Israel to withhold $1M in UN funding after UNESCO vote

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will withhold $1 million in payments to the United Nations following a resolution adopted by its cultural agency that he says diminishes Jewish ties to Jerusalem.

Netanyahu called the UNESCO resolution “absurd” and said the agency’s “systematic harassment” of Israel had a price. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Netanyahu says Israel will not sit idly by as a U.N. organization tries to negate its sovereignty in Jerusalem.

The UNESCO resolution criticized Israeli excavations in east Jerusalem as a violation of international law. Israel has long complained about bias at U.N. forums, feeling outnumbered by Arab nations and their supporters.