The UN Would Rather Historical Sites Be Destroyed Than Be in Jewish Hands

By Seth Mandel

Monday, July 27, 2026

 

Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon is an unforgettable landmark to Israelis and to the general public. For the latter, a reasonably well-preserved Crusader fortress is a rare and memorable sight. For Israelis, however, Beaufort’s other uniqueness comes into play: It remains, 900 years after its construction, a strategically useful fort.

 

Built in the 12th century above the Litani River, the fort spent its early decades changing hands between the Franks and Muslim forces. In the modern era, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian terrorists, and the Iranian occupation forces of Hezbollah have taken turns.

 

When Israel fought the Palestine Liberation Organization in South Lebanon in 1982, taking the castle was the source of some controversy. Its necessity was in question and its cost in casualties was higher than expected. Each time Israel withdrew from Lebanon, which it did again in 2000 under Ehud Barak, Beaufort was among the last places evacuated.

 

For decades, then, Beaufort Castle was a place from which terrorists attacked Lebanon’s sovereign next-door neighbor, Israel. Doing so was an act of recklessness, though neither the Palestinians nor the Iranians have ever shown hesitation in putting historical sites at risk. And yet it was only last week that UNESCO, the United Nations cultural arm, moved to put Beaufort on its historic register.

 

The reason? To undermine the Israel-Lebanon peace process.

 

In taking this step, the UN made the destruction of historic sites (one in Lebanon and one in Judea and Samaria) far more likely. It’s clear now that, somehow, the world is going to need to protect historic sites from the United Nations.

 

Beaufort’s addition to this list is among the most hypocritical acts the UN has ever taken—and the UN engages in a lifetime’s worth of hypocrisy every year.

 

In fact, it’s much worse even than it looks. On the surface, those who launch rockets from the Beaufort area and who draw war to its doorstep are obviously the ones putting the fortress in danger. But Hezbollah does so much more than that.

 

Just two weeks ago, Israel showed journalists what lies beneath Beaufort thanks to the Iranians and their allies. Hezbollah built a sprawling tunnel system in the ground under and around the fortress, which lies on a ridge two-thousand feet above sea level.

 

The IDF took journalists into one of the tunnels, which has an exit facing the northern Israeli town of Metula, making clear that Hezbollah’s presence in the ridge has one purpose: war.

 

With the cease-fire, however, Israel is held back from fully chasing Hezbollah terrorists out of ridge tunnels. The pause has enabled the Iranian proxy to fortify other positions, move weapons and personnel around, and create the conditions for more all-out war from the castle and the other tunnel systems it has built in the South.

 

The UN has thus moved to preserve, rather than remove, the biggest threat to Beaufort Castle.

 

In Samaria, meanwhile, Palestinians rejoiced at the inclusion of Sebastia on the heritage list. Sebastia is an ancient Jewish historical site next to an Arab village, and the Palestinians have looted and destroyed parts of the site while preventing additional archaeological excavations.

 

Israel has moved to expropriate a piece land next to the site, located within Area C, which is under Israeli control. It would do much to prevent the further intentional destruction of Jewish (and Roman) history. What hasn’t been looted has been appropriated: The Palestinians submitted the site to the UN heritage list while omitting any Jewish connection to it. (I think some used to call that “cultural genocide.”)

 

Thus the approval of the application is itself a formal erasure of history designed to prevent its protection from further destruction. The UN is doing this solely because it shares the Palestinian application’s hatred of Jews and dedication to the political looting of other people’s history.

 

The UN has turned UNESCO into an agency of destruction. It should be kept far from anything the world wants preserved.