U.N. Panel Approves Resolution Calling Temple Mount by Muslim Name Only

A United Nations panel comprised of 138 states passed Wednesday a resolution that only referred to the Temple Mount in Yerushalayim by its Muslim name, Haram al-Sharif.

The document voiced concern with “tensions and violence” on Palestinian territories, “including with regard to the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharif.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan criticized the U.N.’s refusal to refer to Judaism’s holiest site as the Temple Mount, saying that by using only the sacred site’s Islamic name was an “audacious attempt to rewrite history” and erase the centuries-old Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

“No resolution passed here will change the eternal connection between the Jewish people and the holiest site of our faith, Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount,” Erdan said. “The audacious attempt to rewrite history will not change the indisputable fact that the Jewish connection to the city of Jerusalem dates back thousands of years.”

The resolution was only one of the seven documents approved by the panel, the U.N. NGO Watch said, all of them singling out or denouncing Israel while paying little attention to things happening in the rest of the world.

The documents passed by the panel included lambasting Israel over alleged repressions against Syrians in the Golan Heights and a renewal of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency mandate.

“While France, Germany, Sweden and other EU states are expected to support most of the estimated 20 resolutions to be adopted against Israel by December, the same European nations have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries,” Hillel Neuer, NGO Watch chief, said.

Erdan also presented arguments Wednesday against a blast of anti-Israel resolutions submitted annually to the U.N., calling them outdated and maintaining they do nothing but perpetuate the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Erdan made his comments in the General Assembly plenum as part of a discussion in the U.N.’s Fourth Committee. Every year the committee reviews a number of pro-Palestinian resolutions, including ones that focus on UNRWA and the status of Palestinian refugees, as well as human rights violations allegedly committed by Israel.

In his remarks, Erdan highlighted why the U.N. has continually failed to solve the conflict: “One of the biggest reasons for the U.N.’s failure in ending the conflict is its continued support of UNRWA,” he said. “Simply put, UNRWA’s very existence makes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unsolvable, and I don’t intend to allow business as usual anymore.”

Erdan pointed out how UNRWA uses its schools to spread hatred and anti-Semitism, inciting Palestinian children to violence, promoting terrorism and questioning Israel’s right to exist.

Erdan pushed committee members to reconsider their blind support of these annual resolutions: “What is the point of these resolutions? Just to pave the way for future resolutions?” he asked. “By supporting these resolutions you are not only wasting U.N. resources, you are also sabotaging any changes of future peace.”

Every year, the General Assembly adopts a package of about 20 anti-Israel resolutions, including renewing the mandate of biased Palestinian committees. Israel views this as part of a diplomatic effort led by the Palestinians to undermine its legitimacy.