Action Alert From Philadelphia ZOA

ALERT: The Executive Board of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has declared that Har HaBayit/The Temple Mount, the site of the First Temple (Beit HaMikdash) (Solomon’s Temple) and the Second Temple, as well as the adjoining Western Wall and the plaza in front of the Wall are part of ”the cultural heritage of Palestine” with no indication of any Jewish or Israeli connection.

This outrage erases in-name any Jewish association with the site that is central to the Jewish People. Instead, UNESCO uses only the designations “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and its surroundings” with no mention whatsoever of Har HaBayit or The Temple Mount. The religion of Islam did not even come into existence until nearly 600 years after the destruction of the Second Temple.

Further, the resolution “Calls on Israel, the Occupying Power, to allow for the restoration of the historic Status Quo, that prevailed until September 2000, under which the Jordanian Awqaf[sic] (Religious Foundation) Department exercised exclusive authority on Al-Aqsa  Mosque/Al-Haram Al  Sharif, and its mandate extended to all affairs relating to the unimpeded administration of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif, including maintenance, restoration, and regulating access;”

In addition, the resolution “Strongly condemns the Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against  the freedom  of worship  and  Muslims’ access  to  their  Holy  Site  Al-Aqsa  Mosque/Al-Haram  Al  Sharif, and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic Status Quo and to immediately stop these measures.”

The resolution continued, stating that UNESCO “Firmly deplores the continuous storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”

The resolution closes with UNESCO’s declaration that the Cave of Machpela (Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs) in Hebron and Kever Rachel (Rachel’s Tomb) in Bethlehem to be “an integral part of Palestine.”

UNESCO deems all of the above to be in “Occupied Palestine.” The resolution was passed on April 15. Arab countries brought this resolution as part of their ongoing effort to deny and erase and any Jewish claim to Jerusalem and all of Israel.

The full resolution can be read at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002443/244378e.pdf

In the UNESCO vote, 33 nations voted in favor of the resolution, six against and 17 abstained.

Those countries who voted against it were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Among those nations that voted for the resolution were Argentina, Egypt, France, India, Jordan, Mexico, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

ACTION: Please call or write to the Washington embassies listed at the bottom of this ACTION ALERT. The representatives of these nations are among those that voted for the anti-Jewish, anti-Israel UNESCO decision.

Direct your calls and letters to the Office of the Ambassador. Be polite but firm in asking that each nation rescind its vote, or call for a new resolution that calls for recognition of the Jewish connection and rights to these sites, Jerusalem and Israel. To deny the Jewish historical and contemporary connection to these sites is to deny history and a sort of ethnic cleansing of the historical record.

The UNESCO resolution is an astonishing display of perverting history for political purposes. The UNESCO members who did not vote against this resolution have hijacked history.

Encourage your friends, family, fellow congregants and email and social-media contacts to also take the specified actions and share this Action Alert.

See the sample letter and suggested phone “script” below the embassy contact information.

BACKGROUND:

It is clear from the Torah, Tanakh and other religious and historic sources – including Arab and Muslim sources – that both the First and Second Temples were Jewish as is the entire Har Habayit/Temple Mount, the Western Wall and the entire compound.

Likewise with regard to the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs as well as Rachel’s Tomb, the biblical and historical record that these are Jewish sites is obvious.

Among the examples: “You shall hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls You for, that all peoples of the earth may know Your Name, to fear You, as (do) Your people Israel, and that they may know that Your Name is called upon this house that I have built.” I Kings 8:43 as per Chabad.org.

King Solomon built the first Temple on the Temple Mount, which stood until 586 BCE when the Babylonians destroyed it. The Second Temple was built 70 years later at the exact same location. It stood until 70 CE when the Romans destroyed it.

Jews pray three times a day facing Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Muslims face Mecca when they pray.

According to a Jewish Virtual Library article by Martin Kramer: “The Qur’an refers to the existence of both [Jewish] temples in” Sura 17, verse7.

