It’s worth unpacking this a little. Just six years ago, the United States was a member of UNESCO’s key decision making body in good standing. The US championed the candidacy of UNESCO chief Irina Bokova and by all accounts positively engaged with the organization. Then in October 2011, Palestine sought membership to UNESCO, over US objections. Still, UNESCO member states overwhelmingly decided to admit Palestine as a member. This triggered a set of laws on the books since the 1990s which required the United States to withdraw funding from any UN agency that admits Palestine as member. The US stopped paying membership dues to fund UNESCO’s work, and two years later lost it’s vote at UNESCO for being so deep in arrears. {read}