​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the weekend, spoke by telephone with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi after having sent him a letter following Italy's UNESCO vote.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked his Italian counterpart for his remarks to the effect that Italy's vote on the Jewish People's link to Jerusalem was a mistake that would not recur. Italian Prime Minister Renzi said, "To say that the Jewish People has no connection to Jerusalem is like saying that the sun creates darkness."
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that even the theater of the absurd has limits and noted that it was important that countries which respected both themselves and the truth not participate in it. He added that it was not a political question but one of historical facts.
 
Italian Prime Minister Renzi noted that in the future he would work to influence the positions of other European countries in similar votes and said that he would discuss the issue with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu appreciates the leadership shown by Italian Prime Minister Renzi as a welcome process of changing direction in extreme votes against Israel in international forums. The change in UN institutions will take some years and will also entail disappointments but these are – without doubt – the first signs of a welcome change.