US refuses visa to 80 Palestinians, including President Abbas, for UN summit

A U.S. official said Saturday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is among 80 officials who will be denied visas to attend the U.N. General Assembly in September in New York, where France will advocate recognition of a Palestinian state.

Abbas will be affected by this measure, along with approximately 80 other Palestinian Authority officials, a State Department official detailed in a statement, including information about those affected by the extraordinary decision announced Friday night by the U.S., a key Israeli ally.

Marco Rubio's statement

The news broke after the state department issued a statement on its website with Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision.

"Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly," read the official note.

In that regard, the department assured that the Trump administration has been clear that it is in the national security interest to hold the PLO and P.A. accountable for "not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace."

"Before the PLO and the Palestinian Authority can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism - including the October 7 massacre - and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and pledged by the PLO," the department noted.State Department statement

The statement said, "The P.A. must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the ICC and ICJ, and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state. Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks."

Finally, the federal agency explained that the Palestinian Authority Mission to the U.N. will receive exemptions under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement.

E.U. urges U.S. to "reconsider" its decision to deny visas to Palestinians

The European Union (E.U.) urged the U.S. on Saturday to "reconsider" its decision to deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority who were to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September.

"We all urge for this decision to be reconsidered, considering the international law," E.U. diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas said in Copenhagen after a meeting of the foreign ministers of the bloc's members.

French Chancellor Jean-Noël Barrot also criticized this decision in Copenhagen, stressing that "the U.N. headquarters is a neutral place ... a sanctuary in the service of peace."

This opinion was shared by his counterpart from Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, who proposed to organize a special session of the General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva in order to ensure the presence of the Palestinians.

This exceptional situation took place in 1988, when in a historic gesture the General Assembly met in Geneva to hear then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat after the U.S. denied him entry.