New York, NY,. . . Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued the following statement:
“We are outraged over the latest maneuver by Palestinians and some members of UNESCO in their ongoing efforts to erase the more than 3,800-year Jewish and 2,000 year Christian connection to the holy sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel. It is long past the time when UNESCO should stop considering and adopting scurrilous resolutions filled with false information and baseless accusations against Israel and gravely insult the most fundamental elements of Judaism.
Today we wrote to the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, Professor Jacek Purchla, calling on him to use all of the means available to prevent the Committee from adopting another offensive, biased resolution that inflicts a grave injustice against the Jewish people, history, and faith, as well as the Christian heritage of the holy sites in Israel.
Earlier resolutions adopted by the UN World Heritage Committee removed the ancient traditional names of the Temple Mount, Western Wall, and Rachel’s Tomb and now only designates these most important and central pilgrimage sites by their Muslim names.
The Conference of Presidents has also launched an online campaign enlisting global support for our call to end the assault on Jewish and Christian history at UNESCO and other UN bodies.”
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