The Trump Administration says the U.S. is withdrawing from the United Nations’ cultural body UNESCO, citing “anti-Israel bias” as one of its reasons.

“This decision was not taken lightly,” Heather Nauert, State Department spokesperson, said in a statement on Thursday. “[it] reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO.” The withdrawal will take place on Dec. 31, 2018. The State Department said on Thursday that the U.S. will instead establish an observer mission at UNESCO, which is known for designating world heritage sites.

https://time.com/4979481/unesco-us-leaving/

Some of the most prominent cultural figures in the US, including the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles, swiftly expressed their opposition to the US government’s decision to pull out of UNESCO. The move, announced yesterday and expected to go into effect at the end of next year, is viewed by many in the cultural sector as yet another example of the Trump administration’s isolationist policies. But experts say the move, which comes after years of strained relations between the US and UNESCO, is more symbolic than anything else.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/us-unesco-cultural-institutions-1116371

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s attempt to circumvent U.S. law that bans funding for any U.N. agency that admits “Palestine” will send a “disastrous message” that U.N. bodies will continue receiving American money irrespective of their actions, a top Republican lawmaker has warned.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-wants-restore-us-funding-unesco-after-it-admitted-palestine

The United States will formally withdraw from UNESCO, the State Department announced Thursday, citing concerns over the UN cultural agency’s perceived anti-Israel bias. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert also cited the U.S.’s mounting dues owed to UNESCO—now over $500 million—as reason for its departure. She said the decision “was not taken lightly” and that the U.S. would continue to offer its perspective as a non-member observer state.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/how-did-unesco-get-so-politicized/542733/

The cheers that rang across the hall of the Unesco meeting when Palestine became a member on Monday are being echoed in surprising quarters.

The Obama administration has perversely given a big boost to the Republican right's antipathy to the UN and all it stands for. Ironically, it was George W Bush who brought the United States back into Unesco 20 years after Reagan withdrew. Equally ironically, driving the engine in this diplomatic train wreck was Barack Obama, whose speeches in Turkey and Egypt during the early months of his presidency had deceptively signalled a new opening to the Muslim world.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/01/obama-palestine-unesco-membership

https://www.independentsentinel.com/will-obama-defund-unesco-or-face-an-impeachable-offense/

As if President Joe Biden hadn’t created enough problems overseas, he is now accelerating efforts to rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Biden's State Department argues we should return to UNESCO to counter growing Chinese influence, but this is a misdirection play. In fact, the administration is pursuing a liberal Holy Grail, participating in multilateral bodies whether or not doing so serves U.S. national interests. Among many problematic U.N. agencies, UNESCO stands out. Rather than focusing on its core missions, it has repeatedly engaged in expensive, wasteful programs and destructive, highly politicized behavior.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/bidens-expensive-unesco-folly

On February 9, 2022 Arutz 7 reported "Israel has withdrawn its opposition to a US return to UNESCO.

"To return to UNESCO, the United States must approve in Congress an allocation of more than half a billion dollars to pay American debts to the organization and thus return to full membership.

"The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel for a long time to renew its membership in the organization and not to oppose the American return to it."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/322046

The granting of Palestinian full membership at UNESCO, triggered among other laws, a 1994 law (see appendix to 22 USC 287e) supported unanimously by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, which stated that funding will be barred for “any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.” The law is pragmatic and helps maintain the credibility of the international system. However, the champion of so-called “Smart Diplomacy” is now in the process of trying to change the rules to sidestep the law her husband ironically enacted fifteen years earlier now that the outcome is not to the liking of a vocal minority. Secretary Clinton and the State Department are being lured by sob stories and false premises from Hollywood activists and UNESCO bureaucrats, who are trying to reinstitute the 22 percent of UNESCO’s funding ($80 million per year) that the U.S. has now halted as a result of the Palestinian Authority membership.

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/211465-cliintons-unesco-faux-pas