This is from CNN, so you know it pained them to publish a piece like this (click to read):
Mahmoud Abbas, 90, was elected President of Palestine in 2005 for a four-year term, but somehow has hung on for 16 more years, having been voted an indefinite Presidency by the PLO (Hamas doesn’t recognize him as a legitimate President). He’s also chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and chairman of the Fatah party. Although the PLO claims to have renounced terrorism, it still promotes it (viz., the Second Intifada), and in 1987 was designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Fatah is a militant wing of the PLO. The Palestinian Authority (PA), run by Fatah, is also notorious for administering the so-called “Martyr’s Fund“—better known as the “Pay for Slay” program—which gives money to those Palestinians and their families who perpetrate against of violence against Israelis. (I’m always surprised that so few Americans seem to know much about this odious fund.) The PLO now disburses money to these “martyrs” (you don’t have to die to get the dosh; you just have to try to kill Jews), so Abbas is responsible for yet another form of terrorism.
All this has fed into my judgement—and in fact the judgement of anybody who’s rational—that Abbas, and the PLO or PA in their present forms—are not qualified to run the Palestinian government in a “two state solution.” (And remember that Hamas would never allow this to happen, as Hamas hates Fatah and the PLO.) No, if there is to ever be a two-state solution, the Palestinian side cannot be run by anyone with a history of sponsoring terrorism. And Palestinian leaders like that are hard to find.
Given the history of Abbas, the PLO, and the PA as sponsors of state terrorism, it’s no surprise to me that, as the headline above declares, Abbas and others were denied visas to enter the U.S. for a UN General Assembly meeting. This meeting is special because of all the misguided countries, like France and the U.K., who promised to use the occasion to recognize a Palestinian state. (Where and who runs it haven’t been specified!). An excerpt:
The United States is denying a visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for next month’s UN General Assembly – a significant and controversial move ahead of the global summit where multiple countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state.
The State Department announced Friday it is “denying and revoking visas” from members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) & Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
A State Department official confirmed that “Abbas is affected by this action along with approximately 80 other PA officials.”
According to Friday’s announcement, the Palestinian Authority’s Mission to the UN “will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement.”
However, refusing Abbas a visa would appear to violate that agreement as the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a non-member observer state.
The policy will also severely limit the presence of Palestinian officials at the annual global summit as the war in Gaza continues and a number of key allies prepare to recognize a Palestinian state.
In a statement Friday, the Palestinian presidency expressed “deep regret and astonishment at the US State Department’s decision not to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation participating in the UN General Assembly meetings next September.” The statement called on the US to “reconsider and reverse its decision.”
While some European countries have claimed the visa denials as “unjust”, and indeed, it’s not the norm, other Palestinian representatives have not had their visas revoked and so can speak for the two Palestines (Gaza and the West Bank) during the meeting. More:
In the statement announcing the move, the State Department accused the PA and the PLO of taking steps that “materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.”
“Before we take them seriously as partners in peace, the PA and PLO must completely reject terrorism and stop counterproductively pursuing the unilateral recognition of a hypothetical state,” State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on X.
Now given the behavior of European states in recognizing Palestine, which constitutes a reward to Hamas, I can’t say I’m deeply opposed to this action, which is to be sure a break from tradition. At any rate, there will be no two-state solution in the near future, simply because Israel (and, in the Security Council, the U.S.), won’t even consider recognizing two states. Who would run such a Palestinian “state”? Where would they find a leader who doesn’t promote violence towards Israel, a violence that such a solution is supposed to end? Ensuring that Palestinians renounce terrorism towards Israel is a sine qua non for this solution, and it’s nowhere on the horizon.
Good. Let us not negotiate with terrorists. He has been a terrible leader and bad faith partner to Pals and Israel respectively.
Now let’s get ourselves rid of Algerian citizen and terrorist Colombia U’s own Mahmoud Khalil.
TO THE AIRPORT, terrorist, and your weepy dumb ass wife and “poor baby”.
Off to Algiers.
Onwards Israeli heroes.
D.A.
