Azoulay said that she was convinced that the disagreements that led to Israel's decision to leave December 31, 2018, could best be solved from within the Paris-based organisation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced in October that Israel would pull out of UNESCO after a decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw the U.S. due to the U.N. organzation's alleged "anti-Israel bias."
The United States had stopped its payments to the U.N. agency already in 2011, in response to Palestine being granted full membership.
Israel has complained about a succession of UNESCO motions on Jerusalem that did not take into account Jewish links to the city.