How our tax dollars fund Mideast terror
American and Israeli government officials signed an agreement Wednesday that locks in the largest-ever package of U.S. military aid — $38 billion over the next decade — to Israel. This includes funds for missile defense systems, including the noted Iron Dome, that will protect against rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
While this long-term aid agreement is worthy of applause, American taxpayers should be alarmed that the very same terrorist attacks on Israel are also being financed with American taxpayer dollars. According to a 2015 Congressional Research Service report, the Palestinians are among the largest recipients of international aid, with the U.S. contributing more than $5 billion in security assistance and bilateral economic aid since the mid-1990s.
In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S.-supported United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East provide hundreds of millions of indirect economic assistance for humanitarian programs, education, medical care, vocational training and other initiatives.
This American aid — traditionally supported by the government of Israel — is also supposed to go to bolster Palestinian Authority security forces to enable them to stop Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis. However, given that nearly 300 Palestinian attacks since September 2015 have resulted in 40 dead and more than 500 wounded Israelis, it is quite obvious that these forces are either corrupt or inept.
Exacerbating these matters is that the PA has been escaping current restrictions on American aid and is using U.S. funds to pay stipends to the families of thousands of Palestinians who are committing the terror attacks.
Palestinian terrorist prisoners are regarded by the PA as patriotic fighters. While locked away, they and their families are paid premium salaries and given extra benefits as rewards for their service.
It’s no token sum. According to a recent report from the Gatestone Institute, “terrorists in prison receive higher average salary than PA civil servants and military personnel.” A 2014 study by the Israeli government, based on internal PA documents, showed that these prisoners and their families had received more than $75 million in stipends in just one year.
Shockingly, monthly salaries for both incarcerated and released prisoners are on a sliding scale, depending on the severity of the crime and length of prison sentence. Essentially, this incentivizes the commission of the most heinous terrorist acts.
And upon release from custody, the terrorists typically become PA civil service employees.
This summer, the House Foreign Affairs Committee took preliminary steps to reconsider this spending. As Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the committee’s chairman, said: “The Palestinian Authority has only worsened the conflict by inciting violence and hate speech. They’ve gone as far as offering a pay-to-slay stipend encouraging Palestinians to commit violence against Israelis.”
Seconding the sentiment, the Senate Appropriations Committee included in its State Department funding bill a provision to restrict aid that supports payments to Palestinians and their families who commit terror attacks.
There is no doubt that Palestinian terrorism is a purposeful result of the incessant incitement against Israelis in all quarters of Palestinian society, aided and abetted with U.S. dollars. This incitement is from time to time criticized, but only halfheartedly and persistently paired with a call to “both parties to reduce provocative actions.”
Congress should quickly ratify the historic memorandum of understanding for American aid to Israel. But it should add a provision ensuring that American funds cannot be used as financial subsidies for terrorism.
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