Free Republic

The Palestinian Authority wants UNESCO to declare the Patriarchs’ Cave and Rachel’s Tomb as its heritage sites while Israel is excluding them from its own list. A government committee headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is meeting Tuesday morning to decide on adding 10 more sites to Israel’s official list of heritage sites, but the Bible-based Patriarchs’ Cave and Rachel’s Tomb are not among them Rabbi-Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Science and Technology Minister and head of the Jewish Home party, issued an urgent appeal to Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser that the two sites be included. The government committee on heritage sites...

The United Nations is reporting that Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric is a member of a new panel described as made up of ”prominent political, intellectual and religious figures from all regions entrusted with furthering peace founded on justice, respect for human rights, gender equality and solidarity.” According to the U.N. report: 18 February 2010 – The United Nations today inaugurated a panel of prominent political, intellectual and religious figures from all regions entrusted with furthering peace founded on justice, respect for human rights, gender equality and solidarity in the context of an increasingly globalized world. “This day marks the...

According to Palestinian Media Watch, the educational children’s magazine, Zayafuna, “includes terms glorifying jihad.” The PMW report references an essay in the magazine by a teenage Palestinian girl. The girl wrote about meeting Adolf Hitler in a dream, who tells her that he killed the Jews “so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world.” In the essay, Hitler tells the child to be patient regarding the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of the Jews.

Never mind where you might stand on the question of global warming, global cooling, climate change or plain old weather. If there’s one constant to this entire climate debate, it is that in the name of “climate,” the United Nations wishes to regulate and tax the economy of the planet — stripping resources from the most productive economies to hand them out as assorted UN bureaucrats deem fit. This is an agenda for global central planning — which, at the extreme, is what the Soviet Union envisioned as the radiant future of mankind, at least until the USSR itself collapsed...

In January 1981 the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit meeting in Mecca declared that, "Palestine should be viewed as the paramount issue of Muslim nations." Since then Europe hastened to adopt this path as well and has provided for the Palestinization of the cultural, social and above all political life of Europe. For three decades, Europe obeyed the OIC in a servile manner. The EU has effectively created a major problem for itself that is eating away and destroying it. The EU made Palestine the hub of its international policy, transforming it into a symbol of peace and...

This is why there must be an Israel. This is why we must stand up for the tiny Jewish state at any and all costs. Because Islamic anti-semitism is the get-out-of-jail-free card for the Jew-haters across the world to come out of their hate closet. And they are. In spades. The irrationality and anger that comes as a result of sick hatred is monstrous. Jewish schools. Jews in Belgium cannot wear any sign of their religion in that country. Trade Union leader threatens Jewish schools because of Israel’s reaction to UNESCO vote Antwerp - A trade union leader in Belgium...

You have to hand it to the Palestinians. They decided to abandon the peace process and seek international recognition of the "State of Palestine" -- a state in a de facto state of war with Israel. And they are pursuing their goal relentlessly. This week their efforts bore their first fruit with the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) vote to accept "Palestine" as a full state member. It is not a coincidence that the PLO/PA decided to apply for membership for "Palestine" at UNESCO first. Since 1974 UNESCO has been an enthusiastic partner in the Palestinians' bid to...

Why Russia, China voted against the US on "palestine" EURABIA Disregarding, for now the "capital" of Eurabia, France, which in recent years it has become more Arab-Islamic than anything else. The fear of the 'Arab street' is as powerful as the Arab oil lobby is at the UN/Amnesty]. WHO CARES ABOUT THE ARAB "PALESTINIANS?" Of course, no one cares about the Arab-Palestinians, not even the Arab world (As the Time wrote: Arab nations don't care about the Palestinians Or as an Arab Christian author wrote: The Arab nations keep the Palestinians and their descendants in squalor. They are denied citizenship...

Recognition of Palestinian statehood has dangerous consequencesThe Palestinian Authority’s bid for U.N. recognition has substantial downsides, including wrecking the peace process and increasing regional instability. The upside is that it could drive the United States out of the United Nations. On Monday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted overwhelmingly to admit the Palestinian Authority to full membership. This step triggered an immediate cutoff of U.S. funds to the organization, which total around $70 million annually. The UNESCO defunding was based on legislation from 1990 and 1994. Section 414 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, fiscal 1990...

The United States will not pay $60 million to a U.N. cultural and educational agency after it voted Monday to accept the Palestinian mission as a full member, triggering a U.S. requirement to cut off funds. "We are not going to be able to continue contributing to the budget," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "Palestinian membership as a state in UNESCO triggers longstanding legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO." Washington is required by law to cut off funding to any U.N. agency if the Palestinian Liberation Organization is granted membership...

