Prime Minister Netanyahu declined an invitation from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to participate in a conference on anti-Semitism at the United Nations on September 26, 2018.

Israel this year resigned from the organization due to its obvious anti-Israel bias.

Prime Minister Netanyahu issued the following statement:

While I commend all efforts to combat anti-Semitism, I have decided not to participate in this week’s UNESCO conference on anti-Semitism due to the organization’s persistent and egregious bias against Israel.

Since 2009, UNESCO has passed 71 resolutions condemning Israel and only 2 resolutions condemning all other countries combined.

This is simply outrageous.

The mark of anti-Semitism was once singling out the Jewish people for slander and condemnation. The mark of anti-Semitism today is singling out the Jewish state for slander and condemnation.

If UNESCO wants to remove this mark of shame, it must do more than host a conference on anti-Semitism. It must stop practicing anti-Semitism.

And it must stop the absurdity of passing resolutions which deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, between the Jewish people and our eternal capital Jerusalem.

No matter what UNESCO says, the Western Wall is not occupied Palestinian territory and the Cave of the Patriarchs – the burial site of Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah – is not a Palestinian Heritage Site.

In withdrawing from UNESCO in 2017, Israel and the United States made a clear moral statement that UNESCO’s anti-Semitism will no longer be tolerated.

If and when UNESCO ends its bias against Israel, stops denying history and starts standing up for the truth, Israel will be honored to rejoin.

Until then, Israel will fight anti-Semitism at UNESCO and everywhere else.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)