Palestinian President’s Key-Shaped Suit Pin At UN Draws Israeli Ire: ‘Unmistakable Symbol’

Last Updated:September 25, 2025, 20:53 IST

For Palestinians, the key represents the loss of homes and homeland in 1948, and the hope of returning

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered his speech to the UNGA via video after the US denied him a visa to attend in person.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sparked a sharp reaction from Israel after wearing a small, key-shaped lapel pin during his video address to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.

The symbolic accessory, worn on his suit, was interpreted by Israel as a political message, one it described as an “unmistakable symbol” of erasing Israel.

The 89-year-old Palestinian leader delivered his speech to the UNGA via video after the United States denied him a visa to attend in person.

On Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry shared a screenshot of Abbas’s virtual address on X, showing the key-shaped pin on his suit, accompanied by a strongly worded statement.

“The dangerous duplicity of Mahmoud Abbas. In his speech addressing the UN General Assembly he wore a “key” pin – an unmistakable symbol of his goal of erasing Israel,” the ministry wrote.

The ministry continued, “While Hamas called the October 7 massacre the “Al-Aqsa Flood”, Abbas wants his own flood under the guise of two states: millions of descendants of Arabs who left Israel in 1948 pushed into Israel to erase the only Jewish State.”

Israel further stated that, historically, the Arab world had declared war on Israel in 1948, and claimed that more Jews were expelled from Arab countries to Israel than the number of Arabs who left Israel during that time.

The Israeli post went on accusing Abbas of following the old PLO plan to flood Israel with refugees under the guise of a two-state solution. It called on Arab countries hosting Palestinians to grant them full citizenship instead.

“Abbas’s “key” is the old PLO plan: two states for one Palestinian people and the destruction of the Jewish State. This will not happen,” it added.

“For Palestinians, the key is a powerful symbol,” Al Arabiya reported. It represents the loss of homes and homeland in 1948, and the hope of returning. Many Palestinian families still hold physical keys passed down through generations, a reminder of the homes they were forced to leave.

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