Israel criticized UNESCO on Monday for what it characterized as the "cynical politicization of cultural heritage," Arguing that the organization has remained silent on Hezbollah's desecration of Beaufort Castle while censuring Israel's military operations at the site.
UNESCO is expected to designate Beaufort Castle and other Southern Lebanese locations as world heritage sites in danger. The 900-year-old Crusader fortress was seized by Israeli forces in May, having previously served as a Hezbollah military stronghold equipped with an underground tunnel network near the Israeli border.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated: "For years, Hezbollah has systematically weaponized and desecrated this historic Crusader fortress, converting it into a military stronghold," And added that "UNESCO's silence on Hezbollah's systematic desecration at Beaufort, while targeting Israel's defensive operations, is a moral abdication."
Israel formally left UNESCO in 2018, citing what it described as systemic anti-Israel bias, though it maintains working relations on certain heritage conventions and remains a signatory to several protocols.
The U.S. Administration has announced its own withdrawal from UNESCO, effective at year's end, citing the organization's promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion policies and alleging anti-Israel and pro-China biases. The Trump administration previously withdrew in 2018, a decision later reversed by the Biden administration. The United States had initially withdrawn from UNESCO in 1984 under the Reagan administration.
Israeli forces captured the castle during the recent conflict with Hezbollah, marking the deepest Israeli incursion into Lebanon in over twenty-five years.