President Trump continues to carry out his America-first agenda by withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Tuesday.
In early February this year, President Trump signed an executive order reviewing the country’s participation in UNESCO. The official results of the review were shared in a brief press statement from the State Department’s spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, on Wednesday, saying, “Today, the United States informed Director-General Audrey Azoulay of the United States’ decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States.”
The press statement also cited UNESCO’s decision to admit the “State of Palestine” as a Member State as the reason for leaving. Bruce said this decision was “highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”
Bruce also cited that “UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy.”
This is not the first time the U.S. has withdrawn from UNESCO. Breitbart reported that in 2017, President Trump’s administration had pulled out of UNESCO because the organization had been corrupted by an anti-Israel bias. Joe Biden promptly rejoined the country in 2023, despite the organization’s stance being contrary to American ideologies.
In a post on X, Bruce had written, “Going forward, U.S. participation in international organizations must make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”
While Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, “deeply regrets” the decision, countries like Israel have applauded the Trump administration. Politico reported that Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar cheered President Trump’s decision. In a post on X, Sa’ar had written, “This is a necessary step, designed to promote justice and Israel’s right for fair treatment in the UN system, a right which has often been trampled due to politicization in this arena.”
“Israel thanks the US for its moral support and leadership, especially in the multilateral arena which is plagued with anti-Israel discrimination,” Sa’ar concluded.