![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas participates in the Palestinian Central Council meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s National Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Palestinian-Central-Council-meeting-in-Ramallah20180815_2_31948594_36447174.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
A group of Israeli-American families have called on President Donald Trump to stop Mahmoud Abbas from entering the United States, Israel Hayom reported on Sunday. The President of the Palestinian Authority is scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.
The newspaper described the families as “families of American victims of Palestinian terrorism.” They have, apparently, appealed to Trump to declare Abbas persona non grata because of the PA’s payment of stipends to relatives of their families’ “murderers”. One person, Micah Lakin Avni, whose father Richard Lakin was killed in 2015, described Abbas as “the grand wizard of incitement to violence and terror.”
In a letter sent to Trump, the families said that allowing Abbas to enter the US is a violation of the law and poses a threat to the American people.
Trump has taken several measures to undermine Palestinian rights since becoming US President in 2016, the foremost of which was recognising Jerusalem as the capital of the occupation state of Israel, as well as more recently halting funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).