S.1612 & H.R.3208 The No Official Palestine Entry (NOPE) Act of 2025
S.1612 was introduced on May 6 2025 by Senator Jim Risch (R-ID). It is currently pending before the Committee on Foreign Relations, and has 20 co-sponsors on a partyline basis.
H.R.3208 was introduced on May 6 2025 by Representative James Baird (R-IN). It is currently pending before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has 8 co-sponsors on a partyline basis.
Related legislation: N/A
Bill Summary: S.1612 and H.R.3208 would prohibit any funding for the U.N. or any of its bodies in the event that the Palestinian Mission is provided with “any status, rights, or privileges beyond [its current] observer status,” thereby tightening existing statutory language that prohibits funding to the U.N. if the PA Mission is accorded “the same standing as member states.”
Context: These Bills are designed to intimidate the U.N. from providing any additional recognition or role to the Palestinian Mission beyond its current observer status. The U.S. is the major contributor to the U.N., so the intimidatory effect of these Bills is not insignificant. At the same time, however, the U.S. has been deeply concerned for years about the influence it has been ceding throughout the U.N. system to its adversaries including the People’s Republic of China, so to the extent these Bills constitute a loaded gun, that gun is equally pointed at the U.S.’ own foot as it is at the U.N.
These Bills would also functionally enhance a limitation on America’s own diplomacy and the President’s Article II Foreign Relations powers by preventing even a U.S.-supported upgrading of the Palestinian Mission’s status at the U.N., should such an upgrading, or even U.S. formal recognition of the Palestinian State be on the table during negotiations.
Finally, these Bills conclude with a Section (4) noting that their language does not apply to Taiwan. It is notable that the authors of the Bills realize the similarities between the conditions of Taiwan and Palestine, and a remarkably visible expression of hypocrisy that the Bills specifically have to exclude Taiwan from their implications.
American Values Analysis: Particularly during the immediate post-World War II era, the United States led the world in recognizing the sovereignty of countries emerging from the yolk of colonialism, and at the same time the U.S. was the driving force behind the creation of the U.N. The intimidation of the world’s leading international forum in order to oppose a stronger voice for a State emerging from a colonial context runs directly counter to the international vision of the Greatest Generation.
American Interest Analysis: The United States cannot on the one hand endorse a Two State Solution and at the other threaten to withdraw from the major forum for international diplomacy if that outcome is reached. These Bills place the U.S. into direct conflict with the vast majority of UN member states - and contradict America’s own explicit diplomatic objectives, while tying the hands of the President and demonstrating a clear hypocrisy through the exclusion of Taiwan.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: OPPOSE
A New Policy opposes H.R. 3208 and S.1612 because these Bills directly forestall the possibility of a negotiated Two State Solution, and threaten to demolish American global standing and its influence in the UN to pursue this self-defeating objective.
For more information please contact: Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
