UNESCO has become a poster child for how UN agencies have had their missions perverted by the anti-Israel agenda.

Other than the absurd UN Human Rights Council, which is run by some of the worst human rights offenders in the world, UNESCO stands out for its anti-Jewish agenda, which seeks to deny the history of the Jewish presence in what now is Israel and Judea/Samaria (the “West Bank”) putting in its place a false Islamic supremacist version of history.

Among our recent posts documenting this bias:

Just one of many examples is how UNESCO declared the Cave of the Patriarchs to be a Palestinian heritage site in danger:

This was contrary not only to history, but also a UNESCO group of experts (ICOMOS), who had declined to recommend the proposal, said the Palestinian heritage request was too focused on Muslim history, and was weak, as it neglected Jewish and Christian history at the place before the Mamluk period (The Palestinian proposal called Hebron a Mamluk town. Ironically it was the Mameluke who forbade Jews and Christians to pray there). So, they don’t even listen to the experts (again). It’s a political decision and thus contra UNESCO mandate.

There has been no sign of UNESCO cleaning up its act. A new round of anti-Israel resolutions was only temporarily postponed as UNESCO elects a new President. The frontrunner is a Qatari diplomat. Qatar runs the anti-Israel Al-Jazeera network and affiliates. So if anything, UNESCO was set to get even worse.

The State Department issued a short notice today that the United States would be withdrawing from UNESCO:

On October 12, 2017, the Department of State notified UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the organization and to seek to establish a permanent observer mission to UNESCO. This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO. The United States indicated to the Director General its desire to remain engaged with UNESCO as a non-member observer state in order to contribute U.S. views, perspectives and expertise on some of the important issues undertaken by the organization, including the protection of world heritage, advocating for press freedoms, and promoting scientific collaboration and education. Pursuant to Article II(6) of the UNESCO Constitution, U.S. withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2018. The United States will remain a full member of UNESCO until that time.

Not surprisingly, Bibi Netanyahu tweeted his support for the decision, and Israel’s agreement to withdraw also.

I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare Israel’s withdrawal from UNESCO in parallel with the United States. — Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) October 12, 2017

Israel also should kick all UNESCO staff out and close its offices. UNESCO already has stripped away Jewish history in favor of a Pallywood version of the region, so what else could it do?

It is likely that this is an attempt to get UNESCO to reform itself so that the U.S. does not need to follow through on the withdrawal.

But I doubt any reform is possible. UNESCO and most of the U.N. is hopefully corrupted.

[Featured Image: Cave of Patriarchs – Abraham][Photo Credit William Jacobson, 2015]



