President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from the “woke” and “divisive” U.N. culture and education agency UNESCO, the White House announced on Tuesday. The withdrawal from the Paris-based agency will take effect at the end of next year.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said UNESCO “supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for.”
The State Department accused UNESCO of supporting a “globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy.” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated in a press release that involvement in UNESCO is “not in the national interest of the United States,” accusing the U.N. agency of advancing “divisive social and cultural causes.”
Bruce said the Trump administration also took issue with UNESCO’s move to admit the state of Palestine as a member back in 2011, saying it was “highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric.” The admission of Palestine violated US law, forcing the Obama administration at the time to halt $60m in funds that had been earmarked for UNESCO.
UNESCO frequently uses language stating that Palestine is “occupied” by Israel and condemns the Jewish state’s war on Hamas, without criticizing the terror group’s brutal reign over Gaza.
“UNESCO’s decision to admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization,” she said.
UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said she deeply regretted Trump’s decision, but it was “expected, and UNESCO has prepared for it.”
During his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the U.N. Human Rights Council.
President Joe Biden led the US in rejoining UNESCO in 2023, arguing that an American presence was necessary to counter China’s growing influence on the organization. The Biden administration also vowed to pay back more than $600 million in dues.
Israel welcomed the U.S. decision with its U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, accusing UNESCO of “consistent misguided anti-Israel bias.”
In a post on X, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, thanked Washington for its “moral support and leadership” and said that “Singling out Israel and politicization by member states must end, in this and all professional UN agencies.”
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is best known for designating World Heritage Sites, including the U.S. Grand Canyon and Egypt’s pyramids. UNESCO has passed multiple resolutions negating any Jewish connection to religious sites in Israel. In 2016, UNESCO passed a resolution declaring the Temple Mount “a Muslim site of worship”, while labeling Israel an “occupying power”. UNESCO designated the Cave of the Patriarchs and the city of Hebron as a Palestinian Heritage site.
China is the second-largest funder of UNESCO, with Chinese nationals, like deputy director-general Xing Qu, in key leadership positions. The Chinese Communist Party has been criticized for using its influence in UNESCO to downplay the role of minorities like Uyghur Muslims in the nation’s history.
The US first withdrew from the UN organization in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan, saying at the time that the organization “has extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with. It has exhibited hostility toward a free society, especially a free market and a free press, and it has demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion.”
