(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined an invitation from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to participate in a conference on antisemitism at the United Nations on September 26 2018.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu issued the following statement:
 
"While I commend all efforts to combat antisemitism, I have decided not to participate in this week’s UNESCO conference on antisemitism due to the organization’s persistent and egregious bias against Israel.
 
Since 2009, UNESCO has passed 71 resolutions condemning Israel and only 2 resolutions condemning all other countries combined.
 
This is simply outrageous.
 
The mark of antisemitism was once singling out the Jewish people for slander and condemnation. The mark of antisemitism today is singling out the Jewish state for slander and condemnation.
 
If UNESCO wants to remove this mark of shame, it must do more than host a conference on antisemitism. It must stop practicing antisemitism.
 
And it must stop the absurdity of passing resolutions which deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, between the Jewish people and our eternal capital Jerusalem.
 
No matter what UNESCO says, the Western Wall is not occupied Palestinian territory and the Cave of the Patriarchs - the burial site of Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah - is not a Palestinian Heritage Site.
 
In withdrawing from UNESCO in 2017, Israel and the United States made a clear moral statement that UNESCO’s antisemitism will no longer be tolerated.
 
If and when UNESCO ends its bias against Israel, stops denying history and starts standing up for the truth, Israel will be honored to rejoin.
 
Until then, Israel will fight antisemitism at UNESCO and everywhere else."