In 2011, the U.S. ceased its funding for the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in response to the group’s recognition of a “state of Palestine.” In 2018 it withdrew from UNESCO completely. The White House is reportedly considering a reversal of both decisions, and urging Israel to follow suit. Alan Baker, Wade Ze’ev Gittleson, and Lea Bilke argue against doing so:
Rejoining UNESCO would be perceived to be an acknowledgment of Palestinian efforts to achieve statehood outside the framework of negotiations with Israel, [in violation of the Oslo Accords]. . . . Consequently, the United States and Israel, by rejoining the organization and thereby indirectly acknowledging a Palestinian state, [would] send the message to the Palestinians that they don’t have to fulfil their Oslo Accords obligation to negotiate with Israel to realize their ambitions, decreasing the likelihood of negotiations and consequently extending and exacerbating the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
UNESCO passed a total of 47 resolutions between 2009 and 2014, 46 of which were directed against Israel and only one against Syria. None of these resolutions made any reference to human-rights, educational, and cultural violations by the likes of North Korea, Iran, China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Islamic State, or any of the other culturally destructive regimes in the world.
Consequently, rejoining UNESCO at this point would be considered to be sanctioning UNESCO’s own neglect of its functions and purposes, namely “the contribution to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science, and culture,” as set out in Article 1 of its Constitution.
Read more on Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: https://jcpa.org/article/a-possible-return-to-unesco-by-the-united-states-a-very-bad-idea/