Analysts Weigh in on Risks and Highlights

The 58-member Executive Board  of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted on Thursday to approve a resolution tabled by the Palestinian Authority declaring the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City has no historic ties to Judaism. The vote passed with 24 nations voting yes and 6 voting no, while a nearly unprecedented 26 countries abstained from voting, leaving diplomatic analysts saying the vote was actually a hollow victory for the PA and not a catastrophe for Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to events by declaring “The theater of the absurd continues at the UN. Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for more than 3,000 years. What’s next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock ‘n’ roll?”

Senior officials in the US government also spoke out against the vote. The six countries that voted in support of Israel were the United States, Great Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany and Estonia.

In related news, Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold resigned on Thursday, quipping that the UNESCO vote a “going away present” from the body which has been unremittingly hostile to the Jewish State for many years. He added that several countries which often vote against Israel in UN forums voted to abstain in this case.

“What this indicates is that things are shifting for Israel,” Gold said. “You are not going to get a total re-definition about how states are going to vote in the UN system in a matter of a few months, but a new trend is clear, which I hope Israel can build upon in the months and years ahead.”

He also pointed out that the vote is symbolic and not binding, adding that UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova declared that she won’t implement it since there is no consensus.

Meanwhile, the PA’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying, “We regret that few countries succumbed to the PR bullying orchestrated by Israel, which shifted the focus from Israel’s illegal and colonial actions in occupied East Jerusalem to issues irrelevant to the content and objectives of the resolutions, which aims to put an end to Israel’s dangerous and illegal actions against holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestinian rights, including the right to worship. Palestine will continue to defend the rights of our people through all available legal and diplomatic avenues, including UN organizations. Our peaceful agenda will not be derailed by propaganda, nor will our tolerance and adherence to international law be altered by fallacies and cynical spin,”

“Soon, UNESCO will say that the Emperor Titus engaged in Zionist propaganda,” Netanyahu said in response. “To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it had left,” Netanyahu added.

Here is a video the Israeli Foreign Ministry made in response to the vote:

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