GOP-controlled Congress considers bill sanctioning Palestinian government over ‘pay-to-slay’ program

The Palestinian government pays around $16 million a month to imprisoned terrorists, including nearly 900 Gaza-based Hamas fighters captured in the wake of Oct. 7, according to estimates.

By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

The Republican-controlled Congress is moving on legislation that would authorize wide-ranging sanctions on the Palestinian government and any international partner that has aided its terrorist payment program, known as “pay-to-slay,” according to a copy of the bill obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Republicans in the House and Senate jointly introduced the bill with broad backing, signaling that the measure is an early priority in both legislative chambers.

The legislation would impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for providing millions of dollars to imprisoned terrorists and their families.

It also would sanction any “foreign persons” known to facilitate these payments or help the Palestinian government administer the program.

Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is shepherding the bill in the Senate, with Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) introducing the House version. Eight Senate Republican leaders, including Texas’s Ted Cruz, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Florida’s Rick Scott, North Carolina’s Ted Budd, and Tennessee’s Bill Hagerty, are also backing the bill.

The measure is likely to garner broad support in the GOP-controlled House, which has already moved on separate legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court for its persecution of Israel on the international stage.

In the Senate, it would need at least some Democratic support to cross the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold. Both parties overwhelmingly supported a similar 2018 law, the Taylor Force Act, which forced the American government to freeze Palestinian aid until the terrorist payments program ends.

The latest bill, dubbed the PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act, builds on the 2018 law by sanctioning not just the Palestinian government but its international enablers, a provision that could impact foreign financial institutions and the United Nations, which provides financial resources to both the PLO and PA.

“Despite the enactment of the Taylor Force Act, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority have continued their system of compensation that incentivizes, encourages, rewards, and supports acts of terrorism,” the bill states.

In an attempt to build further pressure on the Palestinian government, the legislation targets a host of affiliated entities that have helped keep cash flowing to imprisoned terrorists.

Those entities include: the Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, the Institute for the Care of the Families of the Martyrs and the Wounded, the Palestine National Fund, and the National Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Palestine.

Sanctions, meanwhile, would be applied on any foreign financial institution that facilitates transactions on the Palestinian government’s behalf.

“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 told 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 October 7 eligible for these terror payments.”

The Palestinian government pays around $16 million a month to imprisoned terrorists, including nearly 900 Gaza-based Hamas fighters captured in the wake of Oct. 7, according to estimates.

The Biden State Department, in a private 2022 report obtained by the Free Beacon, determined that the PA allocates hundreds of millions of dollars annually to imprisoned terrorists and their families.

The assessment, however, did not stop the administration from funneling millions in taxpayer funds to the Palestinian government, likely in violation of the 2018 Taylor Force Act.

Regional observers expect the Trump administration to reassess U.S. funding to the Palestinian government, particularly as the administration shapes a new foreign policy meant to eliminate questionable foreign aid initiatives.

President Donald Trump froze aid to the Palestinian Authority during his first term, and the Biden administration restarted it.

Lawler said it “is well past time” Congress puts an end to the pay-to-slay program.

“The PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act will ensure those who finance and enable these horrific acts are held fully accountable,” he said. “By imposing tough sanctions on those behind these payments, we are delivering a clear and unwavering message: terrorism will not be tolerated or rewarded.”

The bill is the first of several pieces of legislation meant to strengthen America’s support for Israel as it winds down more than a year of fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Senate is expected to soon take up legislation that would compel the U.S. government to refer to the ‘West Bank ‘ territory as “Judea and Samaria,” Israel’s official term for the region, according to congressional sources familiar with the effort.

Government documents and communications have long referred to the territory as the ‘West Bank,’ undermining Israel’s historical ties to the region.