Jorge D’Urbano, secretary general of the Argentine Academy of Arts, has informed UNESCO that he will no longer participate in its programs unless Israel is included in UNESCO activities on a basis of equality with all member countries.
D’Urbano, a music critic, wrote to UNESCO that he was withholding an article it had requested him to write on Latin American music in protest against UNESCO’s recent exclusion of Israel from the activities of Its European region. He said that he “considers it paradoxical that an international cultural organization casts aside a country that represents one of the most ancient cultures and civilizations.”
He said that UNESCO “thus exhibited a manifestly political attitude inconsistent with its objective. I have no other means to express my strongest protest against this in congruency than by withdrawing by collaboration with UNESCO in every field as long as Israel does not participate in its activities on an. equal level with all member countries,” he wrote.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.