UNESCO’s move to preserve Palestinian culture is not a problem, but it comes at the cost. Biblical sites that are important to the Jewish community like the Temple Mount and Mount of Olives are called by their Islamic name in the resolution, robbing the Jewish people of their historic ties to Jerusalem. Shockingly, this resolution was adopted by an overwhelming 24 votes in favor of the resolution, 6 against, and 26 in absentia.

Here is a list of a few of the countries that voted in favor of the resolution: Qatar, Sudan, Pakistan, Oman, Lebanon, Egypt, Malaysia, and Iran. Are you seeing a theme here? The majority of member states who accepted the UNESCO resolution were Muslim countries with a political agenda against Israel. The resolution is so controversial even UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon criticized the language that only uses Islamic titles for holy places.

I think it’s time UNESCO and the UN establish a serious set of checks and balances that prevent itself from politicizing proven history.

The only member states of UNESCO that saw the toxic nature of the resolution were Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States.

The approval of “Occupied Palestine” shines a light on the anti-Semitic nature of UNESCO. How could an organization that seeks to build peace in the minds of men and women accept in full conscience a resolution that segregates the Jewish community by ignoring their historical and cultural ties to the Holy City of Jerusalem?

Truth about Israel is hard to come by in the halls of the United Nations. Could you imagine a UNESCO resolution that stated Christians never had any historical connection to the Vatican or Muslims have no association with Mecca? The very notion would never make it beyond a draft resolution. But, if you say that Jewish people have no historical connection to Jerusalem, that resolution could get passed by the very organization that was designed to protect it.

Removing the Jewish names to their holy sites is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem goes much deeper than that. The majority of Muslim countries that voted in favor of the resolution have something else in mind: They are out to delegitimize the State of Israel from having a presence in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the unified eternal capital of the Jewish people––you cannot disprove that! It’s not only written in the Bible, which pre-dates Islam by more than a 1,000 years, it’s been proven archaeologically. We have physical proof that Jewish people have had a long, enduring presence in the city of Jerusalem.

I think it’s time UNESCO and the UN establish a serious set of checks and balances that prevent itself from politicizing proven history. It’s time for the UN and all of its different branches to root out this blatant anti-Semitism that seeks to slowly re-write history in hopes that maybe one day Israel will just disappear.  Because the truth is, Israel isn’t going anywhere!

BDS is a global campaign against Israel that encourages increased economic and political pressure to force Israel to leave the West Bank, welcome all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes from 68 years ago, and to give back the Golan Heights. Essentially, if BDS gets what it is demanding, it would come close to wiping Israel off the map.

The BDS movement calls on the global community to boycott Israeli products, investors to divest from Israeli companies, and governments to sanction Israel. After more than a decade of activism the BDS movement has proven to do nothing more than hurt the people they intended to help, the Palestinian people.

For instance, BDS played a role in nudging the popular Israeli company, Sodastream, from its West Bank location in Mishor Adumim to the south of Israel. I’m confident the BDS movement felt a sense of pride as they watched a major Israeli company move its operations out of what they call “occupied land.” However, now that the dust has settled, BDS has been silent on the after effects. When Sodastream left the West Bank, 500 Palestinian employees working at Sodastream––earning a wages more than the average Palestinian––lost their jobs.

Arab countries have spent far too long boycotting Israel, when a true partnership with the Jewish state could help advance the Arab world into the 21st century!

Sadly, the Israeli founder of Sodastream wanted to build his business in the West Bank for the sake of cultivating a peaceful relationship between Israelis and Palestinians through work. I wrote more extensively about this issue in one of my previous posts Creating Peace from the Ground Up.

Now that BDS has been hard at work for more than a decade promoting a destructive anti-Israel agenda, a recent op-ed from Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom came out urging its readers to see the potential damage BDS would do to the entire Middle East, not just the Palestinians.

