The Biden administration is pressuring Israel to renew its membership in the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, UNESCO - Israel Today has learned.
The issue has been raised many times in senior government talks with their Israeli counterparts, including last week's meetings in Israel with the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Israel announced its withdrawal from UNESCO in 2017, just days after the United States did so.
The reason was a series of anti-Israel decisions by the organization, chief among them the declaration of East Jerusalem as occupied territory.
Israel stated at the time that it was unthinkable that Israel's control of a place like the Western Wall would be defined by the UN as an "occupation."
Contrary to President Trump's approach, the Biden administration advocates cooperation with the UN and its institutions - and one of the steps the US is interested in is a return to full membership in UNESCO. The United States will not transfer funding to UN agencies that have accepted the Palestinian Authority as a member state - a move that UNESCO has taken to the voice of US and Israeli protests.
Bennett and Biden in the White House, August, Photo: Avi Ohayon / GPO
Due to the termination of membership, the administration has stopped transferring a budget to UNESCO - and due to the Palestinians' admission to the organization, the United States is unable to pay its membership fees to the organization - which has already accumulated to the tune of about $ 500 million.
To overcome both obstacles, the administration wants to pass new legislation - but to do so it needs a majority in Congress.
In the current political situation of the administration, for a law of this kind no majority will be found - hence the appeal to Israel.
The administration believes that if Israel agrees to return to the UN organization, opposition among Republicans in Congress will be softer, and the law that will allow payments to UNESCO will find a majority.
Israel has so far not responded to American inquiries.
As early as 2016, it was the then Minister of Education, Naftali Bennett, who announced the cessation of professional activity with the organization.
"UNESCO is giving back to terrorism," wrote the then prime minister today.
The Western world must stand up to UNESCO, and against the Peres of Terrorism. "Separating Jerusalem from Israel will be a domino that will eventually hurt the entire Western world."
