UNESCO is an international U.N. organization where Israel is singled out

"While the themes were within UNESCO's mandate for protection of cultural heritage, the singling out of Israel for criticism is not."

Source: American Thinker (Israel and UNESCO, by Véronique Chemla)

It has become quite a routine. For more than thirty years, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)'s Executive Board has adopted, by consensus during each of its two biannual governing body meetings, biased decisions singling out the State of Israel for criticism.

Several Arab or Muslim countries have regularly presented draft decisions that deal with safeguarding the Old City of Jerusalem and education and cultural institutions in the Arab-occupied territories.

While the themes were within UNESCO's mandate for protection of cultural heritage, the singling out of Israel for criticism is not.

In April 2010, five items were introduced by those states on the agenda at the 184th session of UNESCO's Executive Board.

Two items covered Jerusalem's Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate and the city's cultural heritage. Two others expressed their "concern about the harmful impact of the Separation Wall" on the "activities of [Palestinian] cultural and educational institutions" and of "the blockade of the Gaza Strip" on the reconstruction of Gaza. The fifth draft resolution urged "the Israeli authorities to remove" the "two Palestinian sites of al-Haram al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in al-Khalil/Hebron and the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem" from "its national heritage list." That last draft decision was sponsored by seven Arab countries and was a response to the Israeli government's February 2010 decision to include the Biblical matriarch's tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in its national heritage list. That inscription aimed at justifying the connection of the State of Israel to its land and at renovating both sites, but it was condemned by President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas and Hezb'allah leaders, and many Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference).


In April 2010, the Executive Board's 184th session did not adopt those five draft decisions because it did not reach a consensus "despite considerable efforts."
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