Head of UNESCO receives death threats following Jerusalem resolution

JPOST.COM STAFF

Irina Bokova expressed opposition to resolutions aimed at weakening Jewish connection to Temple Mount.

Irina Bokova, chief of UNESCCO, has been receiving “death threats” after she voiced opposition to Arab-backed resolutions ignoring Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites on Thursday, AFP reported.

The Israeli ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Cohen, said “the director general has received death threats and her protection has had to be reinforced.”

Cohen also said that Bokova’s criticism of two resolutions that were adopted last week ahead of the final vote led to these threats aimed at her.

Bokova said following the drafted resolutions “nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space”.

“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list [in 1981],” she stated on Friday.

The draft decision by UNESCO lists the item as “Occupied Palestine” and was submitted by seven Muslim nations.

The draft affirms the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem “for the three monotheistic religions,” but uses the Arabic terming Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-haram Al-Sharif while omitting the Hebrew terms for the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

Israel’s Education Ministry decided on Friday to suspend cooperation with UNESCO stating that both the resolutions ignore “thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennet, the head of Israel’s National Commission to UNESCO said that Bokova’s statement was not enough and added that votes such as the one taken on Thursday only encourage Palestinian terrorism against Israel.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this article.