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President Donald Trump’s administration has announced that the United States will end its involvement in the United Nations, Scientific and Cultural (Unesco) on his decision to admit Palestine’s state as a member.
The decision to leave the agency, announced on Tuesday, is due to take effect in December 2026.
In a statementThe spokesman for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, argued that membership in UNESCO was not in the “national interest” of the United States and qualified the mission of the agency “to divide”.
She then underlined several points of discord, including the participation of Palestine in UNESCO and the presumed “anti-Israeli” feeling in its ranks. Palestine has been a member since 2011, but the United States does not recognize him as a sovereign state.
“Admitting” the state of Palestine “as a member state is very problematic, unlike American policy, and has contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israeli rhetoric within the organization,” said Bruce.
Bruce also denounced UNESCO’s commitment to UN sustainable development objectives, which include calls to reduce poverty, increase gender equity and fight climate change. These objectives, she said, were evidence of a “globalist and ideological program”.
This is the second time that Trump has removed the United States from UNESCO.
In 2018, during its first term, the United States also left the agency. Then, as now, the Trump administration cited an alleged prejudice against Israel as a motivation.
In 2023, under the president of the time, Joe Biden, the United States joined UNESCO. But since its entry into office for a second term in January, Trump has sought to take off from initiatives from the Biden era and limit American support to several international organizations.
Already, he has withdrawn American support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and, in February, he published a executive decree This has broken the funding for the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing it of protecting “human rights attackers”.
This same order announced an examination of membership in the United States at UNESCO, to be completed in 90 days, emphasizing the fact that the agency had engaged in “anti-Semitism or anti-Israeli” feeling.
Trump continued a “America First” program during her second term, and the White House spokesperson Anna Kelly framed the last withdrawal of UNESCO by advancing this cause.
“President Trump has decided to withdraw from UNESCO – which supports the cultural and social causes of division and division”, Kelly wrote on social networks.
“The president will always put America first. Our members to all international organizations must align with our national interests. ”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Gideon Saar, replied On social networks that the American decision to leave UNESCO was another indication that his country was unjustly treated on the international scene.
“This is a necessary step, designed to promote the justice and the right of Israel to fair treatment in the United Nations system, a right that has often been trampled on because of politicization in this arena,” wrote Saar. “Say Israel and politicization by the Member States must end, in this agency and all professional UN agencies.”
He thanked the United States for his “moral support and leadership” and called on the UN to undertake “fundamental reforms”.
But UNESCO challenged the accusation that he had dealt with one of its members unfairly.
“UNESCO’s objective is to welcome all the nations of the world, and the United States of America are and will always be welcome,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.
She added that the US government’s decision to withdraw was not unexpected – but that Trump’s decision would not end UNESCO’s commitment with other organizations in the United States.
“We will continue to work hand in hand with all our American partners in the organizations of the private, university and non -profit sector, and will continue our political dialogue with the American administration and congress,” said Azoulay.
She estimated that only about 8% of the agency’s budget is based on the United States. Staff cuts are not planned following American withdrawal.
The United States has acted as the main diplomatic defender of Israel for decades, exerting pressure on international organizations that he perceives as a criticism towards his ally of the Middle East.
But the United States itself has been faced with a meticulous examination of this support since the start of the Israel War in Gaza in October 2023.
This war killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, and UN experts qualified Israel’s tactics as “genocide”.
The continuous blockade of Israel of essential supplies in Gaza also sparked fears of famine among the leaders of the UN.
“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to find out that people are already hungry, sick and dying, while food and drugs are a few minutes on the other side of the border,” Tedros Adhanomesusus, Director General of the World Health Organization, said in May.
In 24 hours on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials estimated that 15 people died famineAmong them a baby.
But the United States has been unwavering in its support for the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, despite current humanitarian concerns.
Last month, the Trump administration sanctions announced Targeting the judges on the international criminal court which participated in surveys which investigated the possible abuses of Israeli and American forces. The United States too sanctioned Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territories in July.