NYC
ps – great week in Yemen, btw. 🙂
Yes and don’t issue visas to representatives of Iran, Yemen and Qatar as well. Even better, how about not issuing visas to representatives of any country that does not recognize Israel.
How does recognition serve as a reward for Hamas? Being a state comes with obligations and I think Hamas would prefer the.muddled status quo of quasi statehood.
On the contrary, statehood in my book makes it easier to prosecute the war and gives Palestine territory to lose.
I don’t know; I just think that if Hamas could be in charge of a state, it would take it.
Then Israel would declare formal war since they still have a casus belli with the hostages. Supplying Gaza then turns from a humanitarian act to supporting a belligerent. Diplomatic costs would become more real and the ability to support Hamas under the guise of helping the poor stateless Palestinians would shrink.
There is a reason, Abbas and Arafat refused the 2 state solution.
These are really good points. Recognition is being proposed as a way to show disapproval of Israel, which is not the way the world of cynical international diplomacy is supposed to work. Recognition of a Palestinian state could in reality condemn people in Gaza to Hell.
The recognition of statehood by various countries is mainly symbolic, but it provides succor to terrorists. Actual statehood means that they can build and arm a military without much impediment, and buy weapons openly from other countries. Imagine precision missiles launched at Israel. Imagine an air force with Hamas fighters in the pilot seat.
How many precision weapons have the Taliban acquired? What is the state of the Afghan air force? How many states are willing to sell weapons to e.g. North Korea?
Clarity in status works against the terrorists.
In addition to the PA paying significant monetary rewards to the families of terrorists, they also name streets, parks, etc in honor of these ‘martyrs.’ Abbas himself has attended these dedicatory celebrations, or sends congratulations when he doesn’t attend in person.
The PA differs little from Hamas. Except Abbas of the PA sometimes wears a suit.
Is that so called Martyr’s Fund (still) a Pay for Slay program?
If I am to believe Wikipedia, “on 10 February 2025, Abbas signed a decree reportedly ending the Martyrs Fund. The new system based stipends to families solely on financial need, a move described as a goodwill gesture toward the new Donald Trump administration. This decision faced internal criticism, notably from Qadura Fares, head of the PA’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. Fares was subsequently fired by Abbas on 18 February. Hamas characterized Fares’ dismissal as “submission to Zionist and American dictates.”
I HIGHLY doubt that the money is a “goodwill gesture” based solely on financial need. And the fund is still odious if that were true.
Also, AI says this (I haven’t verified it):
On July 24th, Abbas completely retracted that position, now pledging:
“Even if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families,” he said Monday.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-vows-to-continue-stipends-to-terrorists-even-with-pas-last-penny/
I’m delighted the Trump administration has revoked the visas of Abbas et al. It a good first step in the needed delegitimization of the Terrorist Entity. (See what I did there, Francesca?)
I have never understood why the Knesset or Netanyahu has not simply outlawed terrorism against civilians with expanded consequences, outlawed terrorism as a political platform the same way, and arrested Abbas and his cabinet for murder. Try them, hang them and repeat as necessary until the Palestinians are finally represented with legitimate peace partners.
I’m fairly certain the world would understand, scrape some dirt around with their toe, and then move on. Israel just took out a dozen Houthi cabinet members without officially being at war with Yemen. The world yawned.
Reading the Wikipedia article about Qatari support for Hamas, even sheltering its leadership with support from the US and Israel… ? The whole thing is convoluted and a bit strange, as I’d expect to go the other way by dropping a couple bombs instead.
IIRC, the UK government said that it would recognise Palestine if Israel didn’t meet certain conditions. There was no reciprocal pressure on Hamas. Utterly ridiculous, but hardly unexpected when you consider that our Foreign Secretary is David Lammy. He REALLY isn’t very bright: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DsR4Nx-ELgc&pp=0gcJCf8Ao7VqN5tD
A recent Harvard poll found that the majority (60%) of Gen Z in the USA supports Hamas. Same age range that put Hitler in power in the 1930s. Scary times.
I’d deny it to all over there and say once they come to a deal or if only one is left alive that one can come in.