U.S. denies visas to Palestinian officials ahead of U.N. General Assembly

The State Department said Friday it would deny or revoke visas for members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization ahead of next month’s U.N. General Assembly gathering in New York. The move comes as multiple U.S. allies, including France, are set to recognize a Palestinian state amid General Assembly proceedings, in response to Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

It was not immediately clear if the revocations would bar the attendance of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to address the U.N. gathering. The State Department did not respond immediately to a request to specify the details of who had been barred. “The PA Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters agreement,” Tommy Pigott, the deputy State Department spokesperson, said in a statement.

The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under limited self-rule. The PLO is an internationally recognized coalition representing the Palestinian people.

The 1947 treaty establishing the United Nations’ headquarters says that the United States “shall not impose any impediment” to the travel of representatives of U.N. missions to the “headquarters district” in New York. “When visas are required,” it says, “they shall be granted without charge and as promptly as possible.”

The visa decision “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement, particularly since the State of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations,” the Palestinian presidency said in a statement.

The move is meant to “hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” in part by pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state, according to a State Department statement.

“Before they can be taken seriously as partners for peace, the PA and PLO must repudiate terrorism, lawfare campaigns at the ICC and ICJ, and the pursuit of unilateral recognition of statehood,” Pigott said, using abbreviations for the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

When asked Friday afternoon about the visa restrictions on Palestinian officials, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, “We are going to take all necessary steps to prevent our visa system from being used by individuals who may support or espouse terrorism or terrorist activity.”

Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign affairs minister, thanked Secretary of State Marco Rubio “for holding the ‘PLO’ and PA accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel,” and the Trump administration “for standing by Israel once again,” in a post on X.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, told reporters Friday that the United Nations had learned of the visa refusal only “through press statements.”

“We’re obviously going to follow up,” he said. “We will discuss these matters with the State Department in line with the United Nations headquarters agreement” between the U.N. and the U.S.

“We would like to see all diplomats and delegates who are entitled to come here to be able to travel freely,” Dujarric said.

U.S. allies, including Canada, Britain, France and Australia, announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in July, marking a huge shift that leaves Israel increasingly isolated amid growing international concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Of the U.N.’s 193 member states, 147 already recognize a Palestinian state.

France and Saudi Arabia are hosting meetings on a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

When an initial meeting of the French-Saudi conference was held under U.N. auspices last month, the Trump administration called it a “publicity stunt” that interfered with its efforts to end the Israel-Gaza war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected and Trump has expressed no interest in the concept of separate states for Israelis and Palestinians, which had been a cornerstone of U.S. Middle East policy for decades.

The State Department had first suggested it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials and PLO members in July, while announcing penalties against them. Blocking Abbas from traveling to the U.N. “would elevate this to another level,” Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert who has advised Republican and Democratic administrations, said at the time, The Washington Post reported.

The Palestinian and Israeli mission to the United Nations did not immediately reply to The Post’s request for comment.

There have been examples of visa denials in the past, most of which have caused considerable international pushback. In 1988, when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa, the General Assembly met in Geneva so that he could address it.

Various Iranian officials have been denied visas in the past, including then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by the first Trump administration in 2020.

In addition to the visa denials, the Trump administration said Friday it would block nearly $5 billion in foreign aid already approved by Congress, including $520 million for the U.N. general budget and $838 million for international peacekeeping activities.