Israeli minister calls to oust UN from Jerusalem headquarters

Israel's Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev suggested this move in an angry reaction to UNESCO's passing of a resolution rejecting Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Minister Miri Regev (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Minister Miri Regev
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud) called on the government to oust the United Nations from its Jerusalem headquarters in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood.
She spoke in reaction to the UNESCO Executive Board’s vote in Paris on Tuesday disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The UN compound’s was originally placed on what is known as the Hill of Evil Counsel, because the site in 1948 was strategically located between the eastern and western parts of the city.
From that demilitarized location, the UN could monitor the truce between Jordan and Israel.
In a statement to Channel 2, Regev said that clearly there was no longer any logic to the UN remaining at that location.
PM Netanyahu reacting to UNESCO resolution (credit: REUTERS)
“We’ve been sovereign in the city for 50 years, so there is no need for UN monitors. They were given use of the compound to oversee the cease-fire agreement from the Six-Day war, it’s an agreement that is no longer relevant. This saga has to end,” she said.
The Israeli NGO Regavim echoed her call. It noted that last month it had filed a petition in the Jerusalem District Court against UN activity at that compound, as well as the Jerusalem Municipality and the Lands Authority.
Regavim charged that the UN had carried out illegal activity on the historic building in the compound, as it worked to create office space and storage facilities there.
Israeli politicians have issued similar calls in the past few years to protest statements made by the UN’s Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov, whose office is situated in that compound.