Israel will withdraw from the UN's cultural and education body after a United States decision to do the same on accusations of bias against the Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday.

"The prime minister instructed the foreign ministry to prepare Israel's withdrawal from the organisation alongside the United States," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Netanyahu "welcomes the decision by President (Donald) Trump to withdraw from UNESCO. This is a courageous and moral decision because UNESCO has become the theatre of the absurd and because instead of preserving history it distorts it."