The Jewish community of the West Bank city of Hebron called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to increase Israeli presence in the city in response to a contentious vote by the UN’s cultural agency Friday to declare the Tomb of the Patriarchs, revered as the biblical burial place of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, an endangered Palestinian world heritage site.
The vote by the world heritage committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Friday enraged Israel, with Netanyahu calling the resolution “delusional” and President Reuven Rivlin charging that “UNESCO seems intent on spreading anti-Jewish lies.”
In a statement Friday, the Jewish community of Hebron said the decision was “reprehensible” and part of “another politicized, anti-Israel maneuver manufactured by the Palestinian Authority” to “delegitimize the ancient Jewish presence in Hebron in particular, and thereby, undermine the historical ties of Jewish people to the land of Israel in general.”
The community called on Israel to issue “an appropriate answer to this reprehensible decision” which would include suspending all payments to UNESCO and transfering the funds “for projects that will strengthen Jewish Hebron,” as well as “unfreez[ing] Jewish building in Hebron and enhanc[ing] Israeli presence there.”
“Nothing says that Hebron is Jewish more than Jewish people living in Hebron,” the community wrote in its statement.
It also called on the international community to recognize “the manipulation to which bodies like UNESCO are being subjected,” cut off funding to UNESCO, and for the US to “leave UNESCO completely, and thus send the UN a clear message that such blatant fake-history and anti-Israelism will not be tolerated.”
The Tomb of the Patriarchs, the community said, “is a fundamental pillar of Jewish history” and theThe monumental structure which was built atop the cave and still stands today, was constructed by Jews 2,000 years ago.”
“The Jewish community existed there fifteen hundred years before the advent of Islam. As opposed to the period of the Islamic conquest when Jews and non-Muslims were barred from the Tomb of the Patriarchs, today, under Israeli sovereignty, there is freedom of worship, freedom of access, and security, for all religions at the Tomb of the Patriarchs,” it wrote.
Several hundred settlers live in the shared city, which has a much larger Palestinian population. The city is often the site of daily friction between the sides.
The vote on Hebron Friday took place by secret ballot at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s 41st annual summit, which is currently taking place in Krakow, Poland.
Twelve countries voted in favor of the move to inscribe Hebron’s Old City, including the Tomb, as an endangered heritage site, while three opposed it. Six countries abstained.
Following a previous resolution in May by the UNESCO executive board ratifying a contentious resolution denying any legal or historical Israeli links to Jerusalem and calling Israel an “occupying power” in its capital, Israel announced it would cut another $1 million from its payments to the UN, bringing the total cuts since December 2016 to $9 million.
In December, after the Security Council passed Resolution 2334, slamming Israeli settlement activity and calling settlements illegal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered $6 million cut from Israel’s payment to the UN. And in March, after the Human Rights Council passed five anti-Israel resolutions, Netanyahu vowed to cut an additional $2 million.