UNESCO displays an anti-Israel bias and promotes ‘anti-racist’ dogma.
President Donald Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization because of its promotion of left-wing ideology.
The U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO follows an executive order Trump signed in February initiating a review of UNESCO to determine whether the organization has been captured by anti-Israel bias or other left-wing causes.
“President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NR in a statement.
“This President will always put America First and ensure our country’s membership in all international organizations aligns with our national interests.”
The New York Post first reported on Trump’s withdrawal from UNESCO.
UNESCO’s stated mission is to promote peace through education and cultural exchange, but it has been used to push progressive “anti-racist” dogma and other divisive ideas. In 2023, UNESCO created an anti-racism “toolkit” to inform lawmakers how to develop anti-racist policies and become social justice activists.
Another report UNESCO created, the “transforming MENtalities initiative,” highlights its work in India to remove “harmful gender norms” and change how men perceive gender.
UNESCO has criticized Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza without condemning Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, 2023. It refers to Palestine as “occupied” territory and has voted to label Jewish holy sites as Palestinian heritage sites.
Anti-Israel sentiment prompted Trump to withdraw from UNESCO during his first term. Israel also withdrew from the organization in 2019. President Joe Biden rejoined the organization in 2023 and his administration promised to pay more than $600 million worth of overdue contributions to it.
“I deeply regret President Donald Trump’s decision to once again withdraw the United States of America from UNESCO – a decision that will take effect at the end of December 2026,” UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.
“The reasons put forward by the United States to withdraw from the Organization are the same as seven years ago even though the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism.”
UNESCO diversified its funding sources to prepare for such an outcome by soliciting more contributions from other member states and private contributors. The U.S. only provides 8 percent of UNESCO’s funding as its total budget has increased, Azoulay said.
UNESCO has 194 member states and China is its second largest funder. China has used its influence over UNESCO to reinforce the Chinese Communist Party’s version of its history.
The Trump administration also withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council and UNRWA for similar reasons earlier this year. The U.N. Human Rights Council’s anti-Israel resolutions and UNRWA’s ties to Hamas motivated Trump’s decision to end U.S. participation in both organizations.