UNESCO's Cave of the Patriarchs Measure Is Latest Example of 'Narrative Warfare' Against Israel, Experts Say

"According to legal experts, an upcoming vote by UNESCO on whether to declare Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs to be an endangered Palestinian heritage site is just the latest example of 'narrative warfare' against Israel and the Jews by the UN's cultural body.

The 'emergency resolution' that UNESCO presented to its World Heritage Committee claims that Israel is causing 'irreversible negative effect on the integrity, authenticity and/or the distinctive character of the property,' which the resolution refers to as the Ibrahim Mosque - not the Cave of the Patriarch. The Hebron site is where the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah are believed to be buried...

'Anyone who comes to the Cave of the Patriarchs can see that the building is well-maintained, and open for members of all faiths to pray,' said Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, who noted that the site's largest room is reserved almost exclusively for use as a mosque by local Arabs.

Further, Fleisher explained that like the Western Wall, 'the Cave of the Patriarchs monument was built by a Jewish king' - King Herod - more than 2,000 years ago.

'Suggesting first, that the site of the burial of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs is a Palestinian heritage site, and then suggesting that the site is in danger, is a fraudulent interpretation of history. It is a classic case of the narrative warfare [that] the Palestinians are waging on the Jewish people,' Fleisher, a trained lawyer, told JNS.org...

Regarding UNESCO's claims about the Cave of the Patriarchs, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said, 'We have become [accustomed] to the concept of 'fake news' - well, welcome to 'fake history.'

According to Eugene Kontorovich, a senior researcher at the Kohelet Policy Forum and a professor at Northwestern University's law school, the Palestinians are 'essentially turning the UN specialized agencies into an echo chamber for the most extreme, deranged anti-science claims, and making a laughingstock of the UN.'

'It is particularly ironic that the UN's economic, science and culture organization is taking as 'anti-science' a measure as one can get, because there is no debate amongst historians about the Jewish connection to the Cave of the Patriarchs,' Kontorovich told JNS.org. 'As a matter of historical science, that is not disputed.'

'The Cave of the Patriarchs has been there for over 3,500 years (predating King Herod's monument at the site), so it is very strange that all of a sudden there is an emergency,' Kontorovich said. Kontorovich pointed out that the Cave of the Patriarchs is the one holy site at which members of any faith can openly come to pray, and have for decades..."