14 May, 2017
Twenty-two states voted in favor of the decision, which refers to Israel as an occupying power and declares all its legislative and administrative measures in Jerusalem "null and void". The draft resolution is also expected to condemn the work of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem and call for the deployment of global observes to the city. In fact, it's yet another in a series of UNESCO resolutions denying any Israeli connection to, e.g., the Temple Mount.
It is time to recognise Jerusalem as the official capital of the state of Israel.
However, the prime minister also mentioned that the number of countries supporting the biannual anti-Israel resolution at UNESCO had dropped.
The resolution stressed the importance of the Old City to all three monotheistic faiths, however Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Jews had a supreme bond to the city.
Israel lashed out at the United Nations cultural agency on Tuesday over a resolution criticizing its excavations in and around Jerusalem's Old City, a sensitive area that is home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
An Israeli official said Wednesday's cut was the third time in recent months Israel reduced its United Nations budget, putting the 2017 payments at $3.7 instead of the original $11 million.
He singled out the United States for voting against the resolution; in December as one of the Obama administration's last acts, the USA abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution which condemned Israeli settlements. In April 2016, 24 countries voted for a similar UNESCO resolution, with six opposing and 26 abstaining.
Ron DeSantis, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives, who earlier this year held a fact-finding trip to assess possible locations for the embassy, said Mr Trump would announce the relocation during his visit.
Last year, UNESCO approved a motion that endorsed the right of Palestinians to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and slammed Israeli provocations around the holy site.
Speaking to foreign diplomats at a reception marking the country's founding, Netanyahu said: "There are more countries today that are abstaining or supporting Israel than there are those opposing Israel. This is a vote against Israel, part of a systematic voting pattern", Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said.
"UNESCO's decision is freaky", said Netanyahu, "and this harrassment has a price".
UNESCO delegates prior to the opening of the organization's 2013 General Conference in Paris, France.
