Picking a bone with UNESCO

UNESCO, rumors of an imminent prisoner exchange with Hamas and the second round of voting in the Labor party primaries make headlines in the Hebrew-language press Sunday morning.

There’s notable outcry from the papers over Friday’s UNESCO decision to declare the Old City of Hebron an endangered Palestinian world heritage site that the Israeli government says denies thousands of years of Jewish history to the West Bank city.

“The ignorance and absurdities of UNESCO,” reads the Israel Hayom headline, which leads the Hebrew media with its resounding, unequivocal rejection of the resolution on Hebron and takes a jab at the cultural body with a front page illustration of “the bible according to UNESCO” overflowing with Palestinian flags.

Inside, columnist Nadav Shragai levels harsh criticism of the UN cultural body, saying its “delusional” and “dishonest” vote will only make the UNESCO “less and less relevant.”

“Where will these absurd and ignorant lies lead? Perhaps in the future they will determine that the origin of Judaism is Islam? Or perhaps they will adopt the Islamist definition of Jews that we are ‘sons of apes and pigs?’” he writes, referring to a common anti-Semitic formulation to describe Jews in some parts of the Muslim world.

Yedioth Ahronoth also leads its Sunday edition with the contentious vote, offering an exclusive report that a UNESCO ambassador from an unnamed Arab country apologized to his Israeli counterpart for voting in favor of the motion.

“Sorry for today, it was too heated, it is difficult to say it was a secret vote…” the ambassador told Israel’s UNESCO Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen in a text message, later adding that he had “no choice.”

“I know my friend. For me, it is like you did it,” Shama-Hacohen responded.

In Friday’s vote at UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee’s 41st annual summit, twelve countries voted in favor of the Hebron decision while three opposed it and six countries abstained.

The voting took place in secret, whereas in the past, votes to inscribe sites onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List are done by a show of hands among all the member states. But three countries — Poland, Croatia and Jamaica — requested a secret ballot, much to the objection of other countries.

Shama-Hacohen later accused the session’s chairman of not conducting a truly secret ballot, as he ordered delegates to come up to the front of the hall and put a sealed envelope into a box in front of the other diplomats. He claimed he was promised the vote would take place behind a curtain, hoping that would enable delegates from moderate Arab states to reject the Palestinian-led bid.

Haaretz, however, downplays the whole affair, shunting its coverage to Page 5, where it unsympathetically notes that Israel and the US did not have the diplomatic clout at the UN to thwart the resolution.

The papers on Sunday also dominated by reports of a potential prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

Citing unconfirmed reports in Arab media over the weekend, Israel Hayom’s headline says Israel and Hamas “on the way to prisoner exchange deal,” while Yedioth’ purportedly reveals terror group’s terms for any such agreement.

On Saturday, the Hezbollah-linked Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that Israel and Hamas were close to a preliminary deal that could pave the way for the release of three Israeli nationals held captive by the terror group in Gaza, as well as the bodies of two fallen soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who fell in fighting in the strip in 2014.

Hamas is believed to be holding Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, whose presence in Gaza is unconfirmed, all of whom entered Gaza of their own accord in recent years and are said by their families to be suffering from mental illness.

Both tabloids dedicate ample room to the unconfirmed report, despite numerous Israeli officials who have expressed skepticism of the Lebanese reports.

Haaretz meanwhile, strikes a more cautious tone, reporting that both Palestinian and Israeli officials have confirmed “ongoing intensive” talks mediated by Egypt, but have not commented on any substantial progress made in the indirect talks.

While the daily notes that Israeli security officials have confirmed that “some progress” had been made in the indirect talks, they prominently feature Israeli officials’ dismissal of the Lebanese report.