Palestine’s UN Envoy Withdraws Bid for General Assembly Vice Presidency following US Threats
A State Department cable says the US does not want Riyad Mansour to have a ‘pulpit’ to highlight Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza at the UN
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour is withdrawing as a candidate for vice president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) following pressure from Washington, NPR reported on 22 May.
Earlier this week, the US threatened to revoke Palestinian diplomats’ visas if Mansour did not withdraw his bid. “We will hold the PA responsible if the Palestinian delegation does not withdraw its VPGA candidacy,” a State Department cable issued Tuesday and obtained by NPR said.
The cable said the Palestinian envoy to the UN “has a history of accusing Israel of genocide.”
“A bully pulpit for Mansour would not improve the lives of Palestinians and would significantly damage US relations with the Palestinian Authority. Congress will take it extremely seriously,” the cable went on to say.
Riyad Mansour at the UNSC: Israel killing over 850 Palestinians and injuring thousands since the ceasefire entered into force is not a footnote or a secondary matter. If 800 Israelis had been killed, or, for that matter, if 80 had been killed, what would be the reactions? Would anyone still consider that we were successful in upholding the ceasefire agreement? Palestinian lives are not irrelevant. Such hypocrisy cannot be tolerated.
Lebanon is seeking the position instead, according to the UN. An election to choose a new UNGA president and the 16 delegations that will serve as vice presidents is scheduled for 2 June.
In February, Mansour sought to become the president of the General Assembly but withdrew due to US pressure. He then set his sights on becoming vice president, before withdrawing for the same reason.
A person familiar with the matter told NPR the “Palestinians now pledge not to run for the position for two more years,” until US President Donald Trump is no longer in office.
NPR noted that the threat is considered unprecedented, particularly given the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, which generally bars the US from blocking UN officials from entering New York.
Former senior State Department official Hady Amr told NPR the move was “extremely rare,” except in cases such as espionage or election interference, calling it “counterproductive” because diplomats are needed “to work out problems between countries.”
The State Department told NPR it takes its obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement seriously but declined to comment on specific visa matters.
Last year, Trump’s government revoked the visas of 80 Palestinian Authority (PA) officials ahead of the 2025 UNGA meeting, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who made his speech via video call as a result of Washington’s move.
In September that year, the US waived the sanctions for the Palestinian UN Observer Mission in New York, but kept them in place for Abbas and the other top officials.
Palestine has held non-member observer state status at the UN since November 2012, and in May 2024, the General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting its application for full membership.
However, the bid still requires UN Security Council (UNSC) approval, with past attempts having been stalled by US vetoes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Knesset has taken an important step toward annexing Palestinian archaeological and historical sites in the occupied West Bank, Mondoweiss reported on Friday.
The Knesset advanced a bill that would place the sites under direct Israeli civil authority and effectively legally annex them to Israel.
The Antiquities Law was originally introduced in 2023 and passed its first Knesset reading on Wednesday by a vote of 23 to 14. It is now due to go up for its second and third readings in the Israeli parliamentary body before being passed into law.
If successful, the bill would move the control of the occupied Palestinian antiquities from the army’s Civil Administration to a civilian agency in the Israeli government, “a clear act of legal annexation in contravention of international law,” Mondoweiss notes.
Religious nationalist Jewish settlers in Israel’s current government are seeking to annex both the West Bank and Gaza, claiming the land inhabited by indigenous Palestinian Muslims and Christians belongs to them.
Since October 2023, the Israeli military has killed over 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed much of the strip in a bid to clear the way for Jewish settlement.