US Visas for Ruthless Autocrats to Address UN – but not for Palestinian Leaders By Thalif Deen Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

US Visas for Ruthless Autocrats to Address UN – but not for Palestinian Leaders By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 2026 (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 policymaking 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.” https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/us-visas-for-ruthless-autocrats-to-address-un-but-not-for-palestinian-leaders/ Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -