Czech Lawmakers Want To Recognize Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — The Czech Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the country’s government to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
A majority of lawmakers voted for the measure on Tuesday ahead of the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, the Czech news agency CTK reported. The report did not include the text of the resolution, which also did not appear in the relevant section of the website of the Czech Parliament.
According to CTK, the resolution states that the Czech government should advocate a position respecting Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and impede steps that distort historical facts and are motivated by an anti-Israeli hateful approach.
The reference to distortion was in reaction to a resolution passed earlier this month by the executive board of UNESCO, the educational and cultural arm of the United Nations, stating that Israel has no right to control the city’s eastern part, which Israel took from Jordan in 1967.
The resolution passed in Prague also urged the government to deny funding for UNESCO if it persists with policies deemed anti-Israel.
Last year, UNESCO passed a resolution that refers to the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name, Haram al-Sharif, and to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
The UNESCO resolution “confirms a permanent, biased and hostile stance of UNESCO on one of its member states as well as an unacceptable politicization of this organization,” Jan Bartosek, a deputy speaker of the Parliament, was quoted as saying by CTK in connection with the Parliament’s vote.
Another lawmaker, Jana Cernochova, said “the only possible sanction” against UNESCO was to stop supporting it financially.
“The contributions should not be paid,” she said, “unless UNESCO gives up its hostile stance on Israel.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
