PARIS—Israel has officially left Paris-based UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Israel notified the UN body last December that it would leave the organization because of the its anti-Israel “biased, one-sided and absurd attitude.”
“Israel will not be part of a body that continually rewrites history, including by erasing the Jewish connection to Jerusalem,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said. “UNESCO is manipulated by Israel’s enemies and continually singles out the Jewish state for condemnation.”
In July, the organization’s World Heritage Council accepted a Palestinian request to list the Old City of Hebron, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, as a “Palestinian” world heritage site. The same month, the Council referred to Israel as “the occupying power” in the Old City of Jerusalem.
In September, Israel declined to partake in UNESCO’s conference on anti-Semitism “due to the organization’s persistent and egregious bias against Israel.”
The United States is also expected to leave UNESCO.