The United States announced it will deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority for participation in the upcoming UN General Assembly, where France is leading an initiative to recognize a Palestinian state. This unusual step brings Donald Trump’s administration even closer to the government of Israel, which categorically rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and seeks to equate the West Bank–based Palestinian Authority with the rival Hamas organization in Gaza.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing and revoking visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly,” the State Department said in a statement. “The Trump administration has made it clear: it is in our national security interest to hold the PLO and PA accountable for failing to meet their commitments and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
In its statement, the State Department accused the Palestinians of “lawfare,” using a term preferred by Trump in mocking reference to his own legal troubles outside office, pointing to their appeals to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague to file complaints against Israel. The State Department urged the Palestinian Authority to end its “efforts to secure unilateral recognition of a hypothetical Palestinian state.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, posting on X, thanked the Trump administration “for this bold step and for once again standing with Israel.”
It is not immediately clear whether the directive applies to all Palestinian officials. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the 89-year-old veteran who once maintained good relations with Washington, was scheduled to attend the meeting, according to Palestinian Permanent Representative to the UN Riyad Mansour. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it was “important” that all states and observers, including the Palestinians, be represented at the special summit scheduled for the day before the General Assembly, adding: “We expect this to be resolved.”
The US and Israel accused France and other powers of effectively rewarding Hamas — the group that carried out the unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 — by recognizing a Palestinian state. French President Emmanuel Macron, frustrated by the nearly two-year-long Israeli offensive in Gaza, declared there could be no further delays in advancing the peace process and convened a special summit on September 22, the day before the official opening of the General Assembly. Canada and Australia subsequently announced they would also recognize a Palestinian state, while the United Kingdom said it would do so unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza.
As host country of the UN in New York, the United States is generally not supposed to deny visas to official delegations arriving for work at the world body. The State Department, however, insisted it was allowing the Palestinian mission to function and was acting in accordance with existing agreements. Activists regularly call on the US to deny visas to leaders with controversial policies or serious human rights abuses, but such requests are typically rejected.
There are historical precedents for isolation: in 1988, the General Assembly convened in Geneva rather than New York to hear PLO leader Yasser Arafat after the US denied him a visa. In 2013, the US denied a visa to then–Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC for crimes including genocide in Darfur.
Trump intends to attend the General Assembly and will deliver one of the first speeches in the marathon of leaders’ addresses, but his administration has significantly curtailed ties with the UN and other international institutions. Trump has taken steps to withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the UN climate pact and has imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court judges over an arrest warrant issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. | BGNES