Christians worldwide are being encouraged to send Bibles to the offices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris.
The reason? To remind officials of the U.N. agency that they were wrong in their decision to deny Christian or Jewish connections to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and other revered sites in Israel, according to Charisma News.
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) made the appeal for Christians to send Bibles to remind UNESCO officials of Jerusalem's Christian and Jewish roots. Hundreds of Bibles have already been mailed to UNESCO with references to "Jerusalem" and the "Temple" highlighted in the scripture. Thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Last month, UNESCO adopted a controversial Arab-sponsored resolution which makes no reference to Jewish ties to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, the BBC reported. The resolution repeatedly refers only to the Islamic name, Haram al-Sharif, for the hilltop complex.
Israel immediately suspended its cooperation with UNESCO following the passage of the resolution, which the U.N. cultural agency said was aimed at "safeguarding the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem."
The resolution also criticises Israel's activities at holy places in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Facebook post that UNESCO had become a "theatre of the absurd" in taking "another delusional decision."
"To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it had left," Netanyahu said.
ICEJ Executive Director Dr. Jürgen Bühler slammed UNESCO's "flawed" resolution. "Most of us view these diplomats [UNESCO officials] as being principled and well-educated. But apparently, some of them forgot their history lessons, and we are sending them Bibles to refresh their memory," Bühler said.
"Even worse, some of these representatives are deliberately trying to erase the Jewish and Christian bonds to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and other revered sites in the land of Israel. Hopefully, our campaign will give our nations' envoys at UNESCO the courage to stand up to the anti-Semites in their midst," he added.
Bible scholars said Jerusalem is mentioned by name more than 1,000 times in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, while the Temple Mount is likewise mentioned hundreds of times.
