Israel will suspend its cooperation with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) following its resolution Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced Friday.
According to the Times of Israel newspaper Bennett who serves as president of Israel’s National Commission for UNESCO said the organization in its decision was “giving a boost to terrorism” and denying history.
All meetings with UNESCO officials participation in international forums and professional cooperation will be suspended until further notice the statement said.
“Yesterday’s decision is a denial of history and gives a boost to terror” Bennett claimed adding that the resolution was a prize to “Jihadists” and to “diplomatic terror.”
He added that such acquiescence to radical narratives should worry all of the Western world and not just Israel.
“The next terrorist will feel legitimized by yesterday’s miserable decision” he added. “Cutting Jerusalem off from Israel will produce a domino effect that will eventually hurt the entire Western world.”
Israel reacted furiously to the UN resolution with some accusing the UN’s cultural arm of anti-Semitism on Thursday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision “absurd” while President Reuven Rivlin called it an “embarrassment” for UNESCO.
Culture Minister Miri Regev slammed the resolution as “shameful and anti-Semitic” and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel called for Israel to increase the Jewish presence on the al-Aqsa Mosque.
“To say that Israel has no link to the Temple Mount is like saying that China has no link to the Great Wall or that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids” Netanyahu said adding that “with this absurd decision UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it still had.”
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution on Thursday that denies any Jewish historical link to the al-Aqsa Mosque and surrounding holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem.
The resolution which was put forward by Palestine along with Lebanon Egypt Algeria Morocco Oman Qatar and Sudan was approved by 24 members of the 58-member organization. Twenty six countries abstained from voting while only six countries voted against it two other countries were missing from the vote.
