Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sent a letter this week to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization protesting a resolution the U.S. lawmakers say is part of a wider effort to delegitimize Israel.
“The United Nations’ obsessive hostility towards Israel will be on display yet again this week as UNESCO considers another blatantly biased resolution that unjustly singles out our close ally Israel with false accusations and criticism, and attempts to erase the specific deep-rooted, historical connection of Jews and Christians to Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital,” Cruz’s office said Tuesday.
The Texas senator and Florida congresswoman were joined in their letter by 39 of their congressional colleagues.
“For thousands of years, Jerusalm [sic] has played a defining, central role in the history and identity of the Jewish people,” Cruz’s office said. “For Christians, Jerusalem is a seminal spiritual site. This resolution flies in the face of, among other things, science as recent archeological excavations, notably in the City of David, have revealed incontrovertible, physical evidence that reaffirms Jewish and Christian ties to the holy city of Jerusalem. Members of the UNESCO Executive Board should vote against this intentional campaign to deny these historical truths, rewrite the history of Jerusalem, and delegitimize Israel.”
Ros-Lehtinen’s office added Tuesday that the proposed U.N. resolution’s “ill intent” is clear
“[T]o deny the historical record of the Jewish peoples’ connections to their holiest city and to imply that Jerusalem is inconsequential to Jews and Christians, with the intent of laying the groundwork for additional UN efforts to delegitimize Israel and undermine its status as the capital of the Jewish State,” he office said.
“Furthermore, this irresponsible and reprehensible resolution falsely lays the blame for the violence on Israel since last October while ignoring the acts of terror and violence that are being incited by the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen. UNESCO was created to build intercultural understanding yet, as is the case across the entire UN system, intolerance and intentionally corrosive behavior on the part of many of the organization’s members has undermined its original mission and only further underscores the need for drastic reform throughout the entire UN system,” they added.
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