She said the United States last week secretly informed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of its decision to return to the agency, nearly six years after the Trump administration announced it would withdraw US membership. Axiosszal is the spokesperson for the State Department.
Joining UNESCO was one of the Biden administration’s foreign policy goals—because in the first place
Balancing the growing influence of the Chinese government on the UN agency’s agenda.
After Palestine became a full member of UNESCO in 2011, the Obama administration stopped funding the organization because US law prohibited it.
In October 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would withdraw from UNESCO, citing its membership as anti-Israel bias. It was not long before Israel announced that it would also withdraw from the organization.
In February 2022, the Israeli government notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it did not oppose the return of the United States to UNESCO. The Israeli position paved the way for some Democrats and Republicans in Congress to support the move.
Last December, Congress passed a bill allocating more than $500 million (171 billion forints) to pay off the United States’ debt to UNESCO and allow UNESCO to return to the organization as a full member.
