UNESCO is irredeemable at this point. The question is whether the entire UN is too. We know that about UNRWA: their special “refugee” agency purely for the cultivated and coddled “Palestinian refugees” of 1948 and their infinite decedents is an agency for spreading Jew hatred. It would appear UNESCO may well be just as far gone as UNRWA.
As was widely reported last week, UNESCO are currently scrubbing all Jewish connection to the well known (and astonishingly well documented) site of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Which was destroyed by the Romans: a piece of history recorded in a number of corroborating sources and backed by voluminous archeological evidence. It’s also clear in an act of colonial supremacy, when Islam conquered Israel, they did exactly what was the usual action of Islamic conquerors. They built their new “holy” site on top of that which was most holy to the indigenous people.
Today at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee (being held in Turkey), UNESCO will have two reports about Jerusalem presented to them. One of them is respectful of all religions and speaks in an even handed way about all sites and the useful, preservative steps being taken to keep and preserve Jerusalem for all who wish to see it. Obviously it’s Israeli.
The other is a declaration of war:
THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN and
THE STATE OF PALESTINEThis report is an update of the state of conservation of the Old City of Jerusalem and Its Walls, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (proposed by Jordan) in 1981 and as a World Heritage Site in Danger since 1982. While the report brings in some conservation plans and actions taken at the Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Jordanian Jerusalem Awqaf (JJA), it focuses on violations and aggressions by the Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) against the authenticity, sanctity, identity, and integrity of many sites in the Old City of Jerusalem and Its Walls during the period of January 2015 through February 2016. Jordanian Jerusalem Awqaf, Palestinian NGOs and domestic observers have contributed to gathering information and documenting the IOA’s violations, highlighted in this report. Israeli media, experts and NGOs’ reports were also used in this report, especially to obtain evidence and some details regarding the covert digging and tunneling. This report also reconfirms the position and concerns of Jordan and Palestine regarding many IOA’s violations, claims and aggressions, some of which have already been deplored by the UNESCO decisions of the Executive Board Sessions in Paris and the World Heritage Committee 39th Session in Bonn.
It is 54 pages long. The table of contents will give you a clue:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif: Israel’s Violations And Jordan’s Position
A- Definition Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif………………………… 4
B- The Status Quo At Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif ……………………….. 5
C- The Israeli Violations Against The Status Quo Of Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif ……………………………………………………………. 6
D- Hashemite Restoration Projects At Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 15Chapter 2: Israeli Occupation Aggressions And Violations Against The Historic Character Of The Old City Of Jerusalem
A- Intrusive Constructions, Tunneling And Underground Excavations At The Western Wall Of Al-Aqsa Mosque And Al-Buraq Plaza ……….17
B- Intrusive Tunneling, Excavations And Judaization Of The Ummayyad Palaces Area ………………………………………………………………26
C- Intrusive Tunneling And Excavations Under The Muslim Quarter And Al-Wad Street …………………………………………………………. 31
D- Silwan – Intrusive Tunneling And Excavations South Of The Wall Of Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif …………………………………………37
E- Enforced Judaization Projects In And Around The Old City Of Jerusalem And Its Walls ………………………………………………………………39
F- Aggressions Against Churches And Christian Sites………………………..48Chapter 3: Recommendations
The definition of what we’re all talking about is this:
A- DEFINITION OF THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE / Al-HARAM AL-SHARIF
“Al-Aqsa Mosque” and “Al-Haram al-Sharif” are identical terms. They must be consistently referred to jointly as the “Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram al-Sharif”. It is the mosque that God Himself, Exalted be He, named “Al-Aqsa Mosque” in the first verse of Surat Al-Isra’ (The Holy Qur’an, Al-Isra’ 17:1). It is Islam’s First Qibla and it is the Mosque to which Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ordered Muslims to make pilgrimage, as one of the three holiest mosques in Islam. The Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al- Haram al-Sharif is a sacred site of great significance to Muslims all over the world. (See full definition of Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif).
“Jordanian-Palestinian Agreement to Jointly Defend Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” signed by His Majesty King Abdullah II and His Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on 31 March 2013 defines Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram al-Sharif (in the Preamble at paragraph C) as the 144 Dunums (= 144,000 m – with lengths of 491m west, 462m east, 310m north and 281m south), which includes the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa, the Mosque of the Dome of the Rock and all its mosques, buildings, walls, courtyards, attached areas over and beneath the ground and the Waqf properties tied-up to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif, to its environs or to its pilgrims.
Note the absolutely unequivocal tying of the Temple Mount to the Quran (“Al-Aqsa Mosque” in the first verse of Surat Al-Isra’ – The Holy Qur’an, Al-Isra’ 17:1). This despite the fact that the name of Jerusalem doesn’t appear in that book even once. Just today another fragment of papyrus was discovered that names Jerusalem some 1,400 years BEFORE the Quran was dreamt up. The name of Jerusalem was world famous at that time yet never made it to the Quran. It’s now expedient to tie Al-Aqsa to Jerusalem but it wasn’t necessary for the writers of the Quran to make that clear when they wrote it. From the outset this is an Islamic theological position.
As Dave has covered here, the “storming” of the Jewish Temple Mount by Jewish religious “extremists” is a big problem. I’ll just give you a flavour of the horror by including some of the illustrations and their captions:
The document ends with a threat to international peace from 1.7 billion Muslims if they don’t get their way on every one of their (many, many) grievances.
I also want to note UNESCO is damaging Tel Aviv trying to stop Jews improving on Jewish Tel Aviv and potentially setting quite a few more of us to die than might otherwise as and when another earthquake comes our way. Motty Kedar has more on that story.
Don’t think this is going away and don’t think this attack by UNESCO is accidental. It will continue because there is a strong religious obligation to see keep Judaism down. Either we have to face them and perhaps throw UNESCO and the Waqf out of Israel or we’ll continue taking fire trying to unlink Jews from our heritage.
