Five EU members of UNESCO’s 58-member Executive Board voted against a resolution called ‘’Occupied Palestine’’ which condemns Israel’s sovereignty in Jersalem: Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

​But Sweden is the ony EU member state which voted 'Yes' to the resolution.

The resolution calls on Israel to rescind any “legislative and administrative measures and actions” it has taken to “alter the character and status” of Jerusalem. It rejects the idea of a “basic law” in Jerusalem, based on a 1980 Knesset law, which implies that the city is one unified whole and governed solely by Israel. It was approved by a vote of 22-10 with 23 abstentions and 3 absent.

UNESCO is the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The organization’s Executive Board is expected to ratify the resolution on Friday.

The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan.

Four EU countries abstained in the vote: France, Estonia, Spain and Slovenia.

The US and Ukraine voted against, as well as Lithuania, Paraguay and Togo. India, Japan, Kenya and Uganda abstained.

A spokesperson for the American UN mission said: “These biased resolutions are counterproductive to the core work of UNESCO, discredit the organization, and do nothing to advance Israeli-Palestinian issues. There is no place for them in an organization that is meant to be impartial. The United States will continue to object to efforts to politicize the organization and its important function on world heritage issues.”

The low numbers in the vote disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem on the country’s birthday represent a diplomatic victory for Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The UNESCO Executive Board is expected to ratify the resolution on Friday.

“The number of countries who support this absurd UNESCO resolution is getting smaller,” Netanyahu told the diplomatic corps at a Yom Haatzmaut or Independence Day reception.

It’s a significant shift from the passage of Jerusalem resolutions last year, with 33 nations approving a controversial anti-Israel text in April and 24 voting for it in October.

With a determined effort it will be possible to whittle that number down further, “because there is no need for these types of votes in the UN,” Netanyahu said.

Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-HaCohen said that the Arab states were shocked to discover how badly the tide had turned against them.

The ten countries who opposed the measure were: The United States, Italy, UK, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Greece, Germany, Paraguay, Togo and the Ukraine.

Among the countries that abstained were; Estonia, France, Slovenia, Spain, India, Japan, Kenya and Uganda.

Countries that supported the resolution included Russia, Sweden, Iran, South African, China and Brazil.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said that the “expected political decision by UNESCO only hurts the relevance of an organization that is supposed to preserve culture and heritage, but which time after time is derelict in its duty when it comes to Israel.”

Israel, she said, “does not need legitimacy from political organizations for its unshakable historic connection to our eternal capital Jerusalem, a connection of more than 3,000 year that speaks out from every stone in the city.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon expressed Israel’s anger at Sweden -- the only EU country to vote for the resolution -- in a tweet he posted. “Hard to believe Sweden is the only European country which voted against Israel at UNESCO today! Nothing short of shameful.” He capped the tweet off with a thumbs-down emoji.

Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch watchdog, tweeted that despite the outcome, Israel won a “moral victory” in the voting process.

Italy, which abstained in last years anti-Israel resolution at UNESCO, had promised Israel that in the future it would change its stance, including during a March visit of Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano. This time he kept his pledge as he said he had instructed Italy’s UNESCO representative to vote “no” against “another politicized resolution on Jerusalem.”

''UNESCO cannot be the place for a permanent ideological confrontation,” he added.