In an opinion piece in Israel Hayom Thursday, Itzhak Levanon argued that Israel should return to one of the most anti-Israel organizations, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Levanon proposed we "get a hold of our justified anger" and follow Washington's lead should the Americans rejoin the organization. However, the decision to quit UNESCO was from the outset due to a variety of considerations and not just overreaction. All things considered, Israel is still better off staying outside the UN body.
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Past experience teaches us that Israel is unable to influence UNESCO from the inside, certainly not when it comes to the delusional and despicable resolutions that are reached there wholesale and that deny the Jewish people and the Jewish state any connection to the Land of Israel and its past. Even Israel's friends, including decent people who have headed the UN body, were unable to affect change on this issue. Security Council members do not have veto power and are unable to offer a counterbalance to the automatic anti-Israel majority. At UNESCO, the anti-Israel spirit will run rampant without reservation, regardless of whether we are in or out.
In fact, by cooperating with the organization, Israel would only make things worse because UNESCO forces us to cooperate with its resolutions and legitimizes the shameful and hostile stance it adopts. Were Israel to join its ranks, Jerusalem could not argue UNESCO's decisions were invalid simply because Israel had voted against them. Cooperation with any institution means recognition of it and its right to be heard. Participation in every vote means recognition of the results whether we like them or not. Does anyone in Israel really believe UNESCO has the right to determine that Jews have no connection to Jerusalem, and will we want to recognize the results of a vote that confirm exactly that? Of course not.
UNESCO's resolutions are more dangerous than those of other international organizations. After all, everyone knows the UN is a political organization and that is why its resolutions are viewed by ordinary citizens with the kind of skepticism that befits decisions reached based on the considerations of member-states. UNESCO, on the other hand, wraps itself in a cloak of science and culture, and its resolutions create a false sense of scientific determination among innocent listeners and viewers. Israel must not lend a hand to the bolstering of this false image. Instead, we must remove UNESCO's deceptive cloak and show everyone that the emperor has no clothes, and that is not something we will be able to do should we dignify the organizations with our presence.
By rejoining UNESCO, Israel would send a signal that it has come to terms with the role of the abused child who "invites" more abuse and humiliation. In accordance with this role, Israel would transfer generous membership dues to the organization abusing it. When then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led Israel's withdrawal from UNESCO, he ordered the membership dues we saved to be spent on Jewish heritage sites in Hebron. No doubt this was the proper designation for these funds as it ensured they were genuinely spent on efforts that serve the values of education, culture, and science, and not the organization's bureaucratic mechanism that never misses an opportunity to falsely accuse the Jewish state of blood libels.
And there is one more consideration: If we rejoin UNESCO just because the US, under a new administration, has decided to make the move under a new administration, we will be seen as a country that changes its policies to suit the times and not as a sovereign and serious state. Friend or foe, countries around the world will respect us more if they learn that Israel is not some protégé that changes its policies on a dime.
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