Get the U.S. Out of Unesco for Good

"President Trump’s Feb. 4 executive order mandated a review of U.S. membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco. A decision is due by May 5. The proceedings of Unesco’s executive board meeting in Paris this month demonstrate that the organization is beyond reform.

This year, three of the 11 ‘program issues’ on the agenda related to criticism of Israel. Two of the three ‘general matters’ items revolved around ‘occupied Palestine’ and ‘the occupied Arab territories.’ Ukraine and Syria merited only one item each at the entire two-week conference.

A meeting document on ‘the current situation in the Gaza Strip/Palestine’ decried damage to educational institutions in Gaza and the killing of journalists. It failed to mention either that Hamas uses schools as terrorist bases or that many journalists in Gaza are affiliated with Hamas. The 17-page report, which asks for tens of millions of dollars from member states in ‘extrabudgetary support’ for Gaza, doesn’t mention Hamas at all.

If this is how the organization conducts itself as U.S. membership hangs in the balance, hopes of genuine reform are chimerical...

The U.S. should quit Unesco as quickly as possible—and encourage its allies to do the same."