WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)-The United States said Friday it will deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority to attend next month’s UN General Assembly, where France is leading a push to recognise a Palestinian state.

The extraordinary step further aligns President Donald Trump’s administration with Israel’s government, which is fighting a war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel adamantly rejects a Palestinian state and has sought to lump together the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority with rival Hamas.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,” the State Department said in a statement.

“The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” it said.

Using a term favored by Trump to deride his legal troubles while out of office, the State Department accused the Palestinians of “lawfare” by turning to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to take up grievances with Israel.

It called on the Palestinian Authority to drop “efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, writing on X, thanked the Trump administration “for this bold step and for standing by Israel once again.”

The Palestinian Authority called for the United States to reverse its decision, which it said “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement.”