The State Department announced on Tuesday that the United States is withdrawing from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, citing the international body’s anti-Israel bias in its recognition of Palestinian statehood.
UNESCO membership “is not in the national interest” of the Trump administration, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
“UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy,” Bruce added. “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.”
The move will take effect at the end of 2026. The U.S. will remain a full UNESCO member until then.
Tuesday’s announcement marks the second time that the U.S. has withdrawn from the U.N.’s cultural organization. The first time was in 2017 during President Donald Trump’s first term. That decision was also made concerning the organization’s anti-Israel bias.
The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in 2023 under the Biden administration, which argued that the nation’s absence from the international group left a void that foreign adversaries, such as China, were filling.
UNESCO admitted Palestinians as full members in 2011, after which the U.S. stopped funding the Paris-based agency.
The latest move is in line with Trump’s executive order from February that called for a 90-day review of federal funding and involvement in the U.N., including UNESCO. The general review specifically probed “any anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization,” the order read.
The administration’s review revealed UNESCO not only engaged in anti-Israel bias but also pro-China bias and pursued diversity, equity, and inclusion, the New York Post reported. For example, UNESCO published an “anti-racism toolkit” in 2023 and a report in 2024 exploring how video games could “promote gender equality and human rights.”
In response to the U.S.’s withdrawal, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay expressed disappointment in the Trump administration’s decision.
JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS TRUMP ORDER TARGETING INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
“I deeply regret President Donald Trump’s decision to once again withdraw the United States of America from UNESCO,” she said in a press release. “This decision contradicts the fundamental principles of multilateralism, and may affect first and foremost our many partners in the United States of America.”
Azoulay defended the organization’s work in setting standards on the ethics of artificial intelligence, promoting girls’ education, and teaching students about the Holocaust and genocide. Despite the Trump administration’s allegations of anti-Israel bias, she claimed UNESCO was committed to fighting antisemitism.