Israel has announced its formal withdrawal from seven international organisations, including a number of UN bodies.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed on X that the Jewish state would pull out of the agencies, and that more could soon be added to the list.
The move follows a similar announcement, albeit on a larger scale, from the US, which withdrew from 66 such organisations last week.
"After an examination and discussion conducted following the US withdrawal from dozens of international organisations, Israel's minister of foreign affairs, Gideon Sa'ar, has decided that Israel will immediately sever all contact with the following UN agencies and international organisations," a departmental spokesperson said.
The organisations named are:
- The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict
- The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
- The UN Conference for Trade and Development
- The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
- The UN Alliance of Civilisations
- UN Energy
- The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)
The spokesperson clarified that Israel had already broken ties with the first four, but was now halting all forms of communication, while the latter three were new additions.
They accused most of those listed of promoting an anti-Israel agenda or serving as a "platform for attacks against Israel".
However, it said the withdrawal from UN Energy was because the agency "reflects the excessive and inefficient bureaucracy of the UN", while claiming GFMD "erodes the ability of sovereign nations to enforce their own immigration laws".
"As stated, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will thoroughly examine additional organisations and further decisions will be made later," the statement concluded.
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