Japan, Israel furious with UNESCO

Both Japan and Israel are furious with UNESCO after the UN cultural organisation adopted resolutions that go against their interests.

Japan, one of UNESCO’s biggest funders, is holding back more than $40 million, in protest against listed documents related to the Nanjing massacre, but Foreign minister Fumio Kishida denied any direct link to the massacre that have strained diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Beijing.

The documents were inscribed in the UN body’s Memory of the World register.

Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO on Friday after the the UN cultural and scientific body adopted two resolutions on annexed east Jerusalem ahead of a final vote next week.

In a letter to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Israel said “thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem” and “Islamist terror” were being ignored.

Kishida confirmed that Japan had suspended this year’s contribution. Japan warned last year that it may pull funding after Bejing’s request to include the documents of the fall of the Chinese city Nanjing in 1937.

Tokyo had called for the Nanjing documents not to be included and accused the body of being politicised.

The resolutions against Israel refer to “Occupied Palestine” and aim to “safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem”, according to AFP.

A Palestinian diplomatic source said the new resolutions submitted refer to the “importance of Jerusalem’s Old City and its walls for the three monotheistic religions”, although Israel is referred to as the “occupying power”.