Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his envoy to the UNESCO to submit a formal letter announcing Israel’s intent to leave the cultural organization.
Israeli envoy Carmel Shama-Hacohen will present the letter to UNESCO’s new leader Audrey Azoulay after the Christmas holiday. Israel will officially depart the UN body at the end of 2018 in accordance with UNESCO rules according to Israeli newspapers.
Netanyahu’s decision to withdraw from the organization came at the heels of Thursday’s special UN General Assembly vote passing a resolution which declared with overwhelming majority that Washington’s recognition of Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is “null and void” and should be “rescinded immediately.”
Last October Netanyahu who also holds the foreign affairs portfolio announced he would start preparations for Israel’s withdrawal from the UNESCO on allegations that its resolutions were biased against the Jewish people.
He took this decision after the UNESCO Executive Board adopted last October a resolution on “Occupied Palestine”
The resolution denounced Israeli actions at the Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque (Rachel’s Tomb) in Bethlehem and demanded Israel as an occupying power to protect and respect the Islamic historical status of these holy sites.
