The administration of President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will end its involvement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over its decision to admit the State of Palestine as a member.
The decision to leave the agency, announced on Tuesday, is to take effect in December 2026.
In a statement, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce argued that membership in UNESCO was not in the US’s “national interest” and called the agency’s mission “divisive”.
She then pointed to several points of discord, including Palestine’s participation in UNESCO and alleged “anti-Israel” sentiment in its ranks. Palestine has been a member since 2011, but the US does not recognise it as a sovereign state.
“To admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organisation,” Bruce said.
Bruce also denounced UNESCO’s commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which include calls to reduce poverty, increase gender equity and fight climate change. Those goals, she said, were evidence of “a globalist, ideological agenda”.
This is the second time that Trump has withdrawn the US from UNESCO.
In 2018, during his first term, the US likewise left the agency. Then, as now, the Trump administration cited alleged bias against Israel as a motivation.
In 2023, under then-President Joe Biden, the US rejoined UNESCO. But since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has sought to peel back Biden-era initiatives and limit US support for several international organisations.
Already, he has withdrawn US support for the World Health Organization (WHO), and in February, he issued an executive order that severed funding for the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of protecting “human rights abusers”.
That same order announced a review of US membership in UNESCO, to be completed in 90 days, with an emphasis on whether the agency had engaged in “anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment”.
Trump has pursued an “America First” agenda in his second term, and White House spokesperson Anna Kelly framed the latest withdrawal from UNESCO as advancing that cause.
“President Trump has decided to withdraw from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes,” Kelly wrote on social media.
“The President will always put America First. Our membership in all international organizations must align with our national interests.”
The foreign minister of Israel, Gideon Saar, responded on social media that the US decision to exit UNESCO was yet another indication that his country has been treated unfairly on the international stage.
“This is a necessary step, designed to promote justice and Israel’s right for fair treatment in the UN system, a right which has often been trampled due to politicization in this arena,” Saar wrote. “Singling out Israel and politicization by member states must end, in this and all professional UN agencies.”
He thanked the US for its “moral support and leadership” and called on the UN to undertake “fundamental reforms”.
But UNESCO disputed the accusation that it had treated any of its members unfairly.
“UNESCO’s purpose is to welcome all the nations of the world, and the United States of America is and always will be welcome,” UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said.
She added that the US government’s decision to withdraw was not unexpected — but that Trump’s decision would not end UNESCO’s engagement with other organisations in the US.
“We will continue to work hand in hand with all our American partners in the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations, and will pursue our political dialogue with the US administration and Congress,” Azoulay said.
She estimated that only about 8 percent of the agency’s budget relies on the US. Staff cuts are not anticipated as a result of the US withdrawal.
The US has acted as Israel’s primary diplomatic defender for decades, exerting pressure on international bodies that it perceives as critical towards its Middle East ally.
But the US itself has faced heightened scrutiny for that support since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
That war has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, and UN experts have called Israel’s tactics “consistent with genocide”.
Israel’s continued blockade of essential supplies into Gaza has prompted fears of famine among UN leaders as well.
“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, said in May.
In a 24-hour span on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials estimated that 15 people have died of starvation, among them an infant.
But the US has been unwavering in its support of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, despite ongoing humanitarian concerns.
Last month, the Trump administration announced sanctions targeting judges on the International Criminal Court who were involved in probes that investigated possible abuses by Israeli and US forces. The US also sanctioned Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, in July.
