Tens of Thousands Sign Petition Demanding UNESCO Recognize Jewish Ties to Jerusalem

The Algemeiner reports: Outrage over UNESCO’s approval on Thursday of a resolution that omitted the Jewish people’s ties with Jerusalem continued to grow over the weekend.

As of Sunday morning, more than 65,000 people had signed an online petition calling on the UN cultural body to “recognize the deep historic, cultural and religious connection between the Jewish people and holy sites in the land of Israel.”

The Change.org petition, authored by the International Legal Forum and the pro-Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs, focused on the Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism, as it is where the two temples once stood — which the UNESCO resolution referred to as the “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and its surroundings.”

“By UNESCO deliberately ignoring the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, UNESCO violates the basic human rights of Jews everywhere, as well as those of other religions whose beliefs and heritage include the spiritual and historical connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem,” the petition said.

Furthermore, the petition stated, “UNESCO’s denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and its holy sites violates UNESCO’s own mandate by erasing the heritage of millions of people and violating their religious and cultural rights. It also hurts any prospect of peace and vicariously supports a radical ideology that denies the Jewish connection to the land of Israel and its holy sites. This type of religious intolerance effectively leads to violence around the world.”

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