{The original title was – - -} Russia protects Israel from UNESCO condemnations.

Russia’s envoy to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intervened on Wednesday to defer voting on a series of condemnations of Israel.

UNESCO was due to vote on five resolutions condemning Israel proposed by Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Syria, Haaretz reported on Thursday.

The campaign, led by Jordan, claimed Israel is trying to change the character of Jerusalem and is engaging in archaeological digs without first coordinating with Jordan. The Jordanians also protested permitting Jewish worshipers to pray on the Temple Mount.

UNESCO considers the entire Old City of Jerusalem and its surrounding walls as a world heritage site.

The Palestinian Authority was reportedly pushing for resolutions criticizing Israel for the state of education in Gaza and for Israeli activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Syrians were seeking a similar condemnation for Israel’s treatment of Druse residents of the Golan Heights.

The votes were set to take place at the organization’s meeting in Paris, but Russia’s envoy presented an alternative plan stipulating that the resolutions be delayed for six months during which negotiations would be held with Israel to send a UN fact-finding team to Jerusalem. According to the proposal, Israel would not be required to agree to host the team.

In the lead up to the meeting, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan met with representatives of European countries to try to block the resolutions. However, the Russian initiative, that caught the Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian representatives by surprise, passed with 28 votes in favor and 23 against.

France was the single European country to oppose the Russian compromise.

Tensions between Israel and Jordan have been strained for two years over renovations to the Mughrabi bridge that leads from the Western Wall plaza to the Temple Mount. Israel constructed the bridge in 2007 to better facilitate access for worshipers to the Temple Mount. However, Jordanian opposition to the structure brought international criticism of Israel and sparked off violent rioting in Jerusalem. Recent negotiations between Israel and Jordan over repairs to the wooden bridge failed to reach an agreement.

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ALSO – beyond the above and from the same source that has at times true news that are not included in the conventional media:

Telling Israel Like It Is – in Arabic – Philippe Assouline (Times of Israel)

• Boshra Khalaila, a secular, independent and patriotic Israeli Arab woman, grew up in the Arab village of Deir Hana, in the Galilee. Her first contact with Jewish Israelis came at age 18 when she enrolled in Haifa University. “I am a liberal, free woman, with all the rights that I could enjoy. I compare myself to other women my age in Jordan, the territories, Egypt, any Arab country. They don’t have the rights that I have: freedom of expression, the right to vote. They are forced into marriage at a young age, and religious head covering, despite their own convictions. With me it’s the opposite; I have everything.”
• When I asked her why she feels the need to speak up for Israel so publicly, she answered: “To sacrifice from myself for the country that I live in and that gives me rights, that’s a natural price.”
• Boshra was part of a team of five people, including another Israeli Arab and a Druze, who were sent to South Africa with “Faces of Israel” during Israel Apartheid Week. “I study in the same educational institutions, ride the same buses, shop in the same supermarkets. Everything that they say is absolutely false. And I do feel that I belong to my country.”
• At an Islamic, Arabic-language radio station in Johannesburg, the interviewer, a religious Saudi man, asked her why Israel doesn’t let Muslims pray or go to Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. “I told them that in my own small village in the Galilee there are not only one but two mosques and two imams who both get a monthly salary from the state. The interviewer was in shock. I added that I could go pray at Al Aqsa mosque at will, freely.”
• “I said to him: ‘In Saudi Arabia, can a woman drive a car?’ He said no. I said: ‘I can.’ And he was silent. I asked: ‘Can a woman in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia meet a man and get to know him before getting married or is she just forced into marriage at a young age?’ He said no, she can’t. I said: ‘I can.’”