Major Jewish groups expressed outrage after Unesco, the United Nations cultural body, approved a resolution that ignores the Jewish people’s ties with Jerusalem holy sites, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
Israel announced that it immediately freezes all its cooperation with Unesco, the United Nations organization for education and culture, following the vote by this organisation of a resolution denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
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 Executive Committee of UNESCO, the Paris-based United Nations body in charge of education and culture, voted a Palestinian-initiated resolution which denies all connection between Jews and Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
The British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) has frozen part of its aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) pending an investigation into the scandal of aid money being paid to convicted Palestinian prisoners, including those convicted for terrorist offences.
‘’Israel’s plans to construct 98 new housing units in what is effectively a new settlement in the northern West Bank, near the existing settlement of Shiloh, calls into question Israel's commitment towards reaching a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians,’’ the European Union External Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service led by EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, said in a statement.
An Israeli artist, who transformed rockets shells fired from Gaza into Israel into roses and other sculptures, has urged members of the European Parliament to increase their controls on EU aid to Gaza ‘’so that they can put him out of business.’’
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said the UK and Israel ‘’must stand and work together’’, as he addressed an event organized by the Conservative Friends of Israel in Birmingham.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has called on Diaspora Jews to strengthen their connection with Israel and for greater engagement with Israel among the younger generation.
