The United Nations approved a resolution targeting Israel and denying Judaism’s link to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday in a 129-11 vote.
The resolution referred to the Temple Mount exclusively by its Muslim name, al-Haram al-Sharif. The text is part of a campaign by the Palestinian Authority, the governing body in charge of autonomous Palestinian regions in Israel, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and its connection to the religion dates back thousands of years. In recent decades, Palestinians have accused Jewish authorities of making improper claims to the Temple Mount, and violent activists and terrorists have often led attacks on Jews near the holy site, such as a terror attack by a member of Hamas last month.
The resolution was passed on the fourth day of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah and sparked harsh backlash in Israel.
“The declaration of the United Nations is as worthless to us as a discarded object. The Temple Mount is the holiest place for the Jewish nation according to the Bible, our history is rooted there, and we do not need any confirmation from anyone to know about the connection between the Temple Mount and the people of Israel,” said Itamar Ben Gvir, a member of Israel’s Knesset.
The Temple Mount Ascension Organization said in a statement, “We react with disgust at the decision of the UN to deny the Jewish connection to the Temple mount. The Temple Mount was and is the holiest site in Judaism and that is demonstrated by the tens of thousands of Jews who ascend to pray on the Temple Mount each year. Their actions are far more significant than statements and decisions from the UN that are sadly detached from reality.”
A group of Yeshiva students praying at the Temple Mount. (Y. Levi/Yeshivat Har Habayit)
Dr. Melissa Jane Kronfeld, an expert on Israeli foreign policy and a frequent visitor of the Temple Mount, blasted the resolution.
“Recognizing the Temple Mount as a site exclusive to the religious practice of Islam by the United Nations is tantamount to condoning the act of terrorism committed outside the gates of its holy and sacred ground last week, which took the life of a young Israeli man,” she said, referring to a Hamas terrorist attack on November 21 that resulted in the death of Eliyahu David Kay.
“The recently passed resolution – just one of many in a long line of malicious, absurd, and historically inept statements geared toward the delegitimization of Israel and the Jewish people – is an important reminder that the United Nations remains a defunct, derelict, and deranged organized, as malicious, absurd and inept in purpose as the meaningless resolutions it issues against the only democratic nation in the Middle East,” she added.
Rabbi Chaim Ozer Chait, who leads daily prayers and Torah studies at the Temple Mount, said, “A resolution titled ‘Jerusalem’ was adopted on Wednesday Dec. 1, 2021 by the United Nations General Assembly that disavows Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. This resolution not only denies Jewish sovereignty of the Temple Mount, but the very name of the resolution shows its ludicrousness and absurdity. The very name Jerusalem traces its origin back to the Hebrew Bible.”
Jews praying the afternoon service on the Temple Mount. (Y. Levi/Yeshivat Har Habayit)
On behalf of the United States, an envoy told the U.N. that “it is morally, historically and politically wrong for members of this body to support language that denies” Jewish and Christian connections to the Temple Mount, according to the Post.
Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour cheered the U.N. resolution, claiming that it gave “an appropriate and needed resolution to give hope and support to our people.”