Trump to Pull US Out of UNESCO in a Year and a Half

Another welcome event: UNESCO long ago went beyond its original purpose, to promote cultural and educational efforts, especially through the preservation of sites of historic and cultural importance around the world, and in the last decade has been making pronouncements and taking actions that are, as Trump says, “anti-American” and “anti-Israeli.” The UN agency published two years ago a “racism and discrimination tool kit,” in which the white Western world is held up for special criticism. It seems that in the view of UNESCO, only white people can be racists. And while UNESCO is quick to denounce people for “Islamophobia” when they dare to question the wisdom of continued Muslim migration into the lands of the West, UNESCO has no interest in investigating Muslim discrimination against, and persecution of, all non-Muslims; that is apparently not the kind of “discrimination” that UNESCO cares about, as it has never issued any statements on the matter. Nor has there been any attempt by UNESCO to publicly demand that Muslims stop destroying religious sites belonging to Christians and Jews, such as the recent destruction of an ancient church, Mar Elias, by a Muslim suicide bomber in Damascus. Nor has UNESCO said anything about Muslim attempts to destroy both Rachel’s Tomb and Joseph’s Tomb in Israel by setting them on fire; neither was destroyed but both suffered great damage.

But most maddening of all is UNESCO’s shameful record on the Temple Mount. In 2016, UNESCO’s Executive Board denied any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. The resolution, adopted by the Executive Board with a vote of 33 in favor, six against, and 17 abstaining, calls the Temple Mount only by its Arabic name, Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, in an attempt to sever the Jewish connection with the site.

UNESCO has admitted “the state of Palestine” as a “member,” even though there is not yet — and likely will never be — an independent “state of Palestine.” It’s a decision that simply provides the “Palestinian” representative with the opportunity of making more anti-Israel mischief at UNESCO meetings, claiming falsely, for example, that it is Israel that has been “destroying Muslim archeological sites” — a claim without merit, but since when have the Palestinian Arabs been constrained by the truth?

It is the “Palestinians” who have been destroying hundreds of Jewish archeological sites, especially in Area A of Judea and Samaria, trying to efface the artifacts that prove the 3500-year presence of Jews in what is now the state of Israel. Not once has UNESCO ever denounced the deliberate destruction of Jewish archeological sites by Muslims, but it has repeatedly been exercised by Israeli archeological work near the Temple Mount that the Arabs claim, without the slightest evidence, are “damaging the Haram al-Sharif foundations.”

In 2017, UNESCO’s executive board passed a resolution that criticized Israel’s actions in what UNESCO describes Jerusalem as “occupied” and declared Israel’s sovereignty over the city “null and void.” It was backed by 22 countries. In UNESCO’s view, Jews have no special claim to Jerusalem. And UNESCO does not refer to “the Temple Mount,” but only uses its Arab name, the Haram al-Sharif. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee defines the Western Wall as part of “Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.”

UNESCO has also gone outside its remit, which is to safeguard cultural and educational sites and programs, in order to engage in political denunciations. Its favorite target, of course, is Israel. UNESCO has, for example, condemned Israel for its strike on Iran’s media broadcasting center on June 16. Was the propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic really a “cultural” center worthy of UNESCO’s protection?

UNESCO also has repeatedly condemned Israel for what it says are “deliberate” attempts to destroy the “Palestinian” “cultural heritage in Gaza.” Israel has no interest in destroying sites of cultural significance. But if Hamas holds up in a mosque, with its weapons, and from there launches rockets, or fires on IDF soldiers, that mosque becomes a legitimate military target. UNESCO’s condemnation of attacks by the IDF on “culturally significant” sites in Gaza strike one as peculiar, given the total failure of UNESCO to condemn the “Palestinians’” attacks on Jewish sites, such as the ancient synagogues in such places as Tiberias, Jerusalem, Safed, and Hebron, many of which had been razed to the ground by the Jordanian authorities when they controlled the West Bank.

It’s long past time that the U.S. pulled out of UNESCO, and stopped contributing to its care and feeding. It’s too bad that the withdrawal will only take effect on December 31, 2026. Why not have it take effect on December 31, 2025? Still better, why not right now?