US says it's leaving UN cultural agency UNESCO again, only 2 years after rejoining

PARIS — The United States announced Tuesday it will again pull out of the U.N.'s educational, scientific and cultural agency because of what Washington sees as its anti-Israel bias, only two years after rejoining. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the withdrawal was linked to UNESCO's perceived agenda to "advance divisive social and cultural causes." She added in a statement that UNESCO's decision "to admit the 'State of Palestine' as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization." This will be the third time that the United States has left UNESCO, which is based in Paris, and the second time during a Trump administration. President Donald Trump had already pulled out during his first term and the United States returned after a five-year absence after the Biden administration applied to rejoin the organization. The decision will take effect at the end of December 2026. The decision will come as no surprise to UNESCO officials, who had anticipated such a move following the specific review ordered by the Trump administration earlier this year. They also expected that Trump would pull out again since the return of the US in 2023 had been promoted by a political rival, former President Joe Biden. The U.S withdrawal is likely to affect UNESCO because the U.S. provides a notable share of the agency's budget. But the organization should be able to cope. UNESCO has diversified its funding sources in recent years and the US contribution has decreased, representing only 8% of the agency's total budget. The Trump administration in 2017 announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision took effect a year later. The U.S. and Israel stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011. The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance the interests of the Soviet Union. It rejoined in 2003 during George W. Bush's presidency.