Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with the head of the UN’s cultural agency next month to request a postponement of Israel’s departure from the organization, Channel 10 news reports.
In December, Israel announced it would follow the United States in leaving UNESCO, which it has long accused of discriminating against the Jewish state.
According to Channel 10, Netanyahu phoned UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay last month to thank her for addressing the organization’s bias against Israel. Azoulay in turn stressed she is commited to changing UNESCO’s stance toward Israel and said she would like to meet him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month, the report says.
No date has been set for a meeting.
A senior Israeli official quoted in the report says rather than dropping the decision to quit UNESCO, Israel is considering delaying its departure to examine changes to the organization under Azoulay.
The official also says Israel must consider the US decision, as it cited UNESCO’s bias against Israel as a reason for its exit from the organization.
“The Americans can’t be ignored,” the official tells Channel 10. “We’ll have to consider them.”
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