One way that international bodies and the media show their anti-Israel bias, and indeed at least latent antisemitism, is by adopting Muslim and Arab terminology for historically Jewish places.
One of the most obvious is the near universal references to the “West Bank,” a Jordanian term, instead of what was universally referred to as Judea and Samaria before 1948.
UN Watch noted that there was a slew of UN General Assembly resolutions yesterday, one of which referred to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, solely by its Muslim name.
This has been going on for a while. Previous resolutions this year also referred solely to “Haram al-Sharif” without saying the Temple Mount.
Not only that, but even discussions and debates at the UN do not find the term “Temple Mount” used any more.
A year ago, the Israeli representative complained: (A/C.4/74/SR.25)
Mr. Bourgel (Israel), speaking in explanation of vote before the voting, said that the confusing and redundant text of the draft resolutions was intended solely to entrench a Manichean outlook in which the Palestinians were always in the right and Israel was always in the wrong. There were two sides to the story; the aspirations and concerns of Israel also deserved to be heard. For instance, the draft resolutions referred to the Haram al-Sharif complex, but the very idea that the term “Temple Mount” might be included appeared virtually inconceivable.
On December 3, 2019 the representative from Brazil seemed to take note of Israel’s concerns when he remarked immediately before the near-unanimous adoption of another bunch of anti-Israel resolutions (A/74/PV.38):
Brazil also wishes to reiterate the importance of the city of Jerusalem to the three main monotheistic religions. With regard to terminology, we especially want to recall the need to duly reflect that significance when referring to the Temple Mount or Haram Al-Sharif.
That was the last time the term “Temple Mount” was used at the UN, according to the UN Documents Database.
In 2020, it has been referred to exclusively as “Haram al Sharif” in both resolutions and in discussions. (Sometimes the discussions are not published for several months, so it is possible the Israeli delegation mentioned the Temple Mount when responding to this month’s anti-Israel resolutions.)
This is the deliberate erasure of Jewish history and Jewish claims, which pre-date Arab and Muslim claims by millennia. Such decisions cannot be considered anything but antisemitism.
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