Trump admin. to revoke visas for PLO and PA members ahead of UN General Assembly 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that he would be denying and revoking visas to Palestinian officials who wish to attend the 80th UNGA session in New York City, which opens on 9 September 2025.

“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the announcement read.

It’s unclear if PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who is supposed to attend the UNGA session to deliver an address, is included in the restrictions.

The PA is the governing body that has overseen areas of the occupied West Bank since 1994, as part of the Oslo Accords peace agreement between Israel and the PLO. The PLO is an umbrella political coalition that is internationally recognised as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the Palestinian territories and the diaspora.

The Trump administration on Friday demanded that the PLO and PA “consistently repudiate terrorism”, citing the 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel, and that they must stop “incitement to terrorism in education”, according to a US State Department press release.

The Palestinian Authority on Friday announced it felt “deep regret and astonishment” at the decision of the US State Department not to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation scheduled to participate in next month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

Part of the agreement with the UN is that the host country for its headquarters allows all heads of state to address the annual gathering.

The Palestinian Authority “stressed that this 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 Palestine Mission to the UK posted on X.

Abbas condemned the attacks on Israel in June this year in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of a UN conference on a two-state solution.

Rubio’s announcement added the PA must halt efforts “to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns”, including appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state”. The Trump administration cites these two actions as having “materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.”

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024, while the ICJ found a plausible case for genocide in 2024.

On 31 July, the US first announced it was imposing sanctions and would deny visas to PLO members and PA officials.