OK, this isn't at all clear to me what's happening.

I sympathise, Joe. What is happening is a mish-mash of forces and interests coming together in a way so that there is no simple story to tell. Some is about a debt that the US is building up. Some is about an isolationist view which thinks the idea that the US contributes to supporting world heritage sites outside the US is wrong as matter of principle. But in the main it was the recognition of Hebron as a world heritage site.

Slightly edited clip from The Guardian:

The UN’s world heritage body has recognised the old city of Hebron in the West Bank as a Palestinian world heritage site, sparking outrage from Israel.


Efforts by Israel failed to stop the UNESCO ruling on the city, which includes a holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi mosque and Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Twelve countries on the world heritage committee voted in favour of the Palestinian request to name Hebron a heritage site, while only three voted against it. Six countries abstained.


So the row is not really whether the site should be protected: calling it the Tomb of the Patriachs would probably have allowed that.   No, the row is over the fact that the Palestinian's requested it, and in granting it UNESCO recognised the existence of Palestine in a sense which Israel objects to. And in their eyes, that is anti-Israel bias.