The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing the organization's "woke" agenda and anti-Israel bias.

"President Trump has decided to withdraw from UNESCO—which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes," White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly wrote on X. "The President will always put America First. Our membership in all international organizations must align with our national interests."

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a press release that UNESCO promotes "a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy" and has seen "the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization."

"Like many UN organizations, UNESCO strayed from its founding mission," Bruce wrote on X. "Going forward, U.S. participation in international organizations must make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous."

Trump in February signed an executive order directing officials to review America's participation in UNESCO, with a focus on identifying "anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization." In that order, Trump also pulled the United States out of the U.N. Human Rights Council and halted funding to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

"I've always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential," Trump said at the time. "It's not living up to that potential right now. It really hasn't for a long time."

The months-long review raised alarm about UNESCO's DEI policies and its record of anti-Semitic actions—including resolutions condemning Israel's war against Hamas terrorists and designating Jewish holy places as "Palestinian World Heritage" sites, a White House official told the New York Post.

The official also pointed to growing Chinese influence within UNESCO, saying, "China has leveraged its influence over UNESCO to advance global standards that are favorable to Beijing's interests."

Trump initially pulled the United States out of UNESCO in 2017, during his first administration, citing the organization's anti-Israel bias. Former president Joe Biden brought the United States back into the U.N. agency in 2023. The United States first withdrew from UNESCO in 1983 under the Reagan administration, which said the agency "has extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with," "exhibited hostility toward a free society, especially a free market and a free press," and "demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion."