The ZF today slammed the decision by UNESCO to cancel a
scheduled exhibition on the historic connection between Israel and the
Jewish nation as a ‘dismal capitulation.’ The exhibition, titled “The People,
the Book, the Land — 3,500 years of ties between the Jewish people and the Land
of Israel,” was, after several years of preparation
and research by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, scheduled to open this week –
until it was shelved at the behest of the 22 members of the Arab Group.
ZF chairman Paul Charney
elaborates
“The decision by UNESCO – a body that purports to be
concerned with educational, scientific and cultural matters – to cancel the
exhibition is both a dismal capitulation and nakedly political. To shelve an
exhibition after invites have been sent out is grossly insulting to all those
who spent years preparing it. But the reason, and reasoning, behind the
shelving goes beyond bad manners. It provides us with a microcosm of the
Israeli-Arab conflict. The official explanation given was that the Arab members
were concerned that the subject matter might harm the chance of a successful outcome
to the current peace talks. The opposite is true – the acceptance by Palestinians
and the Arab world in general that Israel
is not a foreign body, but the legitimate expression of the Jewish nation’s
longstanding connection to the land
of Israel
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