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US Quits UNHRC
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the top U.N. human rights body and will not resume funding for the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees. The US left the Geneva-based Human Rights Council last year, and it stopped funding the agency assisting Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, after Israel accused it of harboring Hamas militants who participated in the surprise October 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel, which UNRWA denies. Trump's announcement came on the day he met with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has long accused both the rights body and UNRWA of bias against Israel and antisemitism. Trump's executive orders also call for a review of American involvement in the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, and a review of US funding for the United Nations in light of the wild disparities in levels of funding among different countries. The United