A Christian pro-Israel group flooded the United Nation’s cultural arm with thousands of condemnatory emails Monday, after the body passed a draft resolution last week denying Jewish and Christian ties to holy sites in Jerusalem.
According to the group, members of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) sent the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over 2,000 emails in less than 30 minutes, imploring the agency’s overseers not to give final approval to a measure that “attack[s] the faith of all Christians and Jews.”
UNESCO’s draft resolution, titled “Occupied Palestine,” refers to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names, effectively severing Jewish and Christian ties to the holy sites. The resolution passed last week in a 24 to 6 vote with 26 abstentions.
“Jesus of Nazareth did not pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he prayed at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem,” the mass email, sent to UNESCO’s director-general and chairman of its executive board, reads. “And he prayed at the Jewish Temple almost six centuries before Mohammed was even born.”
UNESCO’s resolution, the email warns, “will weaken all seeking peace and reconciliation with Israel” while “strengthen[ing] those seeking to delegitimize and destroy Israel.”
“Make no mistake about it—your lies will fuel terrorism and bloodshed.”
David Brog, a director at CUFI, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that this measure is not only a cultural attack on Israel and Jews, but also an attack on Christians.
“UNESCO and the nations that supported this despicable resolution—including a number of majority Christian nations—seemed to think they were “only” slighting Jews and Israel,” Brog said. “What they failed to realize is that they had been duped into insulting Christianity as well.”
“This resolution demonstrates what we in CUFI have been saying for years: attacks on Israel won’t end with Israel and Jews. Christians are next.”
While the flood of emails likely won’t sway final approval of the resolution, Brog said, “that’s not an excuse for silence.”
Israel cut ties with UNESCO Friday after the measure passed.
The resolution also sparked outrage from American Jewish groups, who denounced UNESCO for engaging in “blatant historical revisionism.”
“This is another attempt to undermine the very foundation of the State of Israel and the documented, age-old historical Jewish connection to the land,” David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), said in a statement last week.
Over 40 U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voiced opposition to the draft resolution before and after its approval, with Texas senator Ted Cruz and Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen leading the charge.
“For thousands of years, Jerusalem has played a defining, central role in the history and identity of the Jewish people. For Christians, Jerusalem is a seminal spiritual site,” their letter said. “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.”
UNESCO’s Executive Board is expected to proceed with a formal vote on the measure this week, as early as Tuesday.
