ACLJ Files FOIA Demanding Answers From the Biden State Department Over Rejoining the One of the Most Anti-Israel UN Agencies – UNESCO
The ACLJ just began an investigation into Biden’s State Department rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Educational Organization (UNESCO). Biden has chosen to rejoin what may be the U.N.’s most anti-Israel agency under the pretense of confronting Chinese influence.
The United States had previously left UNESCO in 2011 after the organization recognized “Palestine” as a member state in direct contravention of international law.
We previously reported on this, saying:
Defying international law and negotiated peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has unilaterally recognized the Palestinian Authority as a full member “state.”
UNESCO, a United Nations (U.N.) agency, has now become a co-conspirator in the terrorist-led Palestinian Authority’s attempt to circumvent the Middle East peace process in order to gain unilateral recognition of statehood. (See here)
The U.S. departure was required by the “Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991,” Public Law 101-246, that provides, “No funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.” Moreover, it prohibits “voluntary or assessed contribution to any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.”
Also, all funding from the United States to UNESCO ceased, but the U.S. didn’t completely withdraw, as it kept a seat on UNESCO’s Executive Board. In 2019, under the leadership of Secretary of State Pompeo, the U.S. formally and completely withdrew, even giving up the seat.
However, in December of 2022, then-Speaker Pelosi pushed through Congress a bill permitting a waiver of the act referenced above:
“with respect to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization if the President determines and reports in writing to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the appropriate congressional committees that to do so would enable the United States to counter Chinese influence or to promote other national interests of the United States.” 136 Stat. 4459 (2022).
On June 12 of this year, the Biden Administration “officially notified’ the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azouley, of its intention to rejoin UNESCO.
Our investigation is about the official notification and the events around it. We have just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Biden State Department. Our FOIA begins by formally requesting: “The “Official Notification” sent to UNESCO by the State Department about the United States’ intent to rejoin.”
But we don’t stop there. We continue, demanding:
- All records received from UNESCO by the State Department since January 1, 2022.
- The record of the waiver by President Biden sent to the “Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the appropriate congressional committees” stating that rejoining UNESCO “would enable the US to counter Chinese influence or to promote other national interests of the United States.”
- All records of State communications to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee about UNESCO or the Congressional waiver.
- All records about UNESCO in the custody of Robert A. Wood, Alternate Representative of the United States of America for Special Political Affairs in the United Nations and Alternate Representative of the United States for Special Political Affairs in the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
We follow up with more specific requests for the Representatives and Ambassadors seeking records regarding the Biden Administration's decision to rejoin UNESCO. There are a total of 10 requests in our FOIA.
The State Department is now legally required to make a “determination,” which is a FOIA term of art: The Agency is required by the statute to tell us if there are any records that are responsive and when those records will be produced. This determination will be due in late July or early August. If the Biden Administration refuses to comply (as they almost always do with our FOIAs), then we will once again take the Administration to federal court here in Washington, D.C. We will not stop defending the interests of our ally Israel, and we will not let Biden and the radical Left continue to undermine and betray our ally Israel, especially by partnering up again with one of the most anti-Israel agencies at the U.N. — which is saying something.