Israel has announced preparations to withdraw from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), just hours after the United States said it would leave the organization over “continuing anti-Israel bias.”
The Times of Israel reported Thursday that Netanyahu’s office had released a statement, saying that “The prime minister instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare Israel’s withdrawal from the organization alongside the United States.”
Netanyahu said he “welcomes the decision by President Trump to withdraw from UNESCO.” The Prime Minister added that “This is a courageous and moral decision because UNESCO has become the theater of the absurd and because, instead of preserving history, it distorts it.”
Earlier on Thursday, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, said he would recommend to the prime minister to sever ties with the organization immediately. According to Shama-Hacohen, in recent years, UNESCO has become “an absurd organization that has lost its way in favor of the political considerations of certain countries” and that his “personal recommendation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to follow suit and immediately withdraw.”
This sentiment was echoed in a statement released by UN ambassador Nikki Haley, following the U.S. Department of State’s formal notification. Haley said that “the purpose of UNESCO is a good one,” but “unfortunately, its extreme politicization has become a chronic embarrassment.”
Haley cited UNESCO’s decision in July to declare the old city of Hebron in the West Bank as a Palestinian world heritage site. According to her, it was “the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors.”
Haley added that “US taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense.”
Over recent years, UNESCO has come under fire for politicizing its mandate, betraying the original purpose of the organization. Time and again, the organization adopted anti-Israel resolutions, drafted by Arab member states, denying the Jewish people’s connection to the land of Israel.
Four out of the nine nominations for the new UNESCO director-general position came from Arab countries, Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari, Qatar’s candidate for succeeding Irina Bokova, has been accused of spreading anti-Semitic material, both in an official and private capacity.
On Friday, Hamad bin Abdoulaziz Al-Kawari was defeated by French candidate Audrey Azoulay.
[Photo: Guillaime Speurt]