Report: Trump to pull US out of ‘woke’ UNESCO, citing antisemitic and anti-Israel bias

United States President Donald Trump has decided to pull the US out of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization over alleged anti-America and anti-Israel bias, the New York Post reports, citing a White House official.

In February, Trump ordered a 90-day review of Washington’s presence in the cultural agency, with a focus on examining any “anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization,” the report reads.

Following the review, administration officials raised concerns over UNESCO’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and over its pro-Palestinian and pro-Chinese leanings, according to the White House official cited in the report.

White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly tells the outlet: “President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November.”

Among other grievances, the White House official points to measures taken by the UNESCO Executive Board that are viewed as anti-Israel and antisemitic, such as labeling Jewish holy sites as “Palestinian World Heritage” locations, as well as the agency’s referring to “Palestine” as “occupied” by Israel, and denouncing Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza while refraining from criticizing the terror group’s control of the Strip.

During Trump’s first term, he withdrew from several international bodies, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as from international treaties seeking to limit climate change and halt Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The US rejoined the climate accord during the term of then-president Joe Biden and withdrew from it a second time after Trump returned to office.