Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will address the United Nations virtually today as the United States, despite its opposition to him, weighs whether to try to stop Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

The 89-year-old Palestinian Authority president will address the UN General Assembly three days after France led a special summit in which a slew of Western nations recognised a state of Palestine.

US President Donald Trump’s administration adamantly rejected statehood and, in a highly unusual step, barred Mr Abbas and his senior aides from traveling to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders.

The General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to let Mr Abbas address the world body with a video message.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state and far-right members of his cabinet have threatened to annex the West Bank in a bid to kill any prospect of true independence.

French President Emmanuel Macron, despite his disagreements with Mr Trump on statehood, said that the US leader joined him in opposing annexation.

“What President Trump told me yesterday was that the Europeans and Americans have the same position,” Mr Macron said in an interview jointly with France 24 and Radio France Internationale.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said that Mr Trump, in a separate meeting with a group of leaders of Arab and Islamic nations, presented a 21-point plan for ending the war.

“I think it addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbours in the region,” he told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,” he added.

Divide on Palestinian Authority

Mr Macron said that the US proposal incorporates core elements of a French plan including disarmament of Hamas and the dispatch of an international stabilisation force.

A French position paper seen by AFP calls for the gradual transfer of security control in Gaza to a reformed Palestinian Authority once a ceasefire is in place.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, one of the leaders who met jointly with Mr Trump, said that the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country was willing to offer at least 20,000 troops.

Mr Abbas’s Palestinian Authority enjoys limited control over parts of the West Bank under agreements reached through the Oslo peace accords that started in 1993.

Mr Abbas’s Fatah is the rival of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, although Mr Netanyahu’s government has sought to conflate the two.

In his address on Monday, Mr Abbas condemned the massive 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, which has responded with a relentless military offensive.

He also called on Hamas to disarm to the Palestinian Authority.

France and other European powers, while not joining Israeli and US efforts to delegitimise the Palestinian Authority, have said that it needs major reforms.

Mr Netanyahu will address the UN General Assembly tomorrow.

Jessica Chastain has criticised Apple’s decision to delay the release of political thriller series The Savant after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The actress, who is also executive producer of the show for the tech giant’s TV+ streaming service, said she was “not aligned on the decision to pause the release”.

In a post on Instagram, she said the programme, in which she plays a woman who tries to draw out potential terrorists online, is “so relevant” and she has never “shied away from difficult subjects”.

Chastain portrays a military veteran who works at the Anti-Hate Alliance, where she secretly visits 4Chan-like message boards and poses as a white nationalist to identify possible terrorists.

“‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honouring their courage feels more urgent than ever,” Chastain said.

“I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone.”

She listed several acts of political violence in the US in recent years, including a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump last year and also the killing of controversial influencer Kirk.

Read more:
The string of bloody political violence in the MAGA era

Apple said it chose to postpone the show after “careful consideration” but did not give a reason why.

Kimmel’s comeback show brings in record ratings

Meanwhile, millions of people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after he returned to TV after Disney suspended him for nearly a week after he made comments about Kirk.

ABC said 6.26 million people watched Kimmel as he said it was “never my intention to make light of” Kirk’s death. It was the late-night show’s highest-rated regularly scheduled episode.

Read more:
Explained: Why Jimmy Kimmel was taken off air

“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.

“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.

Kimmel had been accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the killing.

In the first full day of campaigning in the Presidential Election, the three candidates will be canvassing in Dublin, Laois, and Limerick.

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, who is backed by the left-leaning parties in the Oireachtas, will attend a meeting of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee this morning in her capacity as a TD for Galway West.

Afterwards, and as a presidential candidate, she will be campaigning in the capital, including at a rally in Harold’s Cross this evening.

The Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys will start her campaign today in Laois, with a lunchtime canvass in Portlaoise.

Later, she will be canvassing in Limerick City before attending a Fine Gael rally in Patrickswell.

Earlier, Ms Humphreys said housing supply is “the biggest challenge” facing the country and “very tough”, but stopped short of agreeing with outgoing President Michael D Higgins that it has become a “disaster”.

The Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin will be in the capital this morning, with a canvass in Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire.

He also will be joined by party colleagues at other campaign events in south Dublin.

Barrister Maria Steen failed to secure enough support to join the race, securing 18 Oireachtas nominations when 20 was required.

After her campaign ended yesterday morning, Ms Steen told the media that “rarely has the political consensus seemed more oppressive or detached from the public’s wishes.”

However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected suggestions that the failure of Ms Steen to secure a nomination was “anti-democratic”.

Voting takes place on 24 October. It is the smallest field in a Presidential Election since 1990.