For the second year in a row, Marco “Genocide is OK” Rubio’s State Department has refused to issue visas for Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, or any delegations of the PA or of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to attend the United Nations General Assembly’s High-level Week. The pretexts given in the Sept. 16 statement include the preposterous assertion that Palestinian efforts to achieve recognition for the State of Palestine “undermine the prospects for peace” in the region. Said efforts cited include “taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)” and “seeking to bypass negotiations through seeking unilateral recognition.” An alleged continuation of “glorifying terrorism” by the PLO and PA is thrown in to cover for the fact that the basis for the decision is that Palestinians continue to actively insist on their right to exist.

The State Department condescended to not revoke the visas of members of the PA already accredited to the United Nations, who will be able to participate in person.

In a Sept. 17 statement, the State of Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates reminded that “resorting to international institutions and international law is a legitimate right of the State of Palestine and a peaceful, legal means to protect the Palestinian people and their rights;” the real threat to the two-state solution are “the policies of occupation, settlement expansion, annexation, displacement, and settler violence.”