UNESCO chief says US withdrawal is ‘regrettable’ but not unexpected
![]() 572 Tuesday, 22 July, 2025, 19:29 July 25, 2023 in Paris. (AP/Aurelien Morissard, Pool) Director General Audrey Azoulay says in a statement that the decision will take effect in December 2026, and that, after the organization diversified its funding sources, the US contribution represents only 8% of UNESCO’s total budget. UNESCO is not considering layoffs in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s decision to leave, says Azoulay. Azoulay, a Jewish former minister of culture in France, says that “the situation has changed profoundly” from 2017, when Trump pulled out in his first term. “Political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism,” says Azoulay. White House officials told The New York Post that the Trump administration took issue with the agency’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and its pro-Palestinian and pro-Chinese leanings. In her statement, Azoulay highlights UNESCO’s work in Holocaust education and fighting antisemitism. UNSECO’s work “has been unanimously acclaimed by major specialized organizations such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, the World Jewish Congress and its American Section, and the American Jewish Committee,” says Azoulay. “UNESCO has supported 85 countries in implementing tools and training teachers to educate students about the Holocaust and genocides, and to combat Holocaust denial and hate speech.” Israel pulled funding from UNESCO in 2011 and left the organization in 2019. |
Madonna calls on Pope to visit Gaza to save children
22814:12Armenians were among those who escaped from a prison in Krasnodar
37812:09Germany demands Israeli explanation after journalists killed in Gaza
211Yesterday, 22:36Swarm of jellyfish shuts nuclear power plant in France
329Yesterday, 20:12Almost 1,000 illegal immigrants have been deported from the Sverdlovsk region since the beginning of the year
252Yesterday, 16:39Trump moves Obama, Bush portraits to hidden stairwell
303Yesterday, 16:12NATO Chief Sees Ukraine’s Land in Play as Trump Meets Putin
27010.08.2025, 23:18The head of the Indian Ministry of Defense pointed to the tremendous pace of development of the country.
62410.08.2025, 20:51