U.S. Pressures Palestinian Authority To Withdraw UN General Assembly Vice-Presidency Bid

The United States directed its embassy in Jerusalem to intensify pressure on the Palestinian leadership to withdraw its bid for a vice-presidency of the United Nations General Assembly, with U.S. officials warning that consequences would follow if the Palestinian Authority did not comply by May 22.

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NPR reported that a U.S. State Department cable issued Tuesday instructed U.S. diplomats in Jerusalem to pressure Palestinian officials this week to withdraw their bid for one of the 21 vice president roles at the U.N., or face possible consequences including visa revocation.

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The Guardian said the cable seen by the outlet instructed the embassy to issue a demarche to the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and warned that “consequences will follow” if they failed to comply by 22 May.

In the same cable, the U.S. warned that “In a worst case scenario, the next PGA might assist the Palestinians in presiding over high-profile sessions related to the Middle East,” referring to a week of summits and leaders’ speeches planned for September in New York.

NPR said the May 19 cable described Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour as having “a history of accusing Israel of genocide,” and said his bid “fuels tension” and undermines President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.

The Guardian reported that the cable said Mansour withdrew his candidacy for general assembly president in February after American lobbying, a move Washington said showed he “understood the gravity of the issue and intended to be constructive”.

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office declined comment to NPR, while a former U.S. diplomat, Hady Amr, criticized the visa threat as “counterproductive” and said it was “extremely rare.”

NPR also quoted Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, celebrating Mansour's decision to drop the bid, saying “the very submission of the candidacy was yet another attempt to turn the UN General Assembly into a political circus against Israel”.

The Guardian said the cable warned that the vice-presidency bid “undermines President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan” for the reconstruction of Gaza, which involved the creation of the Board of Peace.

“The United States has directed its embassy in Jerusalem to intensify pressure on the Palestinian leadership, urging them to abandon their bid for a prominent position at the United Nations General Assembly”

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NPR reported that the cable said the next General Assembly president could ask a Palestinian vice president to preside over high-profile U.N. sessions and called that a “worst-case scenario,” while also saying the U.S. threat was tied to preventing such outcomes.

Both NPR and the Guardian described additional pressure tied to money, with the Guardian saying U.S. diplomats were instructed that if Palestinians did not “engage in good faith without internationalizing disagreements in courts” they would make no progress in recouping tax and customs revenue owed to them but withheld by Israel.

The Guardian further said the funds account for 60% of the Palestinian Authority’s revenue and have been largely blocked since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, with Israel’s far right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the destruction of the authority.