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End U.S. Aid to Palestinian Terrorists

(Jerusalem Post) Sen. Dan Coats - For the past 18 years, the Palestinian Authority has honored Palestinian terrorists serving criminal sentences in Israeli prisons and rewarded the families of those "martyred" by their own violent acts. These "social welfare" payments received by terrorists and their families increase dramatically with the severity of the crime for which the terrorist is convicted. Where else in the world does a prisoner receive benefits that actually increase with the level of violence committed? American taxpayer dollars have been used to make these payments to terrorists. Since 1998 when this terrorist payments program first began, the U.S. has contributed more than $4.6 billion to the PA budget, which includes payments to terrorists and the families of "martyrs." The PA budget for rewarding terrorists is about $128 million annually, with a separate line item for the "Institution for the Care of Martyrs' Families" that totaled $155 million. For the past two years, I have been working with my Senate colleagues to reduce the amount of aid to the PA by the amount that is paid out to terrorists and their families. These payments provide rewards and motivations for brutal terrorists, plain and simple. To provide U.S. taxpayer money to Abbas and his government so that they can treat terrorists as heroes or glorious martyrs is morally unacceptable. Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
2016-09-14 00:00:00
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