Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration announced Tuesday the US was leaving UNESCO, bizarrely claiming that the UN cultural and education agency, best known for establishing world heritage sites, is biased against Israel and promotes "divisive" causes.

"Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

The US exit was expected under President Donald Trump, who also ordered withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2017 during his first term. President Joe Biden then reestablished US membership.

Bruce described UNESCO as working "to advance divisive social and cultural causes" and being overly focused on UN sustainability goals, which she described as a "globalist, ideological agenda."

Donald Trump Trump claims the "Jeffrey Epstein hoax" has improved his polling numbers – but is it true?

Donald Trump Trump doubles down on call for Washington Commanders to reinstate previous racist name

Bruce also said the body's stance on admitting Palestine as a state and recognizing the Palestinian people's right to self-determination made it "anti-Israel."

"UNESCO's decision to admit the 'State of Palestine' as a member state is highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization," Bruce said.

With the full participation of the US, Israel is currently engaged in a campaign of mass killing and starvation in Gaza which experts and scholars have declared to be genocidal.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, noted the announcement with "regret," but said the organization had prepared for it ahead of time, given its historical dependence on US funding.

UNESCO oversees a list of heritage sites aimed at preserving unique environmental and architectural gems, ranging from the Great Barrier Reef off Australia and the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Athens Acropolis and Pyramids of Egypt.

Trump is not the first to revoke US membership for ideological reasons.

President Ronald Reagan pulled the same move in the 1980s, saying the agency was corrupt and pro-Soviet. The US reentered under the presidency of George W. Bush.