The United States officially announced on Thursday 12 October, via a statement from its state department, that it would leave the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to the statement, the US is leaving because of the UNESCO’s “continuing anti-Israel bias” and “mounting arrears”.

Irina Bokova, current Director-General of UNESCO, has since expressed her “profound regret” following the intended withdrawal of the United States. “Together, we have worked to protect humanity’s shared cultural heritage in the face of terrorist attacks and to prevent violent extremism through education and media literacy,” she said in an official statement.

The US decision to withdraw from the UNESCO did not come as a major shock for international observers given the tumultuous relationship between the two. Ronald Reagan, former US president, first withdrew from the organisation back in 1984 during the Cold War. It took them almost two decades to make their return to the organisation under President George W. Bush in 2003.

Eight years later, in 2011, President Barack Obama also cut funding to the UNESCO because of laws preventing the US from financially backing UN agencies that recognise Palestine as a state. Matters have also worsened in recent months with the city of Hebron officially recognised as a Palestinian World Heritage Site in July 2017.

The election of a new Director-General, which is underway by secret ballot, could have changed Trump administration’s decision to leave the UNESCO. However, Qatar’s Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari, the favourite to take over from Bokova, is perceived to be even more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

The US withdrawal from the UNESCO will take place on 31 December 2018. They will seek an observer status after that period “to contribute U.S. views, perspectives and expertise on some of the important issues undertaken by the organization.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, took to social media to praise the United States’ decision to leave. “This is a courageous and ethical decision because UNESCO has become a theatre of the absurd and instead of preserving history, distorts it.” Netanyahu also announced Israel’s decision to follow in the footsteps of the US and leave the organisation.