UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Sunday decided to postpone a vote on an anti-Jewish resolution on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Israeli construction in the Old City, after its conference in Istanbul was cut short due to the failed coup attempt in Turkey two days prior. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, Carmel Shama Ha-Cohen, said that it was thanks to diligent efforts on behalf of his staff that led to the delay. The resolution will now be up for debate at the committee’s next meeting in October.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder on Friday slammed UNESCO for its repeated anti-Jewish resolutions and urged member states to stand up and prevent the “absurd revision of history” repeatedly emerging in such votes. “It’s one thing to oppose Israeli policy, and another to deny the Jewish people’s historic connection to Jerusalem,” Lauder said. He urged members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to rectify the decision of the executive board, recognize the Jewish connection to Israel and halt the “egregious” anti-Jewish resolution from being presented. 
“This upcoming resolution in Istanbul, which the Europeans are negotiating with the Palestinians, is unacceptable and inflammatory. It unilaterally ignores the Jewish connection to the Old City of Jerusalem, referring to the Temple Mount exclusively by its Arabic name, Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and as a “Muslim holy site” alone, and it falsely accuses Israel of grossly damaging and violating the character of the city,” Lauder said.
The World Heritage Committee has been meeting in Istanbul since last week, and had intended to debate a resolution proposed by Jordan and the Palestinians. That draft resolution ignored the connection to the Temple Mount and referred to Israel continuously as an occupying power. Israel's foreign ministry mounted a strong campaign against it, and succeeded in delaying presentation of that resolution.
In tandem, the World Jewish Congress sent 25 letters to voting members of the committee urging them to reject the resolution.
A second draft was composed by the European Union in its stead, softening the language – for instance, it took the words Western Wall out of quotation remarks and referred to the Israeli "occupation authorities" rather than to all of Israel as an occupying power. Israel’s foreign ministry continued to rebuff the EU draft, however, as it was still consistently anti-Israel, using only the Arabic name for the Temple Mount and allowing for harsh retribution on Israeli construction.
The second resolution was being negotiated with the Palestinians and was expected to be presented this coming week, when the committee decided to end its meeting three days early. Certain items had to be removed from the agenda, and the Israeli delegation set to work to ensure that the Jerusalem item be delayed.
The Palestinian and Peruvian delegations insisted that the Jerusalem item remain in this week’s agenda, but thanks to the support of Portugal, Poland and Finland, it was agreed that it would be discussed only at a later date.
A similar resolution was passed at UNESCO's Executive Board meeting in April, which among other accusations, claimed that Israel had planted Jewish graves in the Old City in order to feign an historic connection to the area.
On Friday, WJC President Lauder also praised UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova for her public statement reiterating that the Old City of Jerusalem is a sacred site for three monotheistic religions and denouncing attempts to deny these historical connections.
“We urge the members of the World Heritage Committee to follow the UNESCO director-general’s example and recognize that the Jewish people have had a solid presence in Jerusalem for thousands of years, and have an unbreakable religious, traditional and cultural bond with this land. Any attempt to negate this connection is an attack on Judaism and Jewish people throughout the world, and is an absurd and perverse revision of history,” Lauder said.
In response to numerous letters and public statements addressed to her ahead of the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in Istanbul, Bokova said: "The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities have a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city. To deny or conceal any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription in 1981 as a World Heritage site.”
