Israel recalls envoy after UNESCO vote

JERUSALEM: Israel recalled its ambassador to UNESCO for consultations Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, after a second resolution accused of denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee earlier adopted a resolution on the “Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls,” saying it was “deeply concerned” by Israeli building works and archaeological excavations in the city.

The vote comes eight days after UNESCO’s Executive Council backed a resolution on the same theme that infuriated Israel.

“The theatre of the absurd continues and I decided to recall our ambassador for consultation,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will decide what the next steps will be.”

The Israeli ambassador to the UN body, Carmel Shama Hacohen, told public radio that “we are studying the possibility of breaking all contact with UNESCO”.

Despite what an Israeli official called long efforts to get the resolution amended or dropped, the heritage committee, made up of 21 member states, adopted the text proposed by Kuwait, Lebanon and Tunisia.

The resolution refers throughout to the Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif religious complex, without using the Israeli name “Temple Mount,” according a copy seen by AFP.

Separately, prosecutors in Israel charged 13 people with inciting violence and terrorism after a wedding video showed far-right Jews dancing with guns and knives and guests mocking the death by arson of a Palestinian toddler. The amateur video of the wedding in Jerusalem in December was broadcast on Israeli television.