Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an invitation to participate in a conference on anti-Semitism, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, citing the organization's anti-Israel bias.
In a statement, Netanyahu explained that "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 adopted 71 resolutions condemning Israel, and only two resolutions condemning the government of any other country, the prime minister said in the statement, adding that "this is simply outrageous."
The prime minister noted that in the past, "The mark of anti-Semitism was singling out the Jewish people for slander and condemnation. Today, the mark of anti-Semitism is singling out the Jewish state for slander and condemnation. If UNESCO wants to reverse this mark of shame, it must do more than host a conference on anti-Semitism. It must stop practicing anti-Semitism."
Netanyahu added that "UNESCO must stop the absurdity of passing resolutions that deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, or 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 Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah – is not a Palestinian heritage site."
Referring to Israel's departure from the U.N. cultural body last year, following the U.S.'s withdrawal also over the organization's anti-Israel bias, Netanyahu argued that "in withdrawing from UNESCO in 2017, Israel and the United States made a clear moral statement that UNESCO's antisemitism 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," Netanyahu concluded his statement.
