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Why Passing This Act Could Strike a Major Blow to Palestinian Terrorists' 'Pay to Slay' Efforts Using Your Tax Dollars

News Staff : Dec 5, 2017
CBN News

You can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and urge your representative to vote for the Taylor Force Act (H.R. 1164).

[CBN News] What would you say if you found out your tax dollars were indirectly going to pay Palestinian Arab terrorists to murder Israeli Jews and others? That's just what's happening. (Photo: U.S. Military Academy photo of Taylor Force/2009/via AP)

On Tuesday, the U.S. House is expected to vote on the Taylor Force Act (H.R. 1164) which would pressure the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) to stop the practice of paying convicted terrorists and their families by eliminating U.S. funding to the P.A. unless it stops these types of payments.

The bill was authored by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-CO and Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY. The bipartisan legislation passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 15 in a unanimous vote.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, serves as the chairman of the committee.

"Since 2003, it has been Palestinian law to reward Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails with a monthly paycheck.

Palestinian leadership also pays the families of Palestinian prisoners and suicide bombers. These policies incentivize terrorism," Royce said.

The bill was named in honor of U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force, who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2016. The 21-year-old terrorist behind the brutal stabbing of Force was killed by police, but he was praised by the Palestinian Authority government and his family received lifelong financial compensation.

The kinds of compensation include the following:

Pension for life triple the average salary in P.A. areas.
Free tuition
Free health insurance
Free clothing allowance
Free monthly stipend

And that's where this current legislation draws the line. Royce says stopping that practice—courtesy of $300 million U.S. tax dollars every year—is what's behind the Taylor Force Act.

The practice is known as #pay-to-slay.

Despite earlier pressure from Congress to stop these payments, the Palestinian Authority has actually raised the amount paid to terrorists whom they consider martyrs. The payments are on a sliding scale. The more successful the attack, the bigger the payout.

In the 2017 P.A. budget, money to convicted terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons increased by 13 percent and four percent more went to their families—more than 30,000 recipients in all.

This year, direct funding of terrorism has reached $355 million and yet the P.A. is largely funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars.

You can also call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and urge your representative to vote for the Taylor Force Act (H.R. 1164).