Czech Parliament resolution calls for recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

(JTA) — The Czech Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the country’s government to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

A majority of lawmakers voted for the measure on Tuesday ahead of the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, the Czech news agency CTK reported. The report did not include the text of the resolution, which also did not appear in the relevant section of the website of the Czech Parliament.

According to CTK, the resolution states that the Czech government should advocate a position respecting Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and impede steps that distort historical facts and are motivated by an anti-Israeli hateful approach.

The reference to distortion was in reaction to a resolution passed earlier this month by the executive board of UNESCO, the educational and cultural arm of the United Nations, stating that Israel has no right to control the city’s eastern part, which Israel took from Jordan in 1967.

The resolution passed in Prague also urged the government to deny funding for UNESCO if it persists with policies deemed anti-Israel.

Last year, UNESCO passed a resolution that refers to the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name, Haram al-Sharif, and to the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The UNESCO resolution “confirms a permanent, biased and hostile stance of UNESCO on one of its member states as well as an unacceptable politicization of this organization,” Jan Bartosek, a deputy speaker of the Parliament, was quoted as saying by CTK in connection with the Parliament’s vote.

Another lawmaker, Jana Cernochova, said “the only possible sanction” against UNESCO was to stop supporting it financially.

“The contributions should not be paid,” she said, “unless UNESCO gives up its hostile stance on Israel.”