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​B’nai B’rith International condemns the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) executive board’s Programme and External Relations Commission for passing an anti-Semitic resolution, entitled “Occupied Palestine,” that calls into question the connection between Jews and their holiest site, the Temple Mount. Using Arabic names, while omitting others entirely or placing them in quotation marks, effectively reclassifies the Temple Mount and the Western Wall as primarily Islamic sites.
 
“The U.N. and its agencies have been targeting Israel for years, but now the Palestinian Authority is again showing its true colors by pushing through a frontal attack on the history and very identity of Jews everywhere. The Temple Mount has always been the center of Jewish civilization, and the Western Wall, the remnant of Jews’ eternal religious devotion. This outrageous resolution will not break that bond, but it does bring into further disrepute UNESCO and the United Nations,” B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman said.
 
We praise the United States, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which voted against the resolution. Twenty-six countries abstained in the voting, including eight European countries. The resolution passed with 24 votes.
 
“This resolution aims to deny never-questioned historical truth in order to further a Palestinian political agenda. Those western democracies who abstained on this vote ought to know better, and should have taken an unambiguous stance in defense of history and of honesty,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said.