Israel has frozen its financial support to the UNESCO after the latter extended Palestine’s status to a full membership at the international body, the Maan News Agency reported on Thursday afternoon. In a statement released Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister spokesperson, Ofir Gendelman, stated that Netanyahu vowed to freeze $2 Million of financial support for the UNESCO after the latter granted Palestine a full membership at the international body.
“Netanyahu would move this budget to regional cooperation projects,” Gendelman added.
“Such steps (Palestine’s full membership in international bodies without singing peace agreements with Israel) would never push the peace process forwards,” Netanyahu stated, ‘The only way to achieve a peace deal is through direct negotiations without preconditions.
The Israeli decision to cute UNESCO funds follows the lead of a similar U.S. decision made earlier this week.
On Monday, the UNESCO granted Palestine a full membership after 104 member states voted in favor, 14 voted against and 52 member states abstained.
The US and Israel were the major member states to vote against Palestine’s full membership at the international body, claiming that the only way to achieve peace is through restarting direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Israel.
