US announces withdrawal from UNESCO again, citing "misalignment with national interests"
The US State Department said the agency's decision to admit "the State of Palestine" as a full member contradicts US foreign policy and has encouraged the spread of anti-Israel views within the organisation.
The United States government has announced plans to withdraw its membership from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Agency (UNESCO), just two years after the Donald Trump-led nation rejoined the agency in 2018.
The move was confirmed by State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a statement on X on Tuesday.
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According to Bruce, the agency's operations no longer align with the national interests of the Donald Trump-led nation.
"Today, the United States announced our decision to withdraw from UNESCO," the statement reads.
"Like many UN organisations, UNESCO strayed from its founding mission. Going forward, US participation in international organisations must make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous," Bruce added.
According to AP News Agency, Bruce also stated that the agency's decision to admit "the State of Palestine" as a full member contradicts US foreign policy and has encouraged the spread of anti-Israel views within the organisation.
"These claims ... contradict the reality of UNESCO's efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism," UNESCO's Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a rejoinder.
"The reasons put forward by the United States of America 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."
Additional reports from The New York Times indicate that the United States' exit will be finalised by the end of December 2026.
This will be the third time that the United States is leaving UNESCO and the second time under President Trump.
Trump first announced the US exit in 2017, accusing the organisation of anti-Israel bias, a move that officially came into effect the following year.
By this time, both the US and Israel had already stopped funding UNESCO after it admitted Palestine as a full member in 2011.
The United States similarly left UNESCO under the leadership of former President Ronald Reagan.
While Washington's departure could affect the agency's finances, the impact is expected to be limited.
In recent years, UNESCO has broadened its donor base, and the American share of its funding now accounts for just 8 per cent of the overall budget.
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