“The Taylor Force Act will force the world to confront the dark truth that the Palestinian Authority, every day, actively aids and abets terrorism,” declared Senator Charles Schumer.
By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Charles (Chuck) Schumer, longtime senator of the state of New York, emphatically denied the Palestinian claim that border issues or Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are the obstacles to peace in the Middle East in his speech Monday to the AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C.
Schumer’s address was short, but to the point, with comments such as: “Now, there are some who argue the settlements are the reason there’s not peace, but we all know what happened in Gaza. Israel voluntarily got rid of the settlements there, the Israeli soldiers dragged the settlers out of Netzarim, and three weeks later the Palestinians threw rockets into Sderot. It’s sure not the settlements that are the blockage to peace.”
As to the supposed Israeli intransigence regarding borders, he noted that “they forget during the negotiations in 2000, Ehud Barak was making huge territorial concessions that most Israelis didn’t like, it was Arafat who rejected the settlement. It’s not the borders either,” the Senate minority leader told the 18,000-member audience.
Schumer concluded, “The fact of the matter is that too many Palestinians and too many Arabs do not want any Jewish state in the Middle East.”
Notwithstanding AIPAC’s lack of specific religious affiliation, and the fact that the vast majority of those present were not outwardly observant, the Jewish senator presented the Bible as the source for the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel, instead of the United Nations resolution of November 29, 1947.
“The view of Palestinians is simple, the Europeans treated the Jews badly culminating in the Holocaust and they gave them our land as compensation,” he stated. “Of course, we say it’s our land, the Torah says it, but they don’t believe in the Torah. So that’s the reason there is not peace.”
The senator also slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for paying salaries to those who have carried out attacks against Israelis and stipends to the families of those killed attempting attacks. He declared that the upcoming Taylor Force Act, which will stop American funding of the PA until it ceases this practice, will show the true face of the PA.
“Too many believe that this Palestinian Authority is moderate and really wants peace. The Taylor Force Act will…force the world to confront the dark truth that the Palestinian Authority, every day, actively aids and abets terrorism.”
Schumer went on to mention the danger Israel faces from Iran, and called for awareness of the “deep well of bias” that exists against Israel. The senator declared toward the end of his address, “As long as [God] breathes air into my lungs, I will not forget, I know you will not forget and together we will forever fight to protect the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.”
Schumer was one of the few Democratic senators who opposed the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal due to its serious weaknesses, wholly agreeing with Israel’s assessment of it. He was excoriated for this stance by many within his party and was even branded a “traitor” by some opponents.