WASHINGTON (MEMO) – The United States is making early moves toward rejoining the UN cultural agency UNESCO four years after former president Donald Trump withdrew the country over accusations of anti-Zionist bias, congressional and diplomatic sources said to Reuters.
The United States provided one-fifth of the Paris-based agency’s funding, but Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama stopped paying in 2011 when Palestine became a full member because it is barred by U.S. law. Washington owed $542 million when it quit.
According to the anti-Palestinian Senate legislation, the United States would be required to withdraw from UNESCO if the Palestinians joined any more UN agencies. Washington would also have to quit those bodies.
To become law, the appropriations bill containing the waiver would have to pass both the Senate and House of Representatives, and there has been no indication from congressional leaders when such a vote might take place.
However, encouraged by President Joe Biden’s administration, the Senate Appropriations Committee introduced legislation this week to waive that law if Biden.
“We don’t have anything to announce on UNESCO at this time,” said a U.S. diplomat.
The Zionist regime also withdrew from UNESCO at the same time as the United States. A Western diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the occupying regime was keen to return, but was waiting for Washington to move first.
UNESCO said in a statement that the return of the United States and the occupying regime would be “good news” and sees “real hope” for their return but “the timing and modalities … have yet to be defined.”
The Zionist regime had been furious at UNESCO after the UN agency adopted several resolutions asserting Palestinian rights in the cities of Al-Quds and Al-Khalil.
In October 2017, UNESCO decided to place the city of Al-Khalil and the Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque, which is revered by both Muslims and Jews, on the World Heritage List.
In May 2018, UNESCO ruled that the Zionist regime is an “occupying power” and condemned illegal Zionist activity in occupied East Al-Quds a month later. Another resolution was adopted by UNESCO in June 2018 that considered Al-Quds’ Old City and its walls as among the endangered sites of the world heritage.