Washington Examiner The Biden administration must enforce the Taylor Force Act

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In May 2020, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke clearly when he proclaimed that he would “fully support the Taylor Force Act, which prohibits aid to the PA [Palestinian Authority] based on payments they make to terrorists in Israeli jails.” While it’s not uncommon for a candidate’s promises to go unfulfilled once they take office, Biden was speaking about a widely supported and bipartisan act that has been the law of the land for nearly three years and keeps U.S. taxpayer dollars from aiding and abetting terrorism. This wasn’t a small promise, and the Biden administration would be wrong to attempt to subvert this law, either in spirit and letter, as it seeks to engage with the Palestinian leadership.

© Provided by Washington Examiner Yet, that may very well prove to be where we are, as new reports coupled with recent confirmation from the State Department indicate that the Biden administration intends to find a workaround to the current law by reopening funding channels to the Palestinian Authority, even as the PA increases payouts to terrorists. Just recently, the families of two Palestinians, who killed five members of the Fogel family while asleep in their beds, were gifted an increase in monthly payments.

State Department spokesman Ned Price admitted as much to reporters. Whether or not Biden is working toward reestablishing funding to the Palestinian Authority or devising a more indirect path to circumvent the Taylor Force Act, Congress’s intent is crystal clear: to bar U.S. aid until Ramallah’s practice of paying terrorists and their families is ended. Budgets are fungible, and if the plan is for the United States to provide assistance, which in effect frees up Palestinian Authority finances, the Biden administration would be at best circumventing the spirit of the law and at worst thumbing its nose to the parents of Taylor Force and similar terror victims, both of which are an immoral affront to the will of America's people.
The decision would relieve Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (now 16 years into a four-year term) from what should be a clear choice: receive millions of dollars in U.S. aid or continue the “pay-to-slay” terrorist salary and pension program. Abbas and the Palestinian Authority opted to continue to pay terrorists and their families since the law passed in 2018, and their decision to hold the line is about to pay off.
It is not terribly surprising that the Palestinians opted to remain committed to violence. What is surprising is that the Biden administration does not believe in the spirit of the law, which is named for a U.S. Army veteran killed by a Palestinian terrorist, but instead believes that the suspension of U.S. aid (not the grotesque Palestinian policy of incentivizing terrorists with an annuity program) “has only harmed innocent Palestinians.”
One potential bypass reportedly under consideration is having the Palestinians change the criteria for receiving payments by creating a new system that extends aid based on the “welfare needs of the prisoner and not on the crime committed.” This workaround would not stop “pay-to-slay” and would create a perverse incentive for lower-income and poverty-stricken Palestinians to commit acts of terror.
Another “incentive” for the Palestinian Authority playing along with this charade, essentially icing on the cake, would be the lifting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as some reports have indicated is being considered by the Biden administration. So far, the State Department has not indicated that it intends to do so, but the mere mention of these schemes has created a trust deficit in this context.
The problems Palestinians face do not stem from the suspension of U.S. aid. They stem from a deeply corrupt and terror-supporting Palestinian leadership running the West Bank and the murderous terrorist organization Hamas running Gaza. The absence of any change in the Palestinian leadership’s maximalist positions or its terror campaign against Israel is an argument against restoring aid, not for it.
The better course of action is for the Biden administration to help average Palestinians by holding Palestinian Authority leaders accountable and demanding the infrastructure supporting terrorists be dismantled, anti-Semitism be scrubbed from schools and media, corruption prosecuted, and democracy restored by holding elections and enabling civil society to mature.
The Biden administration’s stated desire to exercise moral leadership is admirable. But undermining the Taylor Force Act achieves the opposite result. If necessary, Congress should intervene and protect U.S. taxpayers from their dollars being directed to entities that support terrorism (though it shouldn’t have to). Certainly, that is neither controversial nor too high a bar.
The Taylor Force Act passed with widespread bipartisan support and reflects the will of the public. Attempts to evade the law’s restrictions are shameful. That restoring aid to terrorists is what the Biden administration chooses to start its conversation with the Palestinian Authority would be laughable if it was not so immoral. Let’s hope the current administration honors the memory of Taylor Force by keeping the law named in his memory intact. Otherwise, circumventing policies such as Taylor Force is an unwelcome harbinger of things to come.

Comment - fiden and teh DPST party exemplify anti-Semitic racism - and utter disregard for teh rule of law and the Constitution.

They care not - as long as their LSM approves of their discriminatory stands.