US Visas for Ruthless Autocrats to Address UN– but not for Palestinian Leaders

President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine. Credit: UN Photoby Thalif Deen (united nations)Monday, September 21, 2026Inter Press Service UNITED NATIONS, September 21 (IPS) - When Yasser Arafat was denied a US visa for his second visit to New York to address the United Nations back in 1988, the General Assembly defied the United States by temporarily moving the UN’s highest policy making body to Geneva– perhaps for the first time in UN history– providing a less-hostile political environment and a platform, for the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Arafat, who first addressed the UN in 1974, took a swipe at Washington when he prefaced his statement in Geneva by remarking: “it never occurred to me that my second meeting with this honorable Assembly, since 1974, would take place in the hospitable city of Geneva”.The US last week denied visas to the Palestinian delegation, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to address the General Assembly on September 24. The delegates were also denied visas last year. In the official list of speakers released last week, Abbas has been designated “Head of State” (HS) of the “State of Palestine”.The U.S. State Department, criticiz...