The World Jewish Congress denounced a new anti-Israel vote at UNESCO, the UN body for education and science which challenges Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem.

The 21-member UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in Krakow, Poland, passed a resolution condemning Israel for its policies in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Ten member states voted in favor of the resolution, three voted against it, and eight states abstained. The three countries that rejected the resolution were: Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Jamaica. The eigt t abstaining countries were: Angola, Croatia, Finland, Peru, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea and Tanzania.

Those who supported the measure were: Azerbaijan, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

The resolution refers to Israel “the occupying power” in its capital and denies Israel's claims to the Old City and eastern Jerusalem.

The wording of the resolution submitted by Kuwait, Tunisia and Lebanon, was softened compared to a similar resolution which was passed in 2016, with references to the Temple Mount removed. However, the resolution explicitly denied Israel's sovereignty over parts of its capital for the first time.

The text of the resolution states that UNESCO “regrets the failure of the Israeli occupying authorities to cease the persistent excavations, tunneling, works, projects and other illegal practices in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law.”

Another motion, initiated by the Palestinians, requesting to designate the Old City of Hebron – including the Tomb of Patriarchs within its parameters – as a World Heritage Site in Danger on an emergency basis, will be up for vote on July 7.

This is the third time in five years that the Palestinians have attempted to use the emergency procedure to deem a site in danger, beginning with the Church of the Nativity in 2012 and followed by the Battir Terraces in 2014.

“It is wholly disconcerting that the World Heritage Committee would support yet another biased motion accusing Israel of damaging the character of the Old City of Jerusalem and effectively stripping it of its sovereignty within its own capital, and now seems likely to approve an outrageous request to designate the Old City of Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as a site in danger on an emergency basis.

“These are manipulative and cynical distortions of reality, and a clear attack on Israel and its right to self-determination. The dangerous implications of these motions – on both a political and religious level - cannot be understated.

“Moreover, the Palestinian motion poses a severe abuse of the emergency mechanism. The World Jewish Congress urges the international committee to recognize that this request is a subversive move to deem the Old City of Hebron as a Muslim-Palestinian site alone, denying its historic and religious importance to Jews and Christians.

“We hope that the member states of the World Heritage Committee will stop this latest Palestinian attempt to use the UN for political manipulation, and vote against this egregious resolution which would only further entrench divisions among all parties,” Singer concluded.

The Israeli foreign ministry said hat the “sad, needless and pathetic” decision on Jerusalem lacked a majority.

“Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and no UNESCO decision can change that,” it said.