Israeli leaders over the political spectrum have strongly condemned the approval by Unesco, the United Nations educational, scientific, and cultural organisation, of a resolution which questions any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The resolution was submitted by the Palestinian delegation with the support of Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, and voted in Paris where Unesco is headquartered.

The resolution accuses Israel of “escalating aggressions and illegal measures… against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif, and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic Status Quo and to immediately stop these measures”.

Although the motion acknowledges that Jerusalem is holy to the three monotheistic religions, the section dealing specifically with the Temple Mount says the site is sacred only to Muslims, failing to acknowledge its significance to Jews as well. It refers to the Western Wall, the world’s most significant Jewish prayer site, by the Arabic term Buraq Plaza, while quotation marks pointedly accompany the Hebrew phrase for “Western Wall” (‘’Kotel Hamaravi’’).

The vote was approved by 24 votes in favour to 6 against, the US, Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Germany. France abstained.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the vote saying: “The theatre of the absurd continues with UNESCO and today the organisation has made its most bizarre decision by saying the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.”

“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?”, Netnyahu added.

President Reuven Rivlin said: “No forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem – and any such body that does so simply embarrasses itself.”

Israel’s opposition leader and Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said: “Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred.”

He added: ‘’On this matter there is no disagreement among the people of Israel, and I urge UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre resolution and to engage in protecting, not distorting, human history.”

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement, “I was outraged to hear of UNESCO’s vote today which denies thousands of years of Jewish connection to Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca?”

“The UNESCO vote claims that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. In fact, it is the UNESCO vote that has no connection to reality.”