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The United States announced Thursday that it will withdraw from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), accusing the body of “anti-Israel bias.”
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Washington would establish an “observer mission” to replace its representation at the agency.
The U.S. stopped funding UNESCO after the agency voted to include the Palestinian Authority as a member in 2011, but the State Department has maintained a UNESCO office at the agency’s Paris headquarters and sought to weigh in on policy behind the scenes.
The withdrawal was comesas UNESCO is voting to choose a new director.