Host, Bully, Hypocrite: The US’s Shameful Gatekeeping of the United Nations

August 31, 2025

Rajan Solomon Middle East Monitor

The United States is once again demonstrating that it is unfit to serve as host of the United Nations Headquarters. Reports that Washington may deny a visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for an upcoming UN encounter evoke bitter memories of 1988, when Yasser Arafat was prevented from entering New York to address the General Assembly. Then, the world body did the dignified thing: it simply shifted the session to Geneva, where Arafat spoke to overwhelming support. The message was clear—no single host state, however powerful, has the right to police the doors of an international institution meant to belong to all of humanity.