As Jihadist Rockets Rain Down on Jerusalem, President Biden Continues To Illegally Fund the Palestinian Authority and Its “Pay for Slay” Terror Subsidies

By 

Jeff Ballabon

|
May 10, 2021

3 min read

Israel

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Yesterday, Jordan Sekulow reported to you that the ACLJ filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Biden Administration over its plan to restart millions in American taxpayer aid to the terrorist-supporting non-state “Palestine” via the Palestinian Authority (PA) – an arm of the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that continues its murderous “Pay for Slay” program directly subsidizing terror and terrorists.

Today, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza once again ratcheted up the violence, firing more than 150 rockets into Jerusalem at Israeli civilians. This is a direct result of the Biden Administration’s feckless policies and subsidizing Israel’s enemies.

The recklessness and gravity of this policy shift cannot be overstated. In fact, it goes well beyond even the (at least) $235 million American taxpayer dollars once again being funneled to the Palestinian Authority and other organizations, such as United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose programs are used to foment hate and violence against Israelis and Jews. As Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Gilad Erdan explained: “Israel strongly opposes renewing funding for UNRWA, an anti-Semitic agency that incites against Israel and uses a twisted definition of who is a ‘refugee.’ Rather than solving the conflict, UNRWA perpetuates it.”

Not only, as we explained, is this a direct violation by the Biden Administration of the bipartisan Taylor Force Act which passed with overwhelming support in 2017, it sends an unmistakable message to the terrorists’ leadership – as well as to the rest of Israel’s enemies – that open season for terror against Israel has returned. It is no wonder that new pretexts for violence suddenly abound in the media and that – today – terrorist rockets from Gaza started pummeling civilian areas of central Israel, including the capital city, Jerusalem.

In a reportedly tough telephone call, that appears to have been nothing like the White House’s officially scrubbed version, Israel’s national security advisor pushed back against the kind of international intervention coming from this Administration, pointing out that it acts as “a reward to the Palestinian rioters and those who back them who were seeking international pressure on Israel.” That’s just common sense. What this Administration is doing is catastrophic, and Americans have the right to know who and what is behind this radical shift in policy.

The world takes its cue from the United States, so the fact that the Biden Administration is siding with the terrorists by criticizing Israel for simply trying to defend its citizens and uphold the law, has created every incentive to attack Israel both physically and politically. Americans must push back against the progressives now leading the international charge against Israel from Washington, D.C., which is why ACLJ’s work is needed now more than ever.

In recent decades, the Palestinian Authority has been the recipient of – by far – the most American aid money per capita. Until the Taylor Force Act intervened, that money was used to subsidize terror. Now, thanks to this Administration, it looks as though the blood money will flow again. And as today’s attacks on Israel show, we all know how that money will be used.