JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will withhold $1 million in payments to the United Nations following a resolution adopted by its cultural agency that he says diminishes Jewish ties to Jerusalem.
Moral victory for #Israel 🇮🇱 @UNESCO condemnation over Jerusalem gets least votes ever: 22-10, with 26 abstain or absent. pic.twitter.com/VcHEGTajif
— 🇮🇱Israel in UNESCO (@israelinunesco) May 3, 2017
Netanyahu called the UNESCO resolution “absurd” and said the agency’s “systematic harassment” of Israel had a price. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Netanyahu says Israel will not sit idly by as a U.N. organization tries to negate its sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The UNESCO resolution criticized Israeli excavations in east Jerusalem as a violation of international law. Israel has long complained about bias at U.N. forums, feeling outnumbered by Arab nations and their supporters.
