Trump withdraws from 2 UN bodies, orders review of UNESCO

President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council and from participating in UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

Trump also directed the U.S. to review its participation in the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the body that uses culture and history as a bridge-building mechanism between nations. 

“I’ve always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential. It’s not living up to that potential right now. It really hasn’t for a long time,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office on Tuesday.

“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well-run, to be honest.”

While the orders were billed as pushing back on “anti-American bias” at the U.N., they were signed shortly before Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Israel and the U.S. have accused the Human Rights Council of unfairly targeting and maligning Israel. In 2019, the U.S. and Israel withdrew from UNESCO, with Israel criticizing the agency as “erasing” Jewish history within Israel’s borders. 

Trump halted funds for UNRWA during his first term. President Biden put a block on U.S. funds for UNRWA in January 2024 over allegations that staff for the agency participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel. Those funds were never reinstated when Biden left office. 

An Israeli law banning the U.N. agency from operating in Israel went into effect last week.