Congress eyes fresh sanctions on Palestinian government, countering White House embrace of Hamas-supporting PA

The legislation is certain to garner widespread support in the Republican-controlled House, but would have trouble passing a divided Senate.

By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

Congressional Republicans want to impose a fresh sanctions package on the Palestinian government over its ongoing financial support for imprisoned terrorists.

The legislation is a counter to the White House’s diplomatic embrace of the Hamas-supporting Palestinian Authority (PA), which the Biden-Harris administration hopes to install as the Gaza Strip’s ruling authority once Israel’s war on the terror group ends.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) unveiled on Wednesday new legislation that would sanction any Palestinian official known to play a role in the government-sanctioned “pay-to-slay” program, which provides thousands of imprisoned terrorists and their families with upwards of $16 million a month.

The legislation is already backed by 12 GOP senators, and a companion version is being led in the House by Reps. Doug Lamborn (R., Colo.) and Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.), according to a copy of the bill obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Republicans have been eager to cut off American aid to the Palestinian government due to its support for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack and pledge to financially support virtually all of the jihadi fighters captured by Israel on the battlefield.

The PA is currently spending more than $16 million a month on the pay-to-slay program, even as the Judea and Samaria-based government teeters on the brink of economic collapse.

The legislation is certain to garner widespread support in the Republican-controlled House, but would have trouble passing a divided Senate.

That could change, however, after the 2024 election, and with Israel’s war still ongoing, it is unlikely a functional peace agreement will be implemented before America picks its next president.

The United States is currently backing a peace proposal that would put the PA in charge of Gaza, paving the way for it to receive potentially millions more in American aid.

But Cotton maintains the PA, as well as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), are incapable and unwilling to stop supporting terrorists in both Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

“The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization continue to support terrorism against Israel by providing hundreds of millions of dollars per year in their reprehensible ‘pay-for-slay’ program,” Cotton said in a statement to the Free Beacon.

“Anti-Semitic Palestinian terrorists know they can expect payment as a reward for killing Israelis and Americans—with thousands of Palestinian terrorists tied to Oct. 7 eligible for these terror payments.”

His bill, the senator said, will “ensure that the PA, PLO, and their institutions that reward acts of terrorism are punished.”

The legislation would sanction virtually every PLO and PA official who facilitates payments to terrorists, meaning that scores of Palestinian officials would fall under the legislative effort’s purview.

Entities that support or facilitate the pay-to-slay program—including the Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, the Institute for the Care of the Families of the Martyrs and the Wounded, the Palestinian National Fund, and National Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Palestine—also would be sanctioned.

The bill provides additional authority to slap sanctions on any foreign financial institution that participates in transactions related to the terror funding program.

This, too, would greatly complicate any U.S. efforts to channel money into the Palestinian government’s coffers, even if it is earmarked for reconstruction projects in Gaza.

David Milstein, former special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, said bureaucrats from both the PA and PLO are “essentially terrorists in suits who continue to incentivize and reward terrorism against Israelis and Americans, including those barbaric Hamas terrorists tied to the heinous attack on Oct. 7.”

“It is truly shameful that the Biden administration wants to reward the same Palestinian leadership with a state that also just formed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas terrorists,” Milstein said.

“This timely bill is essential to holding the PA and PLO accountable for supporting terrorism.”

The United States has already provided upwards of $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian government and nonprofit groups operating in Judea and Samaria.

If the PA takes the reins in Gaza once the war ends, it will likely need millions more to expand its government capabilities.

A significant portion of PA’s operating budget, funded by the United States and other international donors, is channeled into the pay-to-slay program.

While U.S. law bars aid from reaching the Palestinian government until it ceases the terrorism incentive program, the Biden administration has skirted prohibitions by funding international nonprofits, United Nations groups in Gaza, and other Palestinian infrastructure projects.

The PA’s budget crisis is so severe that government employees recently took a 50 percent pay cut to ensure the pay-to-slay program continues running at full speed.

“While we as [public] employees received a salary at a rate of 50 percent, before the [Gaza] war, the families of the prisoners and martyrs received a full salary,” according to Muhammad Hamida, a PA economy minister.

“The Palestinian leadership remains committed to this. It deducted amounts from regular employees and gave a full salary to the families of the prisoners and Martyrs.”

Since Oct. 7, thousands of new aid recipients have been added to the payment program, according to watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch.

At least “9,750 terrorist prisoners are now recognized by the PA as eligible for monthly terror rewards, up from 4,300 prior to October 7,” the group reported earlier this week.

“Once the processing of the new prisoners is complete, the PA will be paying a minimum of 59,560,000 shekels (about $16.4 million) a month in salaries to terrorist prisoners, up from 52,000,000 shekels (about $14.3 million) a month prior to October 7.”

American aidPApay-for-slayTom Cotton