When the United Nations was created amidst the wreckage of World War II as a mechanism for shaping a new international order, its founders had some high hopes for their new global institution. The preamble to the UN Charter explicitly envisioned saving succeeding generations from war, promoting social progress, maintaining international law, practicing peace and tolerance, and all other sorts of laudable goals. But even the UN’s creators could never have imagined the immense power the organization has assumed to rewrite history and create an alternate timeline to the universe, as happened last week when a committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to adopt a resolution that erased any trace of a Jewish connection to Judaism’s holiest site. In some ways this absurd farce does not and should not matter in the least, but in other ways it is a microcosm of much that is wrong with matters that pertain to Israel.
From one perspective, this is not a big deal. Whether UNESCO wants to acknowledge it or not, the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount is immediately evident after five minutes of studying archeology, three minutes of studying ancient history, and half a second of studying Jewish liturgy. And even if none of that were the case, the fact is that Judaism as a religion reveres the Temple Mount as its holiest site, and so that ipso facto makes it so. Pretending otherwise is puerile and infantile, and much like the Israeli demand for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, whether outside parties recognize the Temple Mount as a holy Jewish site or not is beside the point since it is one, plain and simple. Having someone else say it won’t make it more so, and having someone else deny it certainly won’t make it less so.
But from another perspective, this is a monumental deal that should not be downplayed or waved away. It is critical to understand not only what the Temple Mount represents and what it means to Jews (and observant Jews in particular), but just how much Israel sacrifices and Jews give up by maintaining the current status quo at the site. Imagine if Jews claimed the Kaaba in Mecca as holy to Judaism as well as to Islam, and Israel assumed control of the Kaaba compound and allowed Muslims to visit for a couple of hours a day but expressly forbade them from praying there, creating a blatantly discriminatory double standard against Muslims at Islam’s holiest place. Then imagine further that Israel pushed a UNESCO resolution acknowledging a Muslim connection to Mecca but none at all to the Kaaba, and blasting Saudi Arabia for not respecting the “integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage” of the explicitly Jewish site. The world would literally be up in arms in this scenario, yet this is what happens at Judaism’s holiest site, and not only is the situation not condemned, but Israel is the party criticized. The situation for Jews on the Temple Mount is the equivalent of religious apartheid, yet Israel not only goes along with it but it enforces it in the interests of maintaining the peace. To then add insult to injury by using Israel’s enormous and massive restraint at the Temple Mount against it in pretending that there is no Jewish connection at all is reprehensible. That the UNESCO resolution alludes to the importance of Jerusalem for Judaism – although never comes out and explicitly says it but only mentions “the three monotheistic religions – and uses the Jewish terms for religious sites in the West Bank only makes the purposeful absence of Jewish terms in connection to the Temple Mount even worse, and using UNESCO’s acknowledgement of Jewish Jerusalem to whitewash memory-holing the Temple Mount is a disgraceful rhetorical technique. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova’s statement essentially renouncing the UNESCO resolution and using the terms Temple Mount and Har Habayit should be applauded by everyone.
The larger problem here is not what this resolution says about history, but what it says about the future. The Palestinian push to make this resolution happen rightly feeds into fears of what will happen to Jews and Jewish holy places in a future Palestinian state, and whether the same basic access and protections that Israel affords to non-Jewish religious sites will be reciprocated in any way. The “historic status quo” repeatedly referred to in the UNESCO resolution is only five decades old; it should not escape notice that the status quo before 1967 was that the Temple Mount was Jew-free entirely. This latest move does not instill confidence for the future of religious tolerance and respect, and it also raises the question of why the Palestinians are wasting their time trying to deny what are plainly obvious historical facts rather than accomplishing anything productive diplomatically. If this is the best that Palestinian leadership can muster, then it is no wonder that the Palestinian Authority is abysmally unpopular. It also feeds into the Israeli instinct to distrust the UN and the international community more generally, since it is all fine and well that no European countries voted for the resolution, but that France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and other couldn’t get up the courage to do more than abstain reinforces the Israeli view that they will never get a fair shake.
The resolution’s sponsoring countries also point to a tough road ahead for Israel. The draft was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan. Israel touts its ties with Egypt as one of its greatest diplomatic successes, has been trying to improve Sudan’s relations with the West as a way of further isolating Iran, and frequently coordinates behind the scenes with Qatar – Hamas’s primary international patron – in order to manage the situation in Gaza. Yet when push comes to shove, these countries have no compunction about raising completely outrageous claims about Israel and Judaism at the UN over an issue that has no tangible diplomatic value other than emotionally wounding Jews around the world. This is not encouraging for Israel’s regional acceptance and normalization, to say the least.
It cannot be that every offensive statement made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, every rhetorical provocation committed by an Israeli minister, and every move to deny Palestinian claims and narratives by the Israeli government are highlighted and written in stone for all to bash until the end of time, but the Palestinians can do the same and get a free pass. UNESCO’s repugnance does not have the same terrible daily impact, for instance, as demolishing Palestinian homes that were built without permits that Israel refuses to grant, but it is repugnant nonetheless and must be condemned without qualification. That Judaism’s connection to its holiest and most revered religious site is now the subject of official UN debate is humiliating not only to the UN, but to anyone who respects those pesky little things called facts.
Ottomans and Zionists 
How did Jordan treat Jewish Cemeteries and temples? There is no question how the Arabs would administer Jewish sites.
“That Judaism’s connection to its holiest and most revered religious site is now the subject of official UN debate is humiliating not only to the UN, but to anyone who respects those pesky little things called facts.”
Hit the nail on the head. The regressive left has shown themselves to be irrational, regularly supporting narratives over facts. Kol hakavod!
“Pretending otherwise is puerile and infantile, and much like the Israeli demand for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
Except that Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state does have ramifications for Israel security, viz. that were the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a “Jewish State” they would thus affirm its legitimacy and would—presumably (though this would be naive)—not attempt to delegitimize it or destroy it.
To be sure, considerations regarding Israeli security are, for the sophisticates—and realists!—of the liberal persuasion, “puerile and infantile”.