UNESCO vote: No link between Al-Aqsa and Judaism

UNESCO today voted on a resolution which denied any Jewish connection to Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Buraq (Western) Wall in occupied Jerusalem.

Twenty-four member states voted in favour of the resolution, six against and 26 abstained.

The proposal was put forward by Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Sudan and the Palestinians.

Outlining that the city is holy to all three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the r esolution says Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards are only sacred to Muslims.

Israeli diplomats have over recent weeks attempted to convince UNESCO member states to oppose or at least abstain during the vote.

Following the vote, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a video on Facebook questioning UNESCO’s religious understanding.

In it, someone is seen reading the “UNESCO revised edition of the Bible”, which has the word “temple” replaced with “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif”.

Countries in support of the motion:

Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam

Those against:

Israel, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK and the US

Abstentions:

Albania, Argentina, Cameroon, Cote de’Ivoire, El Salvador, Spain, France, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda, Paraguay, South Korea, St. Kits and Nevis, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Ukraine

Absent countries:

Serbia and Turkmenistan

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.