The United States is set to rejoin UNESCO nearly four-and-a-half years after the Trump administration quit the UN cultural agency over anti-Israel bias.
A State Department spokesperson told Axios that the Biden administration last week privately notified UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) that it will become a member again. According to the report, the agency’s director-general Audrey Azoulay called the ambassadors of member states to an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.
At the meeting, Azoulay was to reportedly call for a July session to welcome the U.S. and approve its reentry.
“Any such action would require concurrence by UNESCO’s current membership,” the State Department spokesperson told Axios, referring to the U.S. rejoining the agency.
Last December, Congress approved the allocation of more than $500 million to settle the U.S.’s unpaid dues to UNESCO and allow for a return as a full member. When a member, the U.S. finances 22% of the agency’s budget.
Washington withdrew from UNESCO on Dec. 31, 2018. The move reflected “U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO,” the State Department said at the time.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed the Trump administration’s decision in October 2017 and filed notice to leave UNESCO, with Israel withdrawing its membership at the same time as the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at a congressional hearing in April 2022, cited the growing influence of China on the agency’s agenda as a major reason for rejoining UNESCO. Blinken added that the government of then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett supported a U.S. return.
in a 2016 resolution, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee registered the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), located in Hebron, in the name of the “state of Palestine” when it inscribed it onto its “List of World Heritage in Danger.”
UNESCO passed 47 resolutions in 2009-2014, 46 of which were directed against Israel and one that criticized Syria.
