America pulls out of UNESCO to avoid unpaid dues, punish 'anti-Israel bias'

(Image credit: MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

published 12 October 2017

The United States announced its intention Thursday to withdraw from UNESCO, citing concerns about the organization's "continuing anti-Israel bias." The U.S. helped found the organization, which promotes education, culture, and science worldwide, after World War II. America will stay on as a UNESCO observer, a State Department announcement said:

It is not the first time the U.S. has withdrawn. "The Reagan administration decided to withdraw from the organization in 1984, at the height of the Cold War, citing corruption and what it considered an ideological tilt towards the Soviet Union against the West," Foreign Policy writes. "President George W. Bush rejoined the organization in 2002, claiming it had gotten its books in order and expunged some of its most virulent anti-Western and anti-Israel biases."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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