UNESCO Does Not Practice What It Preaches

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) co-sponsored a forum at UN headquarters in New York on May 3rd honoring World Press Freedom Day. For the occasion, UNESCO re-tweeted the words “Against disinformation. Against manipulation. Against polarization.” Too bad UNESCO does not practice what it preaches, particularly when it comes to dealing with the truth regarding Israel and the Palestinians.

Feeding the Palestinians’ false narrative is more important to UNESCO than learning the truth

UNESCO has adopted a series of resolutions sponsored by Arab states that deny the historical connection of Jews to the holy sites of Israel. For example, its executive board passed a resolution referring specifically to the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall, as Al-Buraq Plaza “Western Wall Plaza,” using only the Arabic name rather than the Hebrew name, Hakotel Hama'arvi, "Kotel." The resolution effectively denied the historical ties of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount, proving that this dysfunctional UN body is not grounded in any educational, scientific or cultural reality at all. It also passed a resolution labeling the burial site of Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah as a Palestinian Heritage Site. This year, UNESCO’s executive board reiterated its regret over “the failure of the Israeli occupying authorities to cease the persistent excavations, tunnelling, works and projects in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.” In other words, this UN body with “Educational, Scientific and Cultural” in its name opposes Israel’s carefully supervised scientific archeological exploration that may shed more light on the real cultural and religious history of Jerusalem. At the same time, the executive board expressed its appreciation to UNESCO’s Director General “for the results that have been obtained in favour of the protection, reconstruction, rehabilitation and restoration of the Palestinian archaeological sites and cultural heritage.” Feeding the Palestinians’ false narrative is more important to UNESCO than learning the truth.

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There is no distinctive cultural heritage of Palestine in Jerusalem

UNESCO has spoken of “the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem,” as if they were inextricably linked. There is no distinctive cultural heritage of Palestine in Jerusalem. The whole idea of an Israeli occupied “East Jerusalem” that supposedly belongs to the Palestinians is a revisionist construct. Historically, Jews have been living in Jerusalem continuously for more than three millennia. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any sovereign nation except of the Jewish people. In more recent times, Jews have constituted the largest single group of inhabitants in Jerusalem since at least the mid-1800s. Prior to the Jordanians’ illegal occupation, Jerusalem was an undivided city. Jerusalem is so again today, open to worshippers of all faiths. The UNESCO executive board also criticized alleged “Israeli army violations against Palestinian universities and schools” in Gaza without mentioning Hamas’s use of schools to hide its rockets for launching against Israeli civilians in Israel. It condemned Israel’s alleged “censorship of the Palestinian curricula of schools and universities in East Jerusalem” without mentioning Hamas’s censorship of textbooks used in UN-funded schools in Gaza.

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UNESCO has been aiding and abetting the Palestinians and their supporters in propagating disinformation, manipulating facts to create a false narrative, and sowing discord

UNESCO has been aiding and abetting the Palestinians and their supporters in propagating disinformation, manipulating facts to create a false narrative, and sowing discord. As Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon stated, “UNESCO is a body based on lies and biases, and is deliberately acting against us.” Consider some of the current members of UNESCO’s executive board. Turkey, China and Egypt are members through 2021. Last year, they were responsible for more than half of the journalists behind bars, with Turkey winning the honors for jailing the most journalists in the world for the third year in a row, followed by China and Egypt in that order. Iran and Russia, hardly paragons of press freedom in their own countries, are also members of the executive board. It is no surprise that these UNESCO executive board countries have escaped the kind of criticism leveled by the executive board regularly against Israel. UNESCO’s actual record of distorting history and turning a blind eye to abuses of journalists by members of its executive board falls far short of its self-proclaimed lofty principles.