A Florida congresswoman has joined U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in sending a letter to the United Nations insisting Jerusalem has more than just a Muslim heritage.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, joined Cruz in sending a letter to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), protesting a UNESCO proposal playing up Jerusalem’s Muslim history while playing down its Christian and Jewish heritage.
“I’m proud to lead this initiative with Ted and be joined by so many of our colleagues in sending this bipartisan and bicameral letter to these member delegations of UNESCO’s Executive Board, urging them to do the right thing and oppose this shameful resolution which seeks to undermine Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Monday. “The resolution’s ill intent is unmistakable: to deny the historical record of the Jewish peoples’ connections to their holiest city and to imply that Jerusalem is inconsequential to Jews and Christians, with the intent of laying the groundwork for additional UN efforts to delegitimize Israel and undermine its status as the capital of the Jewish state.
Furthermore, this irresponsible and reprehensible resolution falsely lays the blame for the violence on Israel since last October while ignoring the acts of terror and violence that are being incited by the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen. UNESCO was created to build intercultural understanding yet, as is the case across the entire UN system, intolerance and intentionally corrosive behavior on the part of many of the organization's members has undermined its original mission and only further underscores the need for drastic reform throughout the entire UN system.”
“I am proud to lead this bipartisan, bicameral effort with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen,” Cruz said. “The United Nations’ obsessive hostility towards Israel will be on display yet again this week as UNESCO considers another blatantly biased resolution that unjustly singles out our close ally Israel with false accusations and criticism, and attempts to erase the specific deep-rooted, historical connection of Jews and Christians to Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital. For thousands of years, Jerusalem has played a defining, central role in the history and identity of the Jewish people. For Christians, Jerusalem is a seminal spiritual site. This resolution flies in the face of, among other things, science as recent archeological excavations, notably in the City of David, have revealed incontrovertible, physical evidence that reaffirms Jewish and Christian ties to the holy city of Jerusalem. Members of the UNESCO Executive Board should vote against this intentional campaign to deny these historical truths, rewrite the history of Jerusalem, and delegitimize Israel.”
Cruz and Ros-Lehtinen also sent letters on the matter to two Obama administration diplomats: Amb. Samantha Powers, the American ambassador to the United Nations, and Amb. Crystal Nix-Hines, the permanent representative to UNESCO.
More than 35 other members of Congress backed the letter including members of the Florida delegation: Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Carlos Curbelo, Ron DeSantis and Ted Yoho and Democratic U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
