Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday demanding that Israel take an official position against the return of the United States to membership in the anti-Israel organization UNESCO.
In a letter whose content was obtained by Israel Hayom, Smotrich wrote, in light of the lack of an official Israeli position on the issue, that "I would like you to announce the position of the Israeli government that opposes the renewal of US membership in UNESCO. At the very least, such consent can be conditioned on UNESCO's demand to cancel the PA's membership in the organization."
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich, photo: Amit Shabi
This is, in fact, the first public demand by a government minister to act in order to block an American move that has already been declared and thus to stand up for Israeli interests.
Since the Biden administration announced its intention to return to membership in the organization and pay $600 million due to what the State Department called the need to stand up for American interests vis-à-vis UNESCO member China, the Netanyahu government has not expressed a position on the issue.
Cave of the Patriarchs. According to UNESCO, this is a Palestinian heritage site, photo: Sarya Diamant
In his letter, Smotrich writes that the Biden administration is moving forward with the move in light of the official agreement of the previous government, but now the right-wing government must express opposition to the move even before Biden announces it next month in front of Congress, thus completing the move and the chance of blocking it will disappear.
In his letter, Smotrich notes one of the outrageous decisions of the organization, which recognizes the Cave of the Patriarchs as a Palestinian but not Jewish heritage site. But this is a drop in the ocean: the organization, which is supposed to work to impart and preserve knowledge and culture, acts unilaterally against Israel on a regular basis, as the organization is registered as a member of the "State of Palestine," last month the organization held an event marking Nakba Day, and in the past the organization opposed the Basic Law, which establishes Jerusalem as Israel's capital and states that it is an "occupying power in the city." Following a series of actions against Israel, among other things, the Trump administration withdrew from the organization, but now Biden wants to return to it.
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"As you know, the United States during the Trump administration withdrew from UNESCO, partly at the request of the Israeli government, due to the organization's hostility to Israel, which rewrote history and its denial of the deep historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and holy sites such as the Cave of the Patriarchs, a historical connection that was recognized even in the law of nations irrevocably and was even enshrined in the UN constitution at the time of the establishment of this organization." Smotrich wrote to Netanyahu, with a copy to Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
President Biden. Before it's too late, Photo: AP
"It was recently reported that the United States intended to return to the organization, apparently based on the previous leftist government's announcement to the State Department of its consent to this. Needless to say, the consent of the State of Israel played a central role in this affair. For example, if a majority of the Republican Party opposes funding UNESCO – until the problem of the status of the PA there is resolved – new funding for UNESCO can be stopped in the Congressional Appropriations Committee... Of course, Israeli support for the return of the United States to the organization that distorts history is incompatible in any way with the Zionist and national policies of the right-wing government."
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