| UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova (left) with (l-r) Rabbi Hier; Dr. Shimon Samuels, SWC Internationals Relations Director &Chief UNESCO Delegate; Rabbi Meyer H. May, SWC Executive Director and Ambassador Killion. Not pictured Janice Prager, SWC National Director of Development. |
Paris, UNESCO Headquarters - SWC Dean and Founder Rabbi Marvin Hier led a delegation that met with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova where they discussed last week'svote granting full membership of 'Palestine' into UNESCO. Rabbi Hier was joined by U.S Ambassador to UNESCO David T.Killion and Simon Wiesenthal Center senior officials.
In the hour-long meeting, the Center’s delegation expressed its indigation at the vote endorsing ‘Palestinian’ membership into UNESCO. Rabbi Hier also protested thestatement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered to the United Nations General Assembly which recogznied only two religions in the Holy Land: Islam andChristianity. The statement effectively deleted Judaism from history and Director-General Bokova asked that her aide obtain the Abbas speech.
To counter this delegitimization of Israel and the Jewish people, Rabbi Hier proposed that UNESCO and the Wiesenthal Center co-sponsor an exhibit of the 3,500 year Jewish attachment to theLand of Israel to be launched at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. The delegation also insisted that UNESCO is obligated to demand of the new member, ‘Palestine’, to hold to theregulations of UNESCO in excising anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial from its school texts and newspapers. As always, the Center will continue to monitordevelopments at UNESCO.
In the lead up to and following the vote admitting 'Palestine', Director-General Bokova received tens of thousands of petition protests from Simon Wiesenthal Center supporters around theworld.
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