[akashshah87]

“The U.S. began defunding UNESCO under Obama after it admitted Palestine as a full member—and then withdrew entirely during Trump’s first term.” — [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/world/europe/us-withdraw-...)

This isn’t just a blip, but part of a long-term downward trajectory in U.S. and UNESCO relations.

[rc_mob]

What is with you people forgetting that Trump was president in 2018 and not Obama.

Why are you attributing Trumps actions to Obama. Stop it. Your comment is wholly dishonest.

Obama did not want to leave UNESCO. Period. Full stop.

[hersko]

"The U.S. began defunding UNESCO under Obama..." what part about this is wrong?

[robotnixon]

It's misleading. Obama tried to maintain funding UNESCO:

"In 2011, the United States stopped funding Unesco because of what was then a forgotten, 15-year-old amendment mandating a complete cutoff of American financing to any United Nations agency that accepts Palestine as a full member. Various efforts by President Barack Obama to overturn the legal restriction narrowly failed in Congress, and the United States lost its vote at the organization after two years of nonpayment, in 2013."

https://web.archive.org/web/20220503183152/https://www.nytim...

[aprilthird2021]

It was stupid then and it's stupid now. We aren't Israel and we shouldn't have to be citizens of Israel