UN Official Snubs Israeli Seminar on Jerusalem
Image by Wikipedia
JERUSALEM — A United Nations official in the Middle East turned down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer to host a seminar on the Jews’ connection to the Temple Mount.
The UN’s special Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, told the French news agency AFP that the “UN staff in Jerusalem know the history of the region, its people and religions all too well.”
He added that such invitations should be issued to the Paris-based UNESCO and the ambassadors of the agency’s member-states based there.
The offer came more than two weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted a resolution which denies a Jewish connection to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.
Netanyahu posted Friday on Facebook: “Two weeks ago, I was shocked to hear that UNESCO adopted a decision denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site. It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone an organization tasked with preserving history, could deny this link which spans thousands of years.
“That is why today I am announcing a seminar on Jewish history for all UN personnel in Israel. I will personally host the lecture at the Prime Minister’s Office. The seminar will be given by a leading scholar of Jewish history and will be free to all UN staff and diplomats, including of countries which voted for this outrageous decision.”
He also posted the invitation, which his spokesman told international media is a serious invitation for a seminar to take place next week, on Twitter
After UNESCO decision denying Jewish link to Temple Mount, I’m hosting a seminar on Jewish history for UN staff. RT! pic.twitter.com/lKUAZEIPnv
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 6, 2016
Some 33 countries voted to approve the resolution, which refers to the Western Wall by its Arabic name of Al-Buraq Plaza and refers to the Temple Mount only by its Arabic designations as the Al-Aksa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif. Six countries voted against the resolution with 17 abstaining. Four European Union countries and several with strong diplomatic relations with Israel approved the resolution.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Jewish city attorney is going after pro-Palestinian protesters. Her Oct. 7 tweets are making it complicated.
-
Fast Forward Kehlani responds to Cornell concert cancellation: ‘I am not antisemitic’
-
Fast Forward David Horowitz, ’60s radical turned right-wing firebrand and critic of Islam, dies at 86
-
News Pro-Nazi singer sells out Zagreb arena as Croatia’s collaborationist past sheds its taboo
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.