Trump targets ‘anti-American’ UN agencies
US President Donald Trump has taken action against UN agencies that his administration claims exhibit anti-American bias and propagate “anti-Semitism,” in an executive order signed on Tuesday. Trump's initiative comes after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.
The US president has ordered the country's withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and prohibited funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He has also ordered a State department review of US participation in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The three bodies have drifted from the UN’s core mission of promoting peace, and instead “act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism,” the document claimed.
West Jerusalem has accused the UNHRC and UNESCO of anti-Israeli bias when handling cases related to Palestinian rights and cultural heritage. It also alleged that UNRWA employees took part in the October 2023 surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which resulted in Israel responding with a 15-month military campaign – currently paused under a UN-brokered ceasefire.
The UNRWA, established in 1949 to assist Palestinians displaced in the Arab-Israeli conflict, has denied these allegations. Trump’s order insists that the UNRWA has been “infiltrated” by terrorists and echoes Israeli claims that the group was involved in the Hamas incursion.
During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Trump said the UN has “tremendous potential” that merits continued US support, provided that its leaders “get their act together.” He stressed that the UN must be “fair to countries that deserve fairness,” without naming any nations. Trump also suggested that the US makes a disproportionate contribution to the UN budget. The UN system is primarily funded by member states based on their gross national incomes.
The first Trump administration pulled the US out of the UNHRC and defunded the UNRWA in 2018. In 2021, President Joe Biden reversed these actions during his term in office.
Speaking alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump announced that the US will “take over” and “own” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” He reiterated his position that the Palestinians should be permanently resettled elsewhere, which critics argue would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian enclave.
The UN estimates that over 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or seriously damaged in the latest escalation of violence, resulting in the displacement of an overwhelming majority of the local population, or around 1.9 million people. On Monday, the local authorities updated the death toll in the enclave to over 61,700, saying they now presume thousands of missing individuals to be dead.
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Israel quits UN human rights council over ‘discrimination’
Israel has pledged to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), hours after the departure of the United States from the body. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has accused the council of attacking a democratic country and propagating anti-Semitism.
In a statement posted on X, the top diplomat criticized the UNHRC for allegedly disproportionately targeting Israel while paying less attention to human rights violations in other countries.
The council “obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East—Israel,” Saar wrote, adding that “Israel will not accept this discrimination any longer!”
Israel is the only nation with a permanent agenda item in the council and has faced over 100 condemnatory resolutions, more than 20% of all resolutions passed, surpassing those against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela combined, he said.
Israel’s announcement follows Washington’s withdrawal from the UNHRC on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump also left the body during his first term in 2018. Announcing the move, Trump also pledged to reevaluate Washington’s relationship with other UN agencies over their stance on Israel and alleged anti-American bias.
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Argentina to exit WHO membership after Trump again withdraws U.S.
Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Argentina will follow the United States by pulling out of the World Health Organization.
A government spokesman said Wednesday that Argentine President Javier Milei directed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to initiate steps "to withdraw Argentina's participation" in WHO.
He claimed it was over "deep differences regarding health management especially during the [COVID-19] pandemic."
Reports say Milei is expected to sign an executive order for the withdrawal in the coming days.
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"We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health," presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference.
Milei, a far-right libertarian often compared to U.S. President Donald Trump, is a known friend and ally of his American counterpart.
Trump originally cut ties with the U.N.-backed WHO in May 2020 while the United States was in the throes of COVID-19, which killed an estimated 7 million people globally.
WHO works in more than 150 locations around the world and has directed international responses to health emergencies from Ebola to yellow fever and cholera.
"Today, evidence suggests that the WHO's prescriptions don't work because they are the result of political influence rather than being based on science," a statement by Milei's office in Bueno Aires read.
Trump, meanwhile, cited a perceived "mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states" for why he once more pulled the United States out.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in an email to staff members how the United States leaving "has made our financial situation more acute." He said he regrets Trump's decision, adding that the United States gained from its membership.
Milei was the first world leader to meet with Trump at his Florida estate after November's election, and he attended the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington -- the same day Trump announced the United States will withdraw from WHO.
According to Adorni, WHO membership costs Argentina about $10 million annually. He claimed that leaving it behind will provide the South American country a greater flexibility to better serve its own interests.
WHO was created in 1948 by the global community "to coordinate the response to global health emergencies, but it failed during the biggest challenge," the statement read in part. "It advocated eternal lockdowns without scientific backing during its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic."
Meanwhile, Milei's spokesman did not rule out Argentina possibly exiting other treaties or international agreements, such as the Paris climate accord.
"The president is very determined when it comes to making Argentina freer," Adorni added Wednesday. "So any link that Argentina has with bodies that go against its freedoms, we're going to do our utmost to prevent them from interfering in the lives of Argentines."
