The United States and Israel formally withdrew from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at midnight, following a process launched a year ago over concerns that the organization was biased against Israel.
Their withdrawal, although mostly procedural, represents a new blow for UNESCO, which was co-founded by the USA after the Second World War, and whose goal was to foster peace.
The government of US President Donald Trump announced its withdrawal in October last year, and after that, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also decided to do so.
The Paris-based agency has been criticized for condemning the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and marking ancient Jewish sites as Palestinian heritage, and admitted Palestine as a full member in 2011.
The US is demanding "fundamental reform" at the agency, best known for its World Heritage program to protect cultural sites and traditions.
UNESCO also works to improve girls' education, promote understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust and defend media freedom.
The withdrawals will not greatly affect UNESCO financially as the agency has been dealing with this problem since 2011, when both Israel and the US stopped paying their obligations after Palestine was voted in as a member state.
Since then, the US, which provided 22 percent of the agency's budget, has accumulated about $600 million in debt, which was one of the reasons for Trump's decision to withdraw, and Israel owes about $10 million.
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay took over the post immediately after Trump's exit announcement.
Officials say many of the reasons given for the US withdrawal no longer apply and that all 12 Middle East documents have since been agreed upon by Israel and Arab member states.
That's why the Israeli ambassador to UNESCO for the atmosphere said in April that it was "like a wedding", when a compromise resolution on "Occupied Palestine" was signed and diplomats in the agency praised it as a possible turnaround in long-term Israeli-Arab tensions.
However, all this was not enough to encourage Israel and the US to reconsider the decision to leave.
The Israeli media remind that Israel joined UNESCO in September 1949 and that six places in Israel are on the World Heritage list, and will remain on that list.
The USA already left UNESCO once, in 1984, among other things due to the alleged promotion of the interests of the Soviet Union, and re-entered in 2003.
Bonus video:
