On Friday, August 29, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Palestinian officials would be denied visas to attend next month’s annual United Nations General Assembly in New York. The ban applies to representatives of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, unless they serve in the Palestinian mission to the UN.
The State Department explained that the move is intended “to hold them accountable for failing to meet their obligations and for undermining prospects for peace.” The department demanded that both entities “consistently condemn terrorism,” including Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, and “end incitement to terrorism in education.” It also said the Palestinian Authority must halt appeals to international courts, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and stop urging states to recognize what it called “the so-called Palestinian state.”
Rubio’s decision casts doubt on the participation of Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, in the September session. The General Assembly has traditionally been a platform where world leaders address wars, famine, and environmental crises. In past speeches at the forum, Abbas has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and condemned Israel’s decades-long military occupation.
Last year, he declared that Israel was waging “a full-scale war of genocide” in Gaza. “Palestine will remain ours,” he told world leaders gathered at the UN. “And if anyone leaves, it will be the occupiers and usurpers.” At the same time, Abbas has consistently advocated for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, and in the 1990s the PLO officially recognized Israel’s right “to exist in peace and security.”
Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, at the UN General Assembly last year. His office expressed “deep regret and astonishment” at Rubio’s decision.
Rubio’s move can be seen as an attempt to weaken discussion of Palestinian statehood at the upcoming UN session. France and Canada recently announced that they plan to recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s meeting; the United Kingdom added that it would do the same under certain conditions. These would be the first members of the Group of Seven to extend such recognition; 147 states already do so.
London clarified that it would consider recognition if there is “sufficient progress” by Israel in addressing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and reaching agreements with Hamas on hostages and a ceasefire. The UK also said Israel must commit to a “long-term sustainable peace” by reviving the two-state formula. According to London, Hamas — designated there as a terrorist organization — must release all remaining hostages and renounce control of Gaza.
The United States generally grants visas for foreign leaders to attend meetings at the UN headquarters; for officials from countries under strict sanctions, their movement in New York is usually restricted. In 2019, when the first Trump administration was pursuing its campaign of economic pressure on Iran, U.S. authorities announced a travel ban on several senior Iranian officials and their family members. The State Department’s announcement came just as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and more than 80 of his diplomats and aides had already arrived in New York for the General Assembly; they were allowed to remain in the country for the duration of the meetings.
The UN has consistently stated that the United States has no right to block visits of foreign officials to the organization’s headquarters. The headquarters agreement between the United States and the UN limits Washington’s ability to deny access to individual visitors, explained Julian Ku, a professor of international law at Hofstra University. In 1988, the U.S. denied a visa to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on national security grounds after he was invited to speak at the UN.
Mahmoud Abbas’s office expressed “deep regret and astonishment” over Rubio’s decision and called on the Trump administration to “reconsider and reverse” the move, according to the Palestinian state news agency WAFA in the West Bank. One Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that this year U.S. authorities have been slow to issue visas to those planning to travel to New York for the meetings. At the end of July, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa visited the UN headquarters and took part in a conference in support of a two-state solution.
Marco Rubio.
At 89, Abbas has long opposed violence against Israelis and ordered the Palestinian Authority’s security forces to cooperate with the Israeli military and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service — a policy that has repeatedly won approval from Israeli officials. In June, in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, Abbas called the 2023 attack in Israel “unacceptable and condemnable” and said that Hamas must immediately release all hostages.
The Biden administration emphasized that Israel must ultimately allow the Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza, while also demanding greater transparency and less corruption within the authority itself. The Trump team has taken a far tougher stance. On recent trips to the Middle East, Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for peace missions, did not meet with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, even as they held talks with Israeli officials just a short drive away.
During Trump’s first administration, Abbas frequently clashed with Washington and eventually barred senior Palestinian officials from maintaining contact with its representatives. In Trump’s second term, however, he has sought to repair ties with his American counterpart. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Rubio on social media for “this bold step and for once again standing with Israel.”
Rubio has consistently criticized advocates of Palestinian rights and openly defended Israeli military actions despite widespread international condemnation. He has also moved to revoke residency status and visas for foreign nationals legally residing in the United States who publicly supported Palestinian rights. Federal judges rebuked these measures, saying they likely violated the First Amendment, and ordered the release of individuals detained for deportation as a result of Rubio’s actions.