Swartz slams UN, asks DIRCO to intervene

ANT KATZ
The South African Zionist Federation (Fed) national chairman Ben Swartz called on the Department of International relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to “urgently apply a responsible international diplomatic effort and to affirm the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.”

In a scathing attack on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shortly after the first adoption of a resolution which excluded Jewish and Christian claims to two of the most religious of Judeo-Christian historical religious sites,

RIGHT: Ben Swartz says DIRCO had been ill-advised and clearly failed to initiate consultations with vested and interested communities in SA prior to casting the country’s vote

Swartz said he was “deeply disappointed by the latest UNESCO resolution that has effectively denied the well documented historical connection that Jews and Christians share with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Judeo-Christian connection with the holy site spans over 3700 years, predating the founding of Islam’s 1,300 years. The Fed chief was contextualising the effect of the Paris-based UN organisation’s resolution.

“By attempting to deny Jews and Christians this connection, is tantamount to the violation of their religious rights.”

Swartz says that these rights are “protected and cherished in the free world” and underpin any thriving democracy. 

The fact that our own democratic government, in South Africa, voted in favour of this resolution, says Swartz, “signals that DIRCO was ill-advised and clearly failed to initiate the necessary consultations with vested and interested communities in South Africa, prior to casting the country’s vote.”

The Fed, he said, views this “unfortunate resolution as a missed opportunity by DIRCO to correct the dishonest narrative that the Temple Mount has no relevance to the Jewish people, Judaism and by direct extension, Christianity. The fact that the Temple Mount is the holiest site for all three Abrahamic faiths should have been enough reason to reject any motion that seeks to favour one religion or peoples’ history over another.

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