Member states of UNESCO
, UNESCO members include 193 member states and 11 associate members. Some members have additional National Organizing Committees (NOCs) for some of their dependent territories. The associate members are non-independent states. Three UNESCO member states are not UN member states: Cook Islands, Niue, and Palestine (Palestine is a non-member observer State of the United Nations General Assembly since 29 November 2012), while three UN member states (Israel, Liechtenstein, United States) are not UNESCO members. The United States and Israel were members, but left on 31 December 2018 asserting that the organization had an anti-Israel  bias. Kosovo was approved for membership by UNESCO's executive board in 2015, but the proposal did not receive the required 2/3 of votes in favour at the general conference. Member States. The 193 UNESCO member states, as of January 2019, with the date on which they became members, are: Currently is not a member of UNESCO, but they have an NOC under Switzerland's membership. Former members. Both Israel and the United States withdrew claiming that the organization had an anti-Israel bias. Associate members. The 11 associate members of UNESCO and the date on which they became associate  members: Observers. There are 2 Permanent Observers and 10 intergovernmental organizations with Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO. In addition, there is a liaison office of the United Nations University at UNESCO.