Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today issued the following statement on the vote of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) board on item 25 of its agenda regarding the Old City of Jerusalem:
“I am very disappointed by the UNESCO board’s inflammatory vote denying the historic and religious ties Judaism and Christianity have to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is one of the holiest sites in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and it is both dishonest and irresponsible for UNESCO to rewrite this history because of political pressure. UNESCO’s mission is to build lasting peace on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. This vote does nothing to achieve that goal and instead is just the latest example of the UN’s continued anti-Israel bias.”