The U.S. has sanctioned the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for their continued support of terrorism, operating a ‘pay-for-slay’ scheme, and their jihadist indoctrination of children through their school system.
The State Department on Wednesday announced that it has notified Congress about these grave violations and is extending “sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials.” The measure could mean that PA President Mahmoud Abbas will not be allowed to take part in the upcoming United Nations meeting, news reports say. The PA chief ha s not attended a UN General Assembly in person since President Donald Trump resumed his second term in early 2025.
“The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it would extend visa sanctions on Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) ahead of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly,” Reuters reported Wednesday. According to the BBC, the measure “comes after the US said it was extending visa sanctions against Palestinian officials, without naming Abbas, accusing them of failing to live up to peace process commitments.”
Among the reasons mentioned were the PA’s longstanding policy “to pay stipends to terrorists and to glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks,” the statement said. “It is in our national interest to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for glorifying terrorism,” the State Department concluded.
Sanctioning Officials of the Palestinian Authority and Members of the Palestine Liberation Organizationhttps://t.co/mCPpNa3AEf
— U.S. State Dept – Near Eastern Affairs (@StateDept_NEA) September 17, 2026
The State Department also slammed the Abba-run PA for undermining “the prospects for peace” with Israel by weaponizing globalist institutions like the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) while promoting terrorism, Israel’s i24NEWS reported:
The United States announced Wednesday that it would extend visa restrictions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The decision is expected to prevent Abbas, who also chairs the PLO, from traveling to New York for the main sessions of the United Nations General Assembly next week. It marks the second consecutive year that the Trump administration has barred the Palestinian leader from attending the gathering in person.
In a report submitted to Congress, the State Department said the PA and PLO had again failed to meet commitments outlined in the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002.
Washington accused the Palestinian bodies of supporting initiatives at international organizations that contradict previous commitments connected to UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. It also criticized Palestinian efforts to bring matters before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, describing them as attempts to “internationalize” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bypass direct negotiations.
The State Department further accused the PA and PLO of seeking unilateral international recognition, continuing to provide stipends to Palestinians convicted of terrorism and their families, and glorifying terrorism in official statements and school textbooks.
“As a consequence of their failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace, the United States will extend sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials,” the department said.
Mahmoud Abbas admits that Pay-for-Slay Continues
Mahmoud Abbas at the 8th Fatah Conference complained that the PA needs money “to pay prisoners.”
Abbas’ words today: “All this needs to be paid to public employees, to prisoners, and so on, and other expenses.” pic.twitter.com/T5cha1R3Zj
— Palestinian Media Watch (@palwatch) May 14, 2026
Abbas, who also heads the PLO’s main ‘Fatah’ faction, has been running a multi-million dollar ‘pay-for-slay’ scheme, which offers salaries and allowances to convicted terrorists and their next of kin. The Wall Street Journal noted in 2024 that “the PA pays a one-time lump sum plus a monthly stipend for life to the families of any “martyr” killed attacking Israel.”
In 2025 alone, the PA handed out around $165 million to terrorists and their families, the Jerusalem Post reported in February:
The Palestinian Authority transferred approximately half a billion shekels [$165 million] to terrorists in 2025 under its “pay-for-slay” mechanism, which provides payments to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of attackers, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday.
The information was disclosed during a cabinet meeting convened on Sunday. Of the total amount, NIS 395 million [$130 million] was paid to terrorists currently in prison, while NIS 92 million [$30 million] was transferred to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks. [Rough currency conversions made by the author at today’s rates.]
In Abbas’s PA, terrorists and murderers released from Israeli prisons are welcomed as heroes. Palestinian schoolchildren, starting from grade 1, are indoctrinated in the ideology of jihad terrorism. A comprehensive 2026 study concluded that “The PA continues to erase Israel from maps and texts, embeds antisemitic motifs, glorifies violence and martyrdom, and politicizes STEM and grammar exercises in ways that normalize conflict.”
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