U.S. Denies Visas to Palestinian Pastors Ahead of Separate Washington and Atlanta Events

The State Department denied U.S. visas to two Palestinian church leaders due to address separate American events, including a Washington gathering scheduled for November 16. Father Issa Thaljieh was to speak near the U.S. Capitol; Munther Isaac had planned to attend a convention in Atlanta.

Thaljieh is the parish priest at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank. Isaac is pastor of Bethlehem’s Christmas Lutheran Church. Their planned appearances were separate.

Organizers said Thaljieh’s application was rejected on security grounds. The U.S. State Department gave a general description of its visa standards, but not a specific reason for either refusal.

The Washington program will go ahead without him. His sister, Honey Thaljieh, whose visa was approved, is expected to speak in his place.

Organizers cited security grounds, while the department gave a general standard

Laila Mokhiber, a volunteer with Orthodox Christians for Palestine (OCP), said the refusal would keep a Bethlehem priest from describing Palestinian communities’ experiences. She criticized the decision in pointed terms.

“Our government denied him a visa for 'security reasons'. A parish priest from Bethlehem, treated as a threat. That should worry all of us, because it means the people living through this are being kept from telling us about it”

A State Department spokesperson said visa decisions involve national security considerations and applicants must meet U.S. immigration-law requirements. The department does not typically provide reasons for visa denials. It has not given a case-specific explanation for either pastor’s refusal.

OCP said Thaljieh’s absence would prevent him from speaking about attacks on Palestinian communities. The Washington event is organized by Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders.

Isaac’s visa was for an Atlanta convention, not the Washington gathering

Isaac planned to attend Church at the Crossroads, a Christian convention in Atlanta, Georgia, and speak to American evangelicals about Christian Zionism and its effects on Palestinians. The event took place the week before the visa dispute became public.

The Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice (BIPJ), the Palestinian Christian-led ministry behind the convention, is affiliated with Bethlehem Bible College. Isaac described the event as “an invitation to American evangelicals to meet Palestinian Christians, and to reckon with the ways their theology harms Palestinians on the ground”.

More than 500 people attended this year’s convention, a turnout similar to its inaugural event the previous year. Isaac had visited the United States several times before, including in September 2025.

BIPJ said some American evangelicals, particularly younger believers, were changing how they discuss Israel and Palestine. Its statement said many were asking “fraught questions” about the places and their relationship to them as Christians, and that younger believers’ shifting views continued to reshape the conversation.

The planned appearances addressed Gaza deaths and West Bank violence

The Washington gathering is intended to press Congress to hold Israeli settlers and the military accountable and to limit U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. Its program also connects the planned testimony to deaths and injuries in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reports at least 74,653 Palestinians killed and 176,007 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has documented at least 1,216 Palestinian deaths and 13,300 injuries in attacks involving Israeli forces and settlers since that date.

OCP also pointed to a September 2026 vote by 46 Democratic senators and Republican Rand Paul for Senator Chris Van Hollen’s measure seeking a State Department report on abuses in the West Bank. The measure included the killings of nine Americans there since 2022.

The visa decisions followed a separate U.S. action in September, when the government denied entry to a Palestinian delegation that included Mahmoud Abbas before the UN General Assembly. The State Department cited alleged failures by Palestinian officials to honor earlier agreements, legal proceedings against Israel at international courts, and payments to families of prisoners convicted of attacks against Israelis.

Honey Thaljieh is expected to speak at the November 16 gathering

The Washington event is scheduled for Monday at the United Methodist Building. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders plan to call for congressional accountability for Israeli settlers and the military, as well as limits on U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

Other listed speakers include Reverend Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Lutheran pastor and founder of Dar al-Kalima University, and Mother Agapia, a Greek Orthodox nun. The program includes a reading of names from the Gaza Children’s Shroud, a 120-yard cloth bearing more than 20,000 names of children killed in Gaza.

The shroud is also scheduled to be displayed at the Islamic Center of Maryland on November 15, where organizers plan a Janazat-ul-Ghaib, or funeral prayer for the absent, for more than 22,000 children. The Washington program will proceed with Honey speaking for her brother.

“My brother could not enter America to tell you what is happening in Bethlehem. But you cannot deny a visa to a truth. You cannot silence a people by keeping one priest outside the room.”