A United Nations General Assembly committee on Thursday adopted a resolution, backed by 139 member states, that referred to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount only by its Muslim name and ignored any connection to Judaism — despite it being the religion’s holiest site.
It was one of seven resolutions that passed Thursday condemning Israel with zero on the entire rest of the world.
The resolution raised concern with “tensions and violence” on “occupied” Palestinian territories, such as “the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharifm” — the Muslim name for the holy site.
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan called the resolution a “disgrace” and an “audacious attempt to rewrite history.”
“It completely ignores any link between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount – our holiest site. This is a disgrace. The audacious attempt to rewrite history will not change the indisputable fact that the Jewish connection to the city of Jerusalem dates back thousands of years.
“They will also not change the fact that today, our connection to Jerusalem is stronger than ever. A growing number of countries are moving their embassies to Jerusalem, our united and undivided capital,” Erdan said.
Malawi this week announced its intention to open a permanent embassy in Jerusalem by the summer of 2021, marking the first African country to do so. The U.S. and Guatemala moved their embassies to Jerusalem and Serbia and Kosovo announced their decision to open embassies in the capital following a normalization deal.
Erdan noted Israel allows all religions had access to Jerusalem’s holy sites. The holy site, known as the Temple Mount to Jews, marks the spot where both the First and the Second Jewish Temple stood. Today the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Shrine are located there and the site is administered by Jordanian Waqf.
Jews visiting the site are routinely arrested for violating the rule prohibiting non-Muslim prayer with the utterance of Jewish verses or prostration.
“No resolution passed here will change the eternal connection between the Jewish people and the holiest site of our faith – Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount,” said Erdan.
“For years, the Palestinians have promoted language that includes only the Muslim term of “Haram al-Sharif” and purposely excludes the Jewish name – Temple Mount,” he said.
Erdan told U.N. member states their “support has emboldened the Palestinians to not only deny the Jewish connection to these sites, but to deny Muslims access to them, too, while threatening violence. By supporting these resolutions you share responsibility for this behavior.”
Hillel Neuer, head of monitoring group U.N. Watch, called Thursday’s anti-Israel resolution “surreal.”
“The U.N.’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said Neuer.
“Just two weeks after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group assaulted Israeli civilians with a barrage of rockets from Gaza—while the U.N.’s General Assembly and Human Rights Council stayed silent—the world body now adds insult to injury by adopting seven lopsided resolutions, whose only purpose is to demonize the Jewish state.”
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