Amid the uproar caused by a UN resolution passed this week denying any Jewish connection to Jerusalem and its Temple Mount, Pope Francis on Wednesday insisted that Israel’s ties to the Holy Land are both ancient and divinely ordained.

“The people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were enslaved, walked through the desert for forty years until they reached the land promised by God,” the pope said during a speech about migration.

Shortly after, the pontiff met with Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara who, despite not being Jewish or Christian himself (Kara is a member of Israel’s Druze population), said Francis’ words were a clear rebuke of the UN and its efforts to rewrite history.

Also on Wednesday, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein wrote to the Vatican, urging it to more forcefully reject the UN resolution, which Edelstein called “an assault on history and…deeply offensive to both Christianity and Judaism.”