UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights
Why Israel Left UNESCO?
Some of the reasons are:
Anti-Israel bias
Blasted for criticizing Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem.
Israel has been angered by repeated resolutions that ignore and diminish its historical connection to the Holy Land of East Jerusalem and that have named ancient Jewish sites as Palestinian heritage sites.
And granting full membership to Palestine in 2011.
Israel joined UNESCO in 1949.
Why USA Left UNESCO?
The United States on October 12, 2017, announced its withdrawal from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), accusing it of “continuing anti-Israel bias. The U.S. has demanded “fundamental reform” in the agency. As required by law, the U.S. has stopped funding the UNESCO since then. The U.S. withdrawal took effect on December 31, 2018 which impacted in a major financial crisis for the UNESCO. The United States has pulled out of UNESCO before. The Reagan administration did so in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. The U.S. re-joined in 2003.
Why are the US and Israel so friendly?
The countries were not nearly so close in Israel’s first decades. President Eisenhower was particularly hostile to Israel during the 1956 Suez War, which Israel, the UK, and France fought against Egypt. As the Cold War dragged on, the US came to view Israel as a key buffer against Soviet influence in the Middle East and supported it accordingly. The American-Israeli alliance didn’t really cement until around 1973, when American aid helped save Israel from a surprise Arab invasion. American support for Israel really is quite extensive. The US has given Israel $118 billion in aid over the years (about $3 billion per year nowadays). Half of all American UN Security Council vetoes blocked resolutions critical of Israel.
The Trump administration has led to renewed warmth in the Israeli-American relationship, culminating in Trump’s December 2018 decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
Will the Decision impact UNESCO Financially?
The withdrawals will have its effect in the financial front but will not greatly impact UNESCO financially, since it has been dealing with a funding slash ever since 2011 when both Israel and the U.S. stopped paying dues after Palestine was voted in as a member state. Since then, officials estimate that the U.S. — which accounted for around 22 percent of the total budget — has accrued $600 million in unpaid dues, which was one of the reasons for President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw. Israel owes an estimated $10 million
Now the question that remains to be answered is, whether the UNESCO will try to bring back the USA?
