Israel eyes withdrawal from Paris Climate Accords

Israel is mulling resignation from the Paris Agreement, including its parent treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Both the Israeli Foreign and Environmental Protection ministries are reportedly advancing the move amid diplomatic pressure from Washington.

The United States left the Paris Climate Accords during President Donald Trump’s first term, but rejoined when President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021. Trump ordered a second withdrawal on his first day back in office on Jan. 20, 2025. On Jan. 7, 2026, he initiated the process of withdrawing the United States from the UNFCCC as well, to take effect in January 2027.

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman was quoted by Hebrew-language financial outlet Calcalist on Wednesday as explaining Israel’s possible withdrawal from the agreements to Likud Party members in a chat group.

“We will not grant legitimacy to international incitement bodies that promote the delegitimization of Israel,” she wrote.

“International cooperation is important—but not at the expense of Israel’s security or its delegitimization. Israel will not lend a hand to U.N. bodies that exploit climate discourse to incite against the State of Israel, undermine its legitimacy, and turn professional frameworks into hostile political platforms,” she said.

“Environmental and climate cooperation is important, but it must be clean, professional and based on mutual benefit, not on slander, political bias or the cynical exploitation of international institutions against the State of Israel,” the environmental protection minister added.

The minister noted that she instructed her staff to identify additional environmental-related international organizations that act politically against the Jewish state, Ynet reported.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry convened a discussion on the matter on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Haaretz.

An unnamed senior government source, according to the outlet, warned that leaving the international agreements would have far-reaching implications for Israel’s economy and diplomacy. “It sends a message to the markets and to the world that we do not recognize the severity of the climate crisis,” he was quoted as saying.

The Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries at the U.N. Climate Change Conference on Dec. 12, 2015.

According to the U.N.’s website, the agreement’s “overarching goal is to hold ‘the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels’ and pursue efforts ‘to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.’”

If Israel were to withdraw, it would be the first state to follow in the United States’ footsteps.

© JNS