UNESCO Director Criticizes anti-Israel Resolution: Temple Mount Sacred to Both Jews, Muslims

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on Friday came out agaqinst the agency's executive board for adopting a resolution that disregards the connection between Judaism and Temple Mount and casts doubt over the link between the religion and the Western Wall.

"The Al Aqsa Mosque [or] Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit – or Temple Mount – whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism," Bokova said in a statement.

The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted to adopt an anti-Israel resolution on Thursday.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday that he has instructed the Israeli Committee to UNESCO to suspend cooperation with the UN agency over the motion.

Bennett, who also serves as president of the Israeli Committee to UNESCO, said that members of the committee will meet with officials of the UN agency, attend international conferences or hold any professional cooperation with the organization.

The Israeli Committee to UNESCO represents both government bodies and non-government groups in the field of education, culture and science. Under the Education Ministry, the committee has an advisory role to government policy making on issues relating to UNESCO and its activities in Israel.

Despite Bennett's harsh statement, his instructions lack any practical significance, since there is no planned joint activity between UNESCO and the Israeli committee in the coming weeks.

In his statement, Bennett said that the committee "will not have any professional cooperation with an organization that gives tailwind to terror." He added that he will convene in the next few weeks a special meeting of the Israeli committee to further discuss the necessary steps.

However, most of the cooperation between the Israeli panel, UNESCO and its member countries deals with Israeli initiatives that serve Israeli interests and therefore it is doubtful they will be suspended. Judging by the Israeli committee's website, the panel mostly deals with worldwide education against anti-Semitism, the memory of the Holocaust and the preservation of heritage sites.

Moreover, Bennett's decision has no bearing to any diplomatic ties between the Israeli government and UNESCO and its member states, which are maintained by the Foreign Ministry and will remain unchanged.