On Tuesday — Israel’s 69th Independence Day — the Executive Board of United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is set to vote on a motion to disavow Israel’s sovereignty over her own eternal capital, the holy city of Jerusalem, the undivided heartbeat of the Jewish nation.
This latest resolution is another of the endless attempts by the Palestinian Authority to evade its responsibility under the internationally-recognized Oslo Accords to reach a final status agreement with the State of Israel through direct negotiations and mutually-agreed-upon solutions to long-suffered problems on both sides of the conflict.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely has released a video statement explaining Israel’s view of this latest attempt by the Palestinian Authority and the international community to wrest Israel’s capital from the heart of her people.
“Tomorrow Israel is going to celebrate its 69th Independence Day. Shortly after, Israel will be celebrating 50 years to the reunification of Jerusalem and 3000 years of Jewish history in our historic capital.
“Tomorrow, even as we celebrate, UNESCO will be voting against Israel’s right to sovereignty in its capital city, Jerusalem.
“This is absurd. We have become used to the concept of ‘fake news’. Well, welcome to ‘fake history’.
“UNESCO has long been politicized and unfortunately has become a tool in the service of Palestinian propaganda against Israel.
“Such absurd and historically baseless resolutions undermine UNESCO’s mission of safeguarding humanity’s cultural heritage.
“We, as Israelis, don’t need UNESCO’s approval of our history in our land. However, for the countries voting tomorrow, I must say in the clearest terms: if you cherish history and affirm UNESCO’s duty to respect historical truth, there is no choice other than to vote against this latest attempt to subvert international institutions in order to attack Israel.”