US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield rightly condemned in a current speech Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ antisemitic statements that equated Israelis to the Nazis.
With no sense of the irony, she then known as for international support to the exact same PA he continues to guide, 18 years into his four-year time period.
An much more distressing irony: President Joe Biden just lately launched a first-ever National Strategy To Counter Antisemitism amid a spike in Jew-hatred, but on the identical time — in defiance of Congress’ intent — his staff continues to offer materials help for the PA, even because it not solely spouts antisemitic speech however funds anti-Jewish terrorism by means of its “pay-for-slay” program.
Congress clearly decided that PA terror funds encourage violence, which is why it handed the Taylor Force Act, barring financial help that “instantly advantages the Palestinian Authority” till it “stops all funds incentivizing terror.”
In current months, the West Bank has seen a spate of deadly Palestinian terror assaults, with every of the perpetrators and their households then eligible for PA funds.
In 2018, the authority’s refusal to finish systematic terror funding led to bipartisan passage of the Taylor Force Act, named for a US citizen and West Point grad murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv.
Among different issues, the legislation urges our UN consultant to “use the voice, vote and affect of the United States on the United Nations” and the State Department “to make use of its bilateral and multilateral engagements” to focus on the difficulty of pay-for-slay and push for governments to cease funding the PA.
The Biden administration is violating these necessities.
It has renewed support to Palestinian and Palestinian-funding entities, just like the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees within the Near East, probably subsidizing the pay-to-slay program.
Money is fungible, so if the PA doesn’t have to spend cash due to an UNRWA program, it might probably allocate extra funds to pay-for-slay funds.
With her May 24 remarks, Thomas-Greenfield went past skirting the Taylor Force Act’s authorized restrictions to outright defy the legislation’s meant objective.
As she condemned Abbas for antisemitism, Thomas-Greenfield additionally promised the United States will “encourage all events within the area to think about methods to help the Palestinian Authority.”
Instead of highlighting the PA’s pay-for-slay horrors, she known as on the worldwide neighborhood to offer extra PA funding, enabling Abbas to maintain making extra of these perverse funds.
She admitted as a lot in what should’ve been a Freudian slip, noting “the extreme disaster that the Palestinian Authority faces in fostering additional instability within the West Bank.”
If, as Thomas-Greenfield claims, the PA faces a monetary disaster, it ought to begin by slicing its funds to murderers.
And make no mistake: Team Biden is aware of full effectively that Abbas & Co. fund terror. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf brazenly admitted in current congressional testimony that the PA continues to pay terrorists and their households.
In questioning Leaf, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was proper to name out the administration’s choice final yr to waive sanctions on Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary normal of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee, so he might journey to Washington.
“Publicly, when the administration defends participating with terrorists, you declare issues are going effectively,” charged Cruz.
“But if you file a statutorily mandated report with Congress, you admit the PLO is continuous what are known as pay-to-slay funds.”
Leaf claims Team Biden is “working to deliver pay-to-slay to an finish” but admits it has “not but” succeeded.
The Biden administration ought to abide by the Taylor Force Act in its entirety and use all obtainable means to finish the PA’s pay-for-slay program.
US officers even have an obligation to carry Abbas accountable for his antisemitism and incitement of violence.
Having didn’t cease PA-backed terrorism, the Biden staff must also reverse its help for UNRWA, to strain Abbas to alter his methods.
A senior US authorities official beginning a speech condemning antisemitism and ending it calling for help of the perpetrator’s group exhibits a stunning lack of know-how (if not administration hypocrisy).
More troubling, Team Biden’s insurance policies and statements undercut efforts to rein in Palestinian terror.
The violence will proceed as long as there are funders — like Biden & Co. — who preserve incentivizing it.
Sander Gerber is the CEO of Hudson Bay Capital Management, a distinguished fellow on the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a fellow on the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
