US President Joe Biden will nominate a longtime aide who once worked for the first lady to represent the United States at the United Nations agency devoted to education, science and culture, a White House official said Monday, according to The Associated Press.
Biden’s choice to become the US permanent representative to the Paris-based UNESCO, with the rank of ambassador, is longtime aide Courtney O’Donnell, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nomination before a formal announcement.
O’Donnell is currently a senior adviser in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office and also acting chief of staff for Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
O’Donnell also was communications director for Jill Biden, when she was second lady during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
In July, the US rejoined UNESCO after a five-year hiatus initiated by former President Donald Trump.
In late June, UNESCO’s governing board voted 132-10 to accept the US proposal to rejoin the Paris-based agency. The vote come weeks after the US notified UNESCO that it has decided to rejoin the agency.
The Trump administration withdrew from UNESCO in 2017, citing its anti-Israel bias. Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019.
In late 2021 it was reported that the Biden administration is pressuring Israel to renew its membership in UNESCO. Last year, it was that Israel has withdrawn its opposition to a US return to UNESCO.
Two months later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel has no objections to a US return to the UN cultural agency.
Israel has had a contentious relationship with UNESCO, which has approved several anti-Israel resolutions in recent years.
In 2018, the UN agency approved a resolution declaring that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem are "an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian territory."
Previous resolutions referred to the Jewish state as "the occupying power" in Jerusalem. Another declared the Old City of Hebron as a “Palestinian World Heritage site”.
In 2016, UNESCO passed resolutions declaring that Israel has no rights to Jerusalem, and describing the Temple Mount and Old City of Jerusalem as Muslim holy sites.