[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 11, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF A HOUSE RESOLUTION DISAPPROVING OF UNESCO WORLD 
    HERITAGE COMMITTEE INSCRIPTION OF HEBRON AS A PALESTINIAN WORLD 
                        HERITAGE SITE IN DANGER

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 11, 2017

  Mr. HASTINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a House 
Resolution disapproving of the United Nations Educational, Scientific 
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO's) World Heritage Committee 
Inscription of the ancient city of Hebron as a Palestinian World 
Heritage Site in Danger. A UNESCO resolution inscribing Hebron was 
approved at the end of last week, and is the latest in a regrettable 
trend at the United Nations (UN). Truly, it seems as if every time I 
turn around the UN or one of its agencies is pursuing a radical anti-
Israel agenda.
  In recognizing Hebron as a Palestinian World Heritage Site, UNESCO 
has once again attempted to rewrite Jewish history out of world 
history. In the past year, the UN has adopted resolutions that have 
omitted Jewish identity from the Temple Mount, named for the location 
of the Jewish Temple two thousand years ago, and also chastised Israel 
for planting `fake Jewish graves' in the vicinity. This is ridiculous 
and bordering on anti-Semitism.
  The resolution on Hebron is no different. At the center of Ancient 
Hebron lays the Cave of the Patriarchs, a shrine that is holy to Jews, 
Christians, and Muslims, and recognized as the burial place of the 
Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, 
Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah. It is the second most holy site in Judaism, 
behind only the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, where the ancient 
Jewish Temple stood more than two thousand years ago.
  The Cave of the Patriarchs sits within a compound constructed by 
Herod, an ancient King of Judea during the Second Temple Period, when 
it served as a place for Jewish prayers at the grave sites of the 
Patriarchs and Matriarchs of Judaism. When the city of Hebron was 
conquered 700 years ago by the Mamluks, the compound was converted into 
a mosque and Jews were prohibited from entering. Thus was the case for 
nearly 700 years, until the city of Hebron was liberated by Israeli 
forces during the Six-Day War in 1967 and re-established as a place 
where all religions could worship.
  This history is important, Mr. Speaker, because UNESCO's World 
Heritage Committee does not appear to care about it. But I do. We do. 
All of us in this body understand the importance of world heritage. The 
UN does itself a great disservice when it allows these revisionist 
measures to move forward.
  Even as wars and humanitarian disasters rage across the globe, the UN 
remains relentless in its anti-Israel agenda. I therefore felt it 
necessary to introduce this resolution today disapproving of UNESCO's 
inscription of Hebron and its Cave of the Patriarchs as a Palestinian 
World Heritage Site in Danger, and calling on this body to reject any 
anti-Israel measure that may follow. I ask that it be given immediate 
consideration.

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