Christians denounce UNESCO resolution that ignores Jewish ties to Jerusalem

Several Christian leaders denounced the UNESCO resolution that disregarded the Jewish history of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Christians claimed that denying the Jewish heritage of the holy sites also rejected its Christian past.

The resolution, which condemned Israel on issues regarding the holy sites, was passed last Thursday with the backing of 24 countries. Only six voted against it while 26 abstained.

It affirmed the importance of Jerusalem's Old City to Islam, Judaism and Christianity but it raised objections from Israeli officials because it only referred to the Temple Mount by its Muslim name, al-Haram al-Sharif.

Israeli officials criticized the decision and announced that the nation will suspend all its activities related to UNESCO.

Christians who support Israel were also concerned about the resolution. Robert Nicholson, head of Philos Project, said the resolution not only affected Jews but Christians as well.

"UNESCO's decision to deny Jewish history is also a decision to deny Christian history," Nicholson told Algemeiner. "If the Jews don't have a legacy on the Temple Mount, neither do Christians. And yet we know that our Messiah Jesus came to the Temple throughout his life to worship and pray to the God of Israel, as a Jew, six centuries before Muhammad was even born," he added.

Nicholson was also bothered that Christian-majority countries such as Brazil and Mexico voted in favor of the resolution. He stressed that Christianity originated in the land of Israel and added that it would not be comprehensible when it is taken out of its Jewish context.

Darrell Bock, senior research professor of New Testament studies at the Dallas Theological Seminary, believed that the resolution was misguided and told Algemeiner that the U.N. should appreciate the shared element of the city instead of denying it.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Special United Nations Envoy for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches, said the resolution was worse than Holocaust-denial because it raised questions regarding the existence of the Jewish people.

"UNESCO has been overtaken by history revisionists and anti-Semites whose obvious hatred for Jews is so strong that they refuse to acknowledge the facts and the truth right in front of them," she said in a statement.