Israel Backs US Return to UNESCO, Says Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee Michael A. McCOY POOL/AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee Michael A. McCOY POOL/AFP
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Israel Backs US Return to UNESCO, Says Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee Michael A. McCOY POOL/AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee Michael A. McCOY POOL/AFP

Israel, which withdrew from the UN cultural agency UNESCO with the United States over alleged bias in 2019, has no objections to a US return, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

Questioned by lawmakers, Blinken called on Congress to give President Joe Biden the power to waive a US law that requires an end to US funding to any international organization, such as UNESCO, that recognizes Palestine as a state, AFP said.

"We believe that having the waiver authority would be important and necessary and I can say with authority that our partners in Israel feel the same way. They would support our rejoining UNESCO," Blinken told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Blinken said that the United States has been harmed by its absence, pointing to UNESCO's role in education and the emerging field of artificial intelligence.

"When we're not at the table shaping that conversation and so actually helping to shape those norms and standards, well, someone else is. And that someone else is probably China," Blinken said.

The United States paid about 22 percent or $80 million of the Paris-based agency's budget until 2011 when its admission of a Palestinian state triggered an end to the contributions.

Previous US and Israeli leaders Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu both fully withdrew from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization eight years later.

Israel was angered by decisions that included recognizing the old city of Hebron, home to Jewish and Muslim holy sites in the occupied West Bank, as a Palestinian world heritage site.

Advocates for a US return say that the UN body's current leader, former French culture minister Audrey Azoulay, has successfully addressed charges of bias.



Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Francis, who began his fifth day in hospital on Tuesday for what doctors have described as a "complex" respiratory infection, will not take part in this weekend's Holy Year events, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday.

A planned public papal audience set for Saturday had been cancelled "due to the health condition of the Holy Father", the Vatican said in a brief statement.

A papal mass scheduled for Sunday will still take place, but will be led instead by a senior Vatican official, it added.

The Vatican said on Monday that doctors had changed the pope's drug therapy for the second time during his hospital stay to tackle a "complex clinical situation". They described it as a "polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract".

Doctors say polymicrobial diseases can be caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed, and in recent times has been prone to lung infections.