Kerry enlists Netanyahu in congressional fight over UNESCO funding
Israel has dropped its opposition to restoring UNESCO budget despite Palestinian statehood vote.
The Obama administration has neutralized Israeli opposition to funding the UN’s cultural agency, but the battle rages on in Congress.
Irate lawmakers demanded an end to the $80 million in annual US payments to UNESCO in 2011 after it recognized Palestine as a state. The State Department has been trying to lift the ban ever since, with Secretary of State John Kerry and other top officials hitting the phones over the past few days as they try to convince Democrats and Republicans involved in the year-end congressional budget negotiations to lift their blanket opposition.
“The secretary and other senior officials have made a few key calls regarding the UNESCO waiver, which is a priority for the administration,” a State Department official confirmed via email.
The administration is proposing a compromise whereby the State Department could pay the agency $76 million this year, according to a State Department proposal obtained by Al-Monitor. The proposal would also give the State Department the authority to transfer another $160 million to help cover the $377 million in arrears.
