EU Rebukes Palestinians Over Islamocentric Language

In an unusual rebuke, the European Union has publicly warned the Palestinians to cease their demand that the United Nations refer to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“The EU stresses the need for language on the holy sites of Jerusalem to reflect the importance and historical significance of the holy sites for the three monotheistic religions, and to respect religious and cultural sensitivities,” it said in a statement that was read out on the floor of the U.N.

“The future choice of language may affect the EU’s collective support for the resolutions,” it added.

That last line was a threat that the EU could well drop its support for anti-Israel resolutions – six of which it voted for on Friday at the General Assembly – if the Palestinians persist in their incorrect speech.

Although the Palestinians would still have a majority to carry anti-Israel resolutions in the General Assembly, loss of European support would be a significant diplomatic blow.

For several years, the Palestinians and their Arab and Moslem allies have sought to insert language excluding non-Muslim terminology for Har HaBayis from U.N. documents. But until now, the battlefield has been chiefly at UNESCO.

A concerted diplomatic campaign by Israel and the United States, with the help of UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, successfully blocked usage of the Moslem name.

This year, UNESCO’s Yerushalayim resolution was free of references to al-Haram al-Sharif, relegating them to an annex of main text that also spoke of the importance of the site to all three monotheistic religions.