UN Basic Meeting votes 145-5, permitting President Mahmoud Abbas to handle the UNGA subsequent week by video after the US denied him a visa.
Revealed On 19 Sep 2025
The United Nations Basic Meeting has voted to permit Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to handle its annual gathering of world leaders subsequent week by video hyperlink after the US refused to grant him a visa to journey to New York in particular person.
“The State of Palestine might submit a prerecorded assertion of its President, which might be performed within the Basic Meeting Corridor,” mentioned the decision, which handed on Friday with 145 votes in favour, 5 opposed, and 6 abstentions.
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The transfer comes weeks after the Palestinian Authority urged Washington to reinstate Abbas’s visa in order that he may journey to the US to guide the Palestinian delegation and tackle the UNGA in particular person.
Abbas was amongst 80 Palestinian officers whose visas had been revoked by the US State Division, citing nationwide safety issues.
The Basic Meeting speeches are scheduled to start on Tuesday after leaders collect on Monday for a summit — hosted by France and Saudi Arabia — that goals to construct momentum in direction of a two-state answer between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Gaza is challenge primary on the UN Basic Meeting,” Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays reported from New York.
“All leaders come right here and provides their speeches. However on this event … Mahmoud Abbas has been denied a visa … which could be very uncommon.”
Bays mentioned the overwhelming vote in favour of Abbas addressing the UNGA by video was a “snapshot of worldwide opinion on Palestine and Gaza”, and that it confirmed “only a few international locations which can be backing the aspect of Israel and the US”.
The Trump administration’s resolution has acquired widespread criticism, with the UN asserting that it violates the Host Nation Settlement, below which the US is obligated to allow heads of state and authorities to journey to New York for annual conferences and diplomatic enterprise.
The US visa curbs come amid rising condemnation of Israel’s war on Palestinians within the Gaza Strip and a wave of Israeli settler and navy violence within the occupied West Financial institution.
In response to Israel’s devastating assaults over the previous almost two years, an growing variety of international locations, primarily in Europe, have introduced intentions to again Palestinian statehood on the UN this September.
In keeping with native well being officers, Israel’s struggle on Gaza has killed a minimum of 65,141 individuals and wounded 165,925 since October 2023, with 1000’s extra believed to be buried within the rubble.
