Recently, President Donald Trump announced plans to end up to $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan because of the country’s involvement in terrorism.
It now appears that Israel may be following America’s get tough approach when it comes to terrorism and is seeking to reduce funding to Palestine because of its “glorification” of members who kill Israelis.
Trump’s decision to withhold money from Pakistan is based upon his claims that the country is harboring militants by failing to take action against the Taliban who target U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
Trump said that the U.S. had “foolishly” given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid for the past 15 years and had gotten nothing beneficial in return except “lies and deceit.”
Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also had harsh words for Pakistan.
“Pakistan has played a double game for years … They work with us at times and they also harbor terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan. That game is not acceptable,” Haley said that.
It now appears that Israel will be taking similar steps when it comes to financial assistance it provides to the Palestinian Authority.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is introducing legislation that will deduct an amount equivalent to what the PA pays terrorists and their families, from tax and tariffs Israel collects for the PA.
Currently, the PA receives aid from both the European Union and the United States then uses a portion of the money to pay those members who kill Jews, Israelis and Americans.
In Israel, the PA terrorists’ salaries are increased each time they kill an Israeli, pursuant to PA law.
“I think the PA encourages and incentivizes terrorism,” Liberman said.
“The minute the amount of the payments that the PA gives is in accordance with the severity of the crime, meaning whoever murdered gets much more money than those who just threw Molotov cocktails or rocks or only injured someone, that is direct encouragement of terror,” Liberman added.
Lieberman also pointed out that payments received for those in prison, increase according to the length of the prison sentence. The longer the prison sentence for murder or other similar crime, the more money the PA pays out to the member’s family.
“We must put a stop to it,” Liberman said.
Lieberman’s bill is a version of legislation submitted by Israeli Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern.
“The time has come for the State of Israel to put an end to the PA’s encouragement of terrorism … I hope this bill will be promoted quickly and will be brought to a vote in the Knesset in the coming days,” Stern said.
The proposed bill is modeled after legislation introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that if passed, would stop all aid from the U.S. to the Palestinians as long as they pay salaries to terrorists and their families.
The Taylor Force Act, as it is called, was named after a former U.S. Army officer who was stabbed during a Palestinian terrorist’s rampage in Jaffa in March 2016.
The act unanimously passed the House of Representatives late last year and is currently on the Senate legislative calendar, awaiting a vote by the Senate.
While Israel is seemingly willing to gradually withhold funds from Palestinians, members of the Israeli defense establishment are however, not in favor of a “sudden” loss of aid to Palestinians.
Trump’s recent threat to stop sending aid to Palestine if peace talks with Israel are not resumed has Israelis concerned that doing so could undermine Palestinian leaders who work with Israel on Israel’s security interests.
Israel also fears that a sudden loss of financial aid from the U.S. could help extremists by worsening already hopeless conditions that more than 2 million refugees face in Gaza and the West Bank.
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Susan Calloway Knowles is a licensed psychotherapist, former practicing Family Law attorney, online conservative radio talk show personality and producer at Stand For Truth Radio.