited at the last minute from ascending the Temple Mount on Jewish holidays.

All the above actions are taken against Jews by their own government for one reason only: to avoid upsetting Arabs.

For decades, an unhealthy pattern has continued of the Israeli government basing decisions regarding the State of Israel on whether or not Arab leaders will be “inflamed” rather than on what is best for Jews. Nonsensical policies are often implemented to appease the populace of Arabs who are offended by a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.  These policies are the antithesis to the rights of Jews and to the upholding of Jewish heritage and sacredness of the Temple Mount.

So UNESO isn’t going to recognize a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount? Sadly, they are just following the lead of the Israeli government who, although, acknowledges the Jewish historical connection to the Temple Mount, bends over backwards to prohibit a Jewish connection today.

A basic principle in life is that people will take you at your own reckoning. Therefore, if the Israeli government and the majority of Jews not only believed, but acted upon the belief, that the Temple Mount was and is the heart of Israel past and present, UNESCO’s bias and blatant revisionism would be irrelevant.  A powerful paradigm shift will occur when the Jews of Israel accept and implement without apology their sovereignty.  As one of my Jewish friends in Israel recently said, “May we have the audacity to grow up and be the sovereign nation of Israel.”