Guest columnist and Jordanian politician Abed Almaala argues that the long term damage BDS could do to Israel would have a profound impact on the stability of the entire Middle East. While many Middle Eastern countries already look down on Israel, Almaala believes that without Israel they would all fall.

Almaala quotes the president of the Jordanian opposition, “If the day were to come when Israel falls, Jordan, Egypt and many others would fall, ‎too, and ‎Westerners would be begging Iran for oil. ‎We can hate Israel as much as we like, but we must realize that without it, we too ‎would be ‎gone.‎‏”‏

Israel is also leading the way in combating terror in the Middle East region. Their advanced technology provides information to help nations like Jordan and Egypt push back against the tide of Islamic terror. Without that vital technology and information, Almaala admits, Jordan would suffer the most.

The danger of BDS goes beyond the lies they spread on college campuses, or the possible economic damage to certain Israeli companies. It has the potential to disrupt the already fragile stability of the Middle East.

Almaala closes his column with a call to Middle East nations to embrace Israel and not BDS. Arab countries have spent far too long boycotting Israel, when a true partnership with the Jewish state could help advance the Arab world into the 21st century!

Finally, he says, “… let us all put BDS ‎where it belongs, in the dust bin of history.‎”

BDS is a global campaign against Israel that encourages increased economic and political pressure to force Israel to leave the West Bank, welcome all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes from 68 years ago, and to give back the Golan Heights. Essentially, if BDS gets what it is demanding, it would come close to wiping Israel off the map.

The BDS movement calls on the global community to boycott Israeli products, investors to divest from Israeli companies, and governments to sanction Israel. After more than a decade of activism the BDS movement has proven to do nothing more than hurt the people they intended to help, the Palestinian people.

For instance, BDS played a role in nudging the popular Israeli company, Sodastream, from its West Bank location in Mishor Adumim to the south of Israel. I’m confident the BDS movement felt a sense of pride as they watched a major Israeli company move its operations out of what they call “occupied land.” However, now that the dust has settled, BDS has been silent on the after effects. When Sodastream left the West Bank, 500 Palestinian employees working at Sodastream––earning a wages more than the average Palestinian––lost their jobs.

Arab countries have spent far too long boycotting Israel, when a true partnership with the Jewish state could help advance the Arab world into the 21st century!

Sadly, the Israeli founder of Sodastream wanted to build his business in the West Bank for the sake of cultivating a peaceful relationship between Israelis and Palestinians through work. I wrote more extensively about this issue in one of my previous posts Creating Peace from the Ground Up.

Now that BDS has been hard at work for more than a decade promoting a destructive anti-Israel agenda, a recent op-ed from Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom came out urging its readers to see the potential damage BDS would do to the entire Middle East, not just the Palestinians.

Guest columnist and Jordanian politician Abed Almaala argues that the long term damage BDS could do to Israel would have a profound impact on the stability of the entire Middle East. While many Middle Eastern countries already look down on Israel, Almaala believes that without Israel they would all fall.

Almaala quotes the president of the Jordanian opposition, “If the day were to come when Israel falls, Jordan, Egypt and many others would fall, ‎too, and ‎Westerners would be begging Iran for oil. ‎We can hate Israel as much as we like, but we must realize that without it, we too ‎would be ‎gone.‎‏”‏

Israel is also leading the way in combating terror in the Middle East region. Their advanced technology provides information to help nations like Jordan and Egypt push back against the tide of Islamic terror. Without that vital technology and information, Almaala admits, Jordan would suffer the most.

The danger of BDS goes beyond the lies they spread on college campuses, or the possible economic damage to certain Israeli companies. It has the potential to disrupt the already fragile stability of the Middle East.

Almaala closes his column with a call to Middle East nations to embrace Israel and not BDS. Arab countries have spent far too long boycotting Israel, when a true partnership with the Jewish state could help advance the Arab world into the 21st century!

Finally, he says, “… let us all put BDS ‎where it belongs, in the dust bin of history.‎”