According to the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, the Official 1925 Supreme Moslem Council (Wakf) Guide Book to the Temple Mount notes on page four, paragraph two, the Temple Mount’s inexorable connection to the Holy Temple built by King Solomon on land purchased by King David, complete with a reference to II Samuel 24:25. A second reference to the Second Temple is made on page sixteen, again in the second paragraph describing the underground chamber known as Solomon’s Stables. Quoting the Jewish historian Josephus, the document cites the “conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 AD.” The 1950 edition has the same references.

As for the Cave of Machpela: Genesis 23: 2-16 details Sarah’s death, Abrahams interest in the Cave of Machpela for a burial site for Sarah, and finally, Abraham’s purchase of the cave.

Regarding Kever Rachel, the references are found in Genesis 35: 19-20 “And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath–the same is Beth-lehem. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; the same is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.”

Select Embassies:

Argentina:

1600 New Hampshire Ave,

NW Washington, DC 20009

(202) 238-6400

 

Egypt:

3521 International Court, NW

Washington, DC 20008

202.895.5400

 

France:

4101 Reservoir Road

NW Washington, D.C. 20007

202 944 6000

 

India:

2107 Massachusetts Avenue

NW Washington, DC 20008

(202) 939-7000

 

Jordan:

3504 International Drive

N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008

(202) 966 -2664

 

Mexico:

1911 Pennsylvania Ave

NW Washington, DC 20006.

(202) 728 – 1600

 

Russia:

2650 Wisconsin Ave.,

NW Washington, DC 20007

(202) 298-5700

 

Slovenia:

2410 California Street,

N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008

202-386-6610

 

Spain:

2375 Pennsylvania Ave.

NW 20037 Washington, D.C.

202-452-0100

 

Sweden:

2900 K Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 467-2600

 

UNESCO:

7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France

1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France

Phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00

Please use the sample letter below as the BASIS for a letter of your own. If too many people use the exact language from the sample letter, it will become clear that there is an organized campaign.

 

His (or Her) Excellency (insert name)

Ambassador of (insert country)

Embassy of (insert country)

Address line 1

Address line 2

 

Dear Mr. (or Madam) Ambassador:

I am writing to express my concern over your nation’s vote regarding UNESCO’s Executive Board’s recent resolution on what is labeled as “occupied Palestine” during the 199^th Session.

Specifically, I am concerned that the resolution fails to acknowledge – and thus erases – the Jewish People’s connection to Jerusalem; Har HaBayit (The Temple Mount) which the resolution labels only as, “Haram Al-Sharif;” and The Kotel (the Western Wall) and its adjoining plaza, which the resolution labels as “Al-Buraq Plaza.” In addition, the resolution erroneously states that Hebron’s Cave of Machpela (the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs),  and Bethlehem’s Kever Rachel (Rachel’s Tomb) are “Palestinian sites” and “an integral part of Palestine.”

All of the above sites and the surrounding areas date from the time of the Bible, and they are both biblically and historically central to the Jewish People and the Jewish religion, and thus holy to the Jewish People. This was the case long before there was a place called “Palestine” and before the advent of the religion of Islam. Below you will find facts and documentation to support this.

This resolution is indecent, biased, exclusionary and denigrates the Jewish People and religion of Judaism. It also unfairly attacks Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish People. It hijacks history.

I respectfully ask that you relay my concerns to your Foreign Ministry and I call on your government to renounce its vote on this resolution. I ask that your nation introduces a new resolution before the next session of the UNESCO Executive Board which affirms the link between the Jewish People and these holy sites.

(INCLUDE FACTS FROM THE ACTION ALERT)

There is much more to criticize in this entirely biased resolution but in the interest of brevity I will limit my criticisms to the above items.

 

Phone script:

To the receptionist: “Would you please connect me to the office of the Ambassador.”

Get the name and title of the person you are connected to. Be polite, concise and respectful. If you are speaking directly to the ambassador, address him or her as either “Your excellency” or “Mr. Ambassador”/”Madam Ambassador.”

First, make them aware of the resolution that was passed in April during the 199^th session of the UNESCO Executive Board.

You can then use the text of the sample letter or improvise based on the letters and facts/background from the Action Alert.