UN allows Palestinian President Abbas to speak via video after US denies visa
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 10 (RUSSIA OUT) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during Russian-Palestinian talks at the Grand Kremlin Palace on May 10, 2025 in Moscow, Russia. President Putin holds meeting with foreign leaders during Victory Day celebrations, around the May 9th holday period, which commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of Second World War. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the annual gathering of world leaders next week via video after the United States said it would not give him a visa to travel to New York.
The resolution received 145 votes in favor and five votes against, while six countries abstained. It also allows Abbas and any other high-level Palestinian officials to take part in U.N. meetings or conferences via video over the next year if they are prevented from traveling to the United States.
The U.S. said last month that Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by its decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
“U.S. opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise,” U.S. diplomat Jonathan Shrier said before the vote. “The Trump Administration has been clear: we must hold the PLO and Palestinian Authority accountable for not complying with their commitments under the Oslo Accords, some of them very basic, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Under a 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
Abbas will also be allowed to appear via video at a summitat the United Nations on Monday – convened by France and Saudi Arabia – that seeks to rally support for a two-state solution. Several countries are expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the meeting.
The 193-member General Assembly agreed on Friday – by consensus, without a vote – that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, could appear via video at Monday’s meeting.
