SAN FRANCISCO, October 12, (THEWILL) – The United States says it is pulling out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, which it accused of “anti-Israel” bias.
Washington says it is taking the
punitive action after the Palestinian Authority was accepted into the UN agency as a full member in defiance of American, Israeli and European pressure.
The withdrawal was confirmed on Thursday by U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be publicly named discussing the decision.
This development is coming even as UNESCO is voting to choose a new director.
America had stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member in 2011, but the State Department has maintained a UNESCO office at its Paris headquarters and sought to weigh in on policy behind the scenes.
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