Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) on Monday S. Res. 291, introduced to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations a resolution “affirming the historical connection of the Jewish people to the ancient and sacred city of Jerusalem and condemning efforts at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to deny Judaism’s millennia-old historical, religious, and cultural ties to Jerusalem.”
Resolution S. Res. 291 (click here for the full text) states, among other points, that Jerusalem has played a central role in the history and identity of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years, which hasn’t stopped the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from passing a series of anti-Israel resolutions attempting to erase the Jewish (as well as Christian) historical and religious ties to Jerusalem, “unjustly” singling out “our close ally Israel with false accusations and criticism.”
Senator Cruz’s resolution proposes that the Senate –
(1) recognizes and affirms the historical connection of the Jewish people to the ancient and sacred city of Jerusalem;
(2) recognizes and affirms that the archaeological discoveries from the City of David, the site of ancient Jerusalem, present undeniable scientific evidence of the millennia-old connection of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, and, by extension, to Christianity;
(3) commends the Government of Israel for protecting the freedoms of all faiths in Jerusalem including Jews, Christians, and Muslims, ensuring their access to holy sites so that they may worship freely;
(4) condemns any past, present, or future efforts at UNESCO to delegitimize Israel through attempts to rewrite and deny the history of Jerusalem; and
(5) encourages the United States to continue working with allies to prevent UNESCO from passing biased and unjust anti-Israel resolutions in the future.