Latest news with #USpolicy
Al Jazeera
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Trump administration says the US will leave the UN cultural agency UNESCO
The administration of President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will end its involvement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over its decision to admit the State of Palestine as a member. The decision to leave the agency, announced on Tuesday, is to take effect in December 2026. list of 3 items list 1 of 3 list 2 of 3 list 3 of 3 end of list In a statement, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce argued that membership in UNESCO was not in the US's 'national interest' and called the agency's mission 'divisive'. She then pointed to several points of discord, including Palestine's participation in UNESCO and alleged 'anti-Israel' sentiment in its ranks. Palestine has been a member since 2011, but the US does not recognise it as a sovereign state. 'To admit the 'State of Palestine' as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organisation,' Bruce said. Bruce also denounced UNESCO's commitment to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which include calls to reduce poverty, increase gender equity and fight climate change. Those goals, she said, were evidence of 'a globalist, ideological agenda'. This is the second time that Trump has withdrawn the US from UNESCO. In 2018, during his first term, the US likewise left the agency. Then, as now, the Trump administration cited alleged bias against Israel as a motivation. In 2023, under then-President Joe Biden, the US rejoined UNESCO. But since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has sought to peel back Biden-era initiatives and limit US support for several international organisations. Already, he has withdrawn US support for the World Health Organization (WHO), and in February, he issued an executive order that severed funding for the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of protecting 'human rights abusers'. That same order announced a review of US membership in UNESCO, to be completed in 90 days, with an emphasis on whether the agency had engaged in 'anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment'. Trump has pursued an 'America First' agenda in his second term, and White House spokesperson Anna Kelly framed the latest withdrawal from UNESCO as advancing that cause. 'President Trump has decided to withdraw from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes,' Kelly wrote on social media. 'The President will always put America First. Our membership in all international organizations must align with our national interests.' The foreign minister of Israel, Gideon Saar, responded on social media that the US decision to exit UNESCO was yet another indication that his country has been treated unfairly on the international stage. 'This is a necessary step, designed to promote justice and Israel's right for fair treatment in the UN system, a right which has often been trampled due to politicization in this arena,' Saar wrote. 'Singling out Israel and politicization by member states must end, in this and all professional UN agencies.' He thanked the US for its 'moral support and leadership' and called on the UN to undertake 'fundamental reforms'. But UNESCO disputed the accusation that it had treated any of its members unfairly. 'UNESCO's purpose is to welcome all the nations of the world, and the United States of America is and always will be welcome,' UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said. She added that the US government's decision to withdraw was not unexpected — but that Trump's decision would not end UNESCO's engagement with other organisations in the US. 'We will continue to work hand in hand with all our American partners in the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations, and will pursue our political dialogue with the US administration and Congress,' Azoulay said. She estimated that only about 8 percent of the agency's budget relies on the US. Staff cuts are not anticipated as a result of the US withdrawal. The US has acted as Israel's primary diplomatic defender for decades, exerting pressure on international bodies that it perceives as critical towards its Middle East ally. But the US itself has faced heightened scrutiny for that support since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. That war has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, and UN experts have called Israel's tactics 'consistent with genocide'. Israel's continued blockade of essential supplies into Gaza has prompted fears of famine among UN leaders as well. 'We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, said in May. In a 24-hour span on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials estimated that 15 people have died of starvation, among them an infant. But the US has been unwavering in its support of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, despite ongoing humanitarian concerns. Last month, the Trump administration announced sanctions targeting judges on the International Criminal Court who were involved in probes that investigated possible abuses by Israeli and US forces. The US also sanctioned Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, in July. Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump, if You Pull This Off, You Deserve a Nobel
I didn't want Donald Trump to be president. But once he was elected, I wondered if his impulse to smash convention could actually do some good in the Middle East. In the Times Opinion video above, I lay out my proposal. The status quo was a nightmare. President Joe Biden's feckless response to Israel's blood bath in Gaza epitomized decades of failed, immoral, self-defeating U.S. policy in the region. While tens of thousands of Palestinians died, the United States was lavishing cash and weapons on Israel even as Mr. Biden pretended there was no leverage or influence within his reach. This has been America's Mideast stance in a nutshell: Talk about peace, feed war. I've been watching it since I first reported from Israel and the occupied territories in 2002, in the bad old days of the second intifada. Cycles of unsustainable calm mask political disintegration, then erupt into unthinkable violence. And where have our policies gotten us? The International Court of Justice is deciding whether the killing in Gaza is, in fact, a genocide. We've been wading in the edges of war with Iran. The United States is running down its weapon stockpile for an Israeli war that has no discernible (or sensible) end game or a political solution for the Palestinians anywhere on the horizon. This has got to stop — and it can. With some deft diplomacy, Mr. Trump has a generational opportunity to change the dynamics in the Middle East. What might that look like? I gamed out the three major, interlocking deals the president can make if he's serious about peace and willing to run a tough negotiation. Will he do any of it? Who knows? This is Donald Trump, after all. But he could, and he should. Megan K. Stack is a contributing Opinion writer who has reported from the Middle East for years. Sam Ellis is a video journalist and creator of Search Party, a YouTube channel. Opinion Video combines original reporting with creative storytelling to produce visually transformative commentary. Pitch a video guest essay here. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@ Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US cannot compel Israel to do anything in conflict with Lebanon, special envoy says
BEIRUT, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. special envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday that when it comes to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, the U.S. cannot compel Israel to do anything. "The U.S. has no business in trying to compel Israel to do anything... America could only influence," he said in a press conference in Beirut. "We are not going to have more boots on the ground in an adversarial nature anywhere."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Acted like a madman': White House increasingly concerned by Netanyahu's Mideast policies
A US official said there's "growing skepticism inside the Trump administration" regarding Netanyahu, noting that his policies in the Middle East are too disruptive. White House officials reportedly believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be out of control and that his actions could undermine US President Donald Trump's plans in the Middle East, a report said Sunday. 'Bibi is acting like a madman. He bombs everything all the time. This could undermine what Trump is trying to do,' a White House official told Axios. Another US official said there's 'growing skepticism inside the Trump administration' regarding Netanyahu, noting that his policies in the Middle East are too disruptive. 'Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave,' the official added. An additional US official highlighted the strike on Gaza's Holy Family Church, a Roman Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, last week. The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that 'stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church,' and the IDF said that 'fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly.' White House officials say 'every day there is something new' with Netanyahu and the region White House officials say, 'Every day there is something new' with Netanyahu and the region. The incident resulted in Trump calling Netanyahu to demand answers and explanations. Axios noted that Netanyahu's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Regarding escalations in Syria, six US officials told Axios that despite a US-brokered ceasefire that paused fighting in Sweida in southern Syria, the White House is significantly alarmed regarding Netanyahu and his 'regional policies.' Reuters contributed to this report.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Do Africa's leaders have a ‘game plan' to deal with Trump?
Former African Union diplomat Arikana Chihombori argues that Trump's Africa policy is 'a step in the right direction'. Africa's leaders have no one to blame but themselves if they cannot reach equitable trade deals with the United States, argues the former representative of the African Union to the US, Arikana Chihombori-Quao. Chihombori-Quao tells host Steve Clemons that US President Donald Trump's 'trade, not aid' policy opens up 'an opportunity that African leaders were not awarded by the colonisers, the European nations, when they set out to exploit the continent of Africa'. She adds that African leaders should not allow themselves to be bullied by Trump, 'because he has what you need, you also have what he wants'.
