Mexico’s Jewish Ambassador to UNESCO Fired For Jerusalem Resolution

Andres Isaac Roemer Slomianski, Mexico’s ambassador to UNESCO, who happens to be Jewish, was fired because he refused to sign on to a resolution that denied Jewish history and culture.

The resolution he was reluctant to support was called “Occupied Palestine,” which erases the link between Jerusalem’s most historic sites, including the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, from Judaism. The sites are crucial to the Christian faith as well.

For his refusal to support, Slomianski was fired.

The Jewish Press has the news:

“‘For not having informed diligently and with meticulousness of the context in which the voting process occurred, for reporting to representatives of countries other than Mexico about the sense of his vote, and for making public documents and official correspondence subject to secrecy,’ said an official statement released Monday (Oct. 17).

“Jewish Mexican news site Enlace Judio took a philosophical tone over the news: ‘Andrés Roemer lost his job, but the vote of Mexico changed from ‘for’ to ‘abstain’ from the infamous resolution of UNESCO, which ignored the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall.

“‘For the first time since 2010, Mexico has changed its consistent line of voting in favor of the Palestinian Arab bloc in UNESCO,’ the site continued.

“‘Sadly, the Ambassador to UNESCO was sacrificed, but [he] managed to change a perennial tradition of sticking the Latin American bloc that eventually passed by a majority, an absurd and biased resolution.’

“Roemer was poised Tuesday morning to trigger a special clause that would have forced a new vote on the Palestinian Authority’s proposed resolution entitled, ‘Occupied Palestine.’ Mexico eventually settled simply for a statement on its wish to change its vote from ‘support’ to ‘abstain.’ Brazil did the same.

“The UNESCO Executive Board went ahead and adopted the resolution, which erases for the world body, at least, the historic link between Jews, Jerusalem and the most sacred sites in Judaism: the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. For Christians, it does the same, erasing the root from which their faith grew.

“According to UN Watch, the Mexican envoy had received a clear instruction to vote ‘for the Palestinians,’ despite the assurance from Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto that his nation would not support such a resolution.

“But Israeli ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen said, ‘As a Jew his conscience would not allow him to vote for ignoring the historic and religious connection with the Temple Mount and the Western Wall … It’s possible that his conscience-based decision will result in his being sent home and fired,’ Shama-Hacohen added.”