In a 24-6 vote, UNESCO on Thursday gave its preliminary approval to a resolution that ignores Jewish ties to its most holy religious sites: the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the vote on his Facebook page stating: “The theater of the absurd continues at the UN.”

“Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people's connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for over three thousand years.”

“What's next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?”

Some 26 nations abstained from the vote and two were absent all together.

The six countries who voted in support of Israel were: the United States, Great Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany and Estonia.

The United States also chastised the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for approving the resolution.

A senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that "One-sided, unhelpful resolutions have been a recurring challenge at UNESCO in recent years, and the United States has strongly opposed these resolutions at the UNESCO Executive Board.”

"We will not hesitate to use our vote at the current Board meeting to oppose these resolutions,” the senior administration official said.

The Palestinian Authority, however, welcomed the results.

The official spokesman of the Palestinian Presidency Nabil Abu Rudeinah said on Thursday evening that the continued international decisions against the occupation and its policy including that of UNESCO regarding Jerusalem and the al-Aksa Mosque form a clear message from the international community that it does not agree with the policies that protect the occupation and contribute to the creation of chaos and instability.

He added that the decision confirms the necessity of the USA to review its mistaken policies, which encourage Israel to continues its occupation of the Palestinian lands.

He stated further that this is an important message to Israel of the necessity to end the occupation and recognize the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital with its Muslim and Christian holy sites, ending its policies that only contribute to the continuation of a negative atmosphere and climate that have been reflected upon the region and which are rejected by the international community.

In 2015, the Palestinians, who have been recognized by UNESCO as a member state since 2011, began a drive to change the language with which that international body refers to the Temple Mount area, known to Muslims the Al-Haram Al Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).

Initially they tried and failed to have it declared a solely Muslim site. Since then, they have submitted resolutions on Jerusalem at every possible UNESCO meeting, that uses only the Muslims terms for the Temple Mount area and its adjacent wall.

UNESCO’s Executive Board passed such a resolution last April and its 21-member World Heritage Committee had been poised to do so again in July in Istanbul.

That vote was delayed until October 24-26, when the failed Turkish coup, cut the meeting short.

Since then according to language of a draft text seen by The Jerusalem Post, a sentence has been inserted into the text that mentions that Jerusalem and its Old City walls are holy to all three religions; Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

The Western Wall was mentioned twice in quotes. Otherwise it was referenced in the text by its Muslim name of the Buraq Plaza.

Thursday’s vote ws taken by UNESCO’s 58-member Programme and External Relations Commission in advance of its ratification next Monday or Tuesday, by UNESCO Executive Board, made up of the same member states.

UNESCO outgoing director-general Irina Bokova has spoken against such resolutions, but ultimately the matter lies in the hands of the member states.

In the aftermath of Thursday UNESCO vote both Israel’s Ambassador to the UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen and outgoing Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold focused on the changes in the voting roster since the Executive Board last approved such a resolution in Paris in April.

Shama-Hacohen and the Foreign Ministry had worked hard in advance of the vote to lobby member states to stand with Israel.

Gold, who resigned his position on Thursday effective immediately, said that the UNESCO vote was a “going-away present.”

Gold noted that 10 countries who voted for the resolution the last time it came before UNESCO for a vote, abstained this time around.

What that means, he said, is that more countries voted for Israel or abstained, then voted against Israel.

The 10 countries who switched their vote from last time were France, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, Argentina, India, Sri Lanka, Togo, Guinea and Ghana.

Gold signed documents over the summer with Guinean officials formally re-establishing diplomatic ties.

He also noted the significance of India and Argentina switching their votes and not voting against israel, as they have traditionally done.

“What this indicates is that things are shifting for Israel,” Gold said. “You are not going to get a total re-definition about how states are going to vove in the UN system in a matter of a few months, but a new trend is clear, which I hope Israel can build upon in the months and years ahead.”

Gold noted that none of the European countries voted for the resolution. Asked how getting four European countries to abstain can be considered a victory, inasmuch as the resolution detaches any Jewish connection from Jerusalem, Gold said the drafters of the resolution included a sentence saying that the city is important to all three monotheistic faiths. Those countries that abstained – rather than vote against it – could point to that wording as not erasing completely Jewish ties to the the capital.

“We appreciate the shift of 10 countries in the direction of abstaining,” he said. Gold added that this is not a binding UNESCO resolution, and that UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said that since there was no consensus around the resolution, she will not implement it.

The PA’s Foreign Ministry said, “We regret that few countries succumbed to the PR bullying orchestrated by Israel, which shifted the focus from Israel's illegal and colonial actions in occupied East Jerusalem to issues irrelevant to the content and objectives of the resolutions, which aims to put an end to Israel's dangerous and illegal actions against holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestinian rights, including the right to worship. This is especially regrettable since those member states are well aware of the dangerous situation in Jerusalem.

“Palestine will continue to defend the rights of our people through all available legal and diplomatic avenues, including UN organizations. Our peaceful agenda will not be derailed by propaganda, nor will our tolerance and adherence to international law be altered by fallacies and cynical spin,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Netanyahu noted that clearly, the member states had not read the Bible.

“I suggest that UNESCO member visit the Arch of Titus in Rome. There you can see what the Roman brought to Rome after they destroyed and looked the Temple which stood on the Temple Mount 2,000 years ago.

“Engraved in the Arch of Titus you can see the seven-branched Menorah, which was and remains a symbol of the Jewish people and is also a symbol of today’s Jewish state,” he said.

“Soon UNESCO will say that UNESCO will say that the Emperor Titus was in the business of Zionist propaganda,” he said.

“To say that Israel has not connection to the Temple and the Western Wall is like saying that China is not connected to the Great Wall of China or the Egypt has no connection to the pyramids,” Netanyahu said.

The Prime Minister added, “I believe that historical truth is more powerful and this truth will prevail.”

A senior US administration official said the vote showed that the US, which withdrew its funding from UNESCO in 2011, in response to acceptance of Palestine as a state, must become more involved in the organization.

"The recurring highly politicized use of the UNESCO Executive Board meetings only further underscores the urgent need for the United States to restore its leadership at UNESCO, which has been considerably undercut since the United States ceased funding UNESCO in 2011.”

"We will continue to explore with Congress options for resuming payment of our dues, which will allow the United States to play a full role in this organization going forward and advance UNESCO’s work on issues like Holocaust education and countering terrorist narratives."

The votes broke out in this way.

Those who supported the motion included Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam.

Nations that abstained from the vote were: Albania, Argentina, Cameroon, Cote de’Ivoire, El Salvador, Spain, France, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda, Paraguay, South Korea, St. Kits and Nevis, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Ukraine.

Absent countries included Serbia and Turkmenistan;

Those who opposed the resolution were: the US, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany and Estonia voted against the motion.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, HERB KEINON, MICHAEL WILNER, ADAM RASGON