The UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Photo: File.

JNS.org – Israel told the Biden administration in recent days that it is no longer opposed to the United States returning to the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), senior US and Israeli officials told the Hebrew-language news site Walla.

The new Israeli position paves the way for a vote in Congress on the allocation of more than $500 million in US debt to the organization, as well as to the country’s return as a full UNESCO member, said Walla.

The United States and Israel left UNESCO in December 2018 after the organization passed several anti-Israel resolutions.

However, as early as 2011, America stopped funding UNESCO after it granted the Palestinians full membership as a state—the first UN member organization to do so.