Israel joins US in withdrawing from UNESCO

Isreal has this evening decided to leave Unesco, the UN's cultural, scientific and educational agency. This comes after the US Department of States announced it intended to pull out, earlier today.

Netanyahu described Unesco as having "become a theatre of the absurd", as he praised the US for deciding to leave.

He said that had instructed Israel's Foreign Ministry to start preparation for the country to leave the agency, in tandem with the United States, which will now become a non-member observer state at the end of 2018.

Unesco was funded after World War II for the purpose of ensuring peace through the free-flowing of education and ideas.