The Obama administration lived up to its legal obligations today by withholding the first payment of U.S. funds to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since it voted to recognize “Palestine” as a member state. The State Department​ said a scheduled $60 million payment would not be in the mail to the world body and warned that the same treatment would be given to any other UN agency that pulls the same trick. But Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said the U.S. would maintain its membership in the organization and continue to participate despite the group’s decision to...

UNESCO member states have voted overwhelmingly in favour of Palestinian membership of the UN's cultural agency, handing Palestinian leaders a symbolic victory ahead of a vote on their bid to join the UN General Assembly in New York. AP – The U.N. cultural agency has admitted Palestine as a full member in a highly divisive bid that opponents say could harm renewed peace efforts. U.S. lawmakers had threatened to withhold some $80 million in funding to UNESCO if it approved Palestinian membership. Huge cheers went up in UNESCO after delegates voted to approve the membership Monday. One shouted "Long Live...

A group of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka led a crowd that demolished a Muslim shrine last week. This incident took place on Saturday in Anuradhapura, an ancient Buddhist city and Unesco world heritage site.

UNITED NATIONS Aug 8 (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO sharply rebuked NATO on Monday for its July 30 air strikes against Libyan state television that killed several people and wounded nearly a dozen. "I deplore the NATO strike on Al-Jamahiriya and its installations," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement. "Media outlets should not be targeted in military actions," she said. "U.N. Security Council Resolution 1738 (2006) condemns acts of violence against journalists and media personnel in conflict situations." Paris-based UNESCO is the U.N. agency that oversees issues related to freedom of expression and...

Flags of member nations flying at United Nations headquarters in New York City. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe) (CNSNews.com) – Y-PEER, a youth initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), says "more needs to be done to ensure young people's sexual and reproductive rights" -- especially "the right to choose," a reference to abortion. The statement also says all young people globally have the "right to confidentiality" and the right to "be free from judgment."Tyler Ament of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) told CNSNews.com, "The statement doesn't mention the age specifically, but the UN defines youth...

BRAZIL, May 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has agreed to suspend a very explicit United Nations approved program designed to convince children and adolescents to accept homosexual behavior and transsexualism, following threats from Protestant and Catholic legislators to block new legislation in protest. The program, which was sponsored by by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and referred to as “Schools without Homophobia,” included an “anti-homophobia kit,” with videos showing a cartoon of a child masturbating while fantasizing about sex with a man, adolescents who enter into homosexual relationships, and a “transsexual” student who calls himself “Bianca.” In...

In a move that caught the Israeli government and the Jewish world by complete surprise, on October 21, 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Tomb of the Hebrew Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories," admonishing the Israeli decision to add these biblical shrines to the list of Jewish historical and archaeological sites as "a violation of international law."[1] The United Nations has become a foremost purveyor of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement. Nowhere has this obsession been more starkly demonstrated than at the World Conference...

The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonize global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet. Establishment of such a group has the backing of several countries, spearheaded by Brazil. At a meeting in New York on Wednesday, representatives from Brazil called for an international body made up of Government representatives that would attempt to create global standards for policing the internet - specifically in reaction to challenges such as WikiLeaks. The Brazilian delegate stressed, however, that this should not be seen as a call for a "takeover" of the internet. India,...

PARIS (Reuters) – Peking Opera, Spanish Flamenco and the art of French gastronomy won places Tuesday on UNESCO's list of intangible world heritages to preserve. The U.N. culture and education agency deemed the traditions and 43 others from a total of 11 countries worthy of recognition on the list at a meeting in Nairobi. Among the more obscure traditions, Luxembourg won recognition for a centuries-old annual hopping procession in the eastern border village of Echternach. The blade-twirling of a scissor-dancing ritual in Peru's Chanka region, which has roots going back to the 16th century, was also nominated as was Turkey's...

Last week saw an upsurge in Palestinian riots and attacks against Israeli vehicles in Gaza and the West Bank. What crime did Israel commit to invite the wave of violence? Israel’s government simply announced that it intended to honor the country’s heritage by including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in a list of Israeli national “heritage” sites. The violence-fueled Palestinian reaction may seem entirely disproportionate to Israel’s offense. But a look at the historical background shows that it is not without grim precedent. For several decades, Palestinians have been attacking Jewish worshipers at...