Staff Reports
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan today urged Congress to pass legislation that will cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority for its despicable practice of rewarding terrorism.
The Palestinian Authority currently pays hundreds of millions of dollars a year to jailed terrorists and the families of so-called ‘martyrs’ who die committing acts of terror in Israel. Buchanan is a co-sponsor of the Taylor Force Act, legislation that withholds economic assistance to the Palestinians unless the Secretary of State certifies that the PA has terminated the payments to terrorists.
“American tax dollars should never be used to reward terrorism,” Buchanan said. “The Palestinian Authority must not receive another dime until they end this horrific practice.”
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the Taylor Force Act in a hearing this morning that will include Daniel Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, and Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security advisor to President George W. Bush, as witnesses.
The bill is named after U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force, who was brutally stabbed to death last year by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Israel on a Vanderbilt University trip. According to the Wall Street Journal, Force’s murderer, Bashar Masalha, was killed by police but his relatives “now receive monthly payments equal to several times the average Palestinian wage.”
Last year the Palestinian Authority paid out $315 million – accounting for nearly 8 percent of the PA’s entire budget – in payments to prisoners and relatives of terrorists, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Under Palestinian law, terrorists convicted of attacks are eligible for monthly “salaries” after their arrest, as well as cash grants and priority civil-service job placements upon their release, as reported by the Washington Post. Even more disturbing, the deadlier the attack or longer the prison sentence, the more money their families receive.
The U.S. sends nearly $400 million in annual assistance per year to Palestinian territories according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service. Since the mid-1990s the Palestinian Authority has received over $5 billion in foreign assistance from the United States alone.
Buchanan noted that he was encouraged that President Trump raised the issue of terrorism-related payments to President Mahmoud Abbas when the Palestinian Authority leader visited the White House in May.
However, Abbas said days ago that he would rather lose his presidency than stop the program that pays terrorists. “Even if I will have to leave my position,” Abbas said, “I will not compromise on the salary of a martyr or a prisoner.”
4 comments
victor peel
July 12, 2017 at 9:38 am
Why in gods name would the USA pay money out to support relatives of terrorists in Palestinian territories YES I AM A TRUMP SUPPORTER and glad of it
hugo aghosta
July 12, 2017 at 10:21 am
You are truly an ignorant, ignorant man.. do you check your facts?? Your hate-mongering defies your apparent “christian” faith.. WHY would the US pay Israel billions to bomb innocents hiding in a UN-SafeZone? Why have there been no War Crime Tribunals for using banned weapons like white phosphorus on populations not allowed to flee the bombing.. The actions of the US and Israel are reprehensible, inhumane and disgusting.
For the record, The US does not deliver aid money directly into the PA’s coffers. Instead, to avoid possible misuse of funds, particularly to pay the salaries of convicted terrorists, the US channels aid into specific projects.
For example, the US can directly pay PA contractors who work on water or electricity infrastructure, and pay bills for schools and hospitals.
The $290 million dispensed to the PA via the USAID program in 2016 was spent as follows: $71 million for Gaza humanitarian assistance and water, $41 million for water supply and sanitation, $31 million for economic growth, energy, and private sector development, $31 million for infrastructure, roads and community Infrastructure, $25 million for education and youth and $12 million for democracy and governance. Another $75 million was given for indirect support for debt relief.
In addition to the USAID money, Washington gave the PA $54,824,000 for security and justice assistance. Such funds can cover training and supplies for the Palestinian security forces, as well as training for lawyers and judges. Further funding included $8.7 million under the Middle East Partnership Initiative for West Bank- and Gaza-specific programming; $2.1 million for public diplomacy to support education, civil society and women’s empowerment; and $2.2 million for the English Access Microscholarship Program.
Vern Allen
July 16, 2017 at 8:24 am
Every US dollar spent on a specific project that benefits the PA, frees up a dollar they can use to pay salaries for prisoners and families of terrorists. If they had to chose between the projects you mention and the payments, which would it be? Saying the money only goes to specific programs is BS!
Virginia Maggard
July 15, 2017 at 3:37 pm
Interesting to me that we can spend that kind of money (and much more) to foreign countries, yet we are broke and do not support our own people or the infrastructure of our states. We need to stop this obscene spending.
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