United States and Israel have officially quit UNESCO. This is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. two countries pulled out of UNESCO at stroke of midnight as New Year came in. It is second time for the U.S. to pull out of UNESCO. The first time was in 1984, when it thought agency was favoring the old Soviet Union too much. The U.S. then rejoined in 2003. The current withdrawal started because both nations were worried that UNESCO was biased against Israel. Nikki Haley, current U.S. ambassador to United Nations, said: "UNESCO is among most corrupt and politically biased UN agencies. Today, the U.S. withdrawal from this cesspool became official."
UNESCO was co-founded by U.S. after World War II. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture. The agency is best known for its World Heritage program, which protects cultural sites and traditions around world. UNESCO also works to improve education for girls, promote understanding of horrors of the Holocaust, and defend freedom of press. The U.S. said it intends to follow UNESCO as non-member "observer state". The Israeli envoy to the United Nations Danny Danon said his country, "will not be member of organization whose goal is to deliberately act against us".
