Biden Administration Sued For Aid Payments That Could Support Palestinian Terrorism

Biden Administration Sued For Aid Payments That Could Support Palestinian Terrorism

President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were sued after giving over half a billion dollars in funding to the Palestinian Authority which funds terrorism with its “Pay to Slay” policy.
In 2017, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, named after U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Taylor Force who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while visiting Israel, to prevent the U.S. government from funding the PA if they continued their “Pay to Slay” policy.
“If [Biden and Blinken] understood what motivates Israel’s enemies, the elimination of the State of Israel, I would think they would stop any funding that could possibly find its way into the wrong hands,” Force’s father told the DCNF.

President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are defendants in a lawsuit filed Tuesday regarding the over half a billion U.S. dollars sent to benefit the Palestinian Authority (PA), which allegedly uses those funds for its “Pay to Slay” policy responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and U.S. citizens.

The PA Martyrs Fund, known pejoratively as “Pay to Slay,” pays off terrorists and their families for acts of violence committed against Israelis and visitors to Israel. The lawsuit filed by America First Legal Foundation argues that despite Congress passing the Taylor Force Act in 2017 to prevent the U.S. government from funding the PA, the State Department and the Biden administration have continued to send large payments to subsidize the PA.

“[T]he defendants took power on January 20, 2021, with a new plan: Transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to the Palestinian Authority despite Pay to Slay and contrary to the Taylor Force Act,” the lawsuit states. “Contrary to law, they have transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority.” In 2016, 28-year-old U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Taylor Force was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while visiting Israel as part of his graduate program at West Point. Force’s parents, Stuart and Robbie Force, worked with former President Donald Trump and Congress to pass the Taylor Force Act in 2017, which prohibited the U.S. government from providing any type of funding to the PA unless they ended the “Pay to Slay” policy.

Stuart Force told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they are hoping to hold the Biden administration accountable.

“Our role in the lawsuit is as it was in our efforts to enact the original Taylor Force Act – to put a human face on the horrific effects of the Palestinian Authority’s Pay for Slay policy,” Force stated. “Multiply the devastating loss of our beloved son Taylor by the hundreds of Israeli families that have also been impacted by this inhumane atrocity of Pay for Slay and you will understand why we are committed to ending the flow of US dollars to the PA.” In May 2020, Biden declared during his campaign that he planned to restore funding to the PA, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The following year, after assuming office, Biden authorized over $360 million in funding to Palestinian aid.

The funding was sent just months before the Biden administration admitted to Congress in a private report that the PA had not ceased the “pay for slay” policy, according to the lawsuit. That same year a Palestinian official admitted that PA had paid $181 million in “bounties” for terrorist acts committed against Israel.

“If [Biden and Blinken] understood what motivates Israel’s enemies, the elimination of the State of Israel, I would think they would stop any funding that could possibly find its way into the wrong hands,” Force told the DCNF. “Aside from the increased rocket barrages, tunnel construction, and increased frequency of attacks on innocent civilians when ‘foreign aid’ increases, the money is used in its widespread PR campaign to incite violence and foment hatred of Israel and the United States.” Sarri Singer, a survivor of a Palestinian terror attack that killed 17 people and injured over 100 in 2003, is also listed as a plaintiff. Singer regularly travels to Israel and told the DCNF she felt “the current administration doesn’t have my best interests or safety in mind by sending money over with no accountability.”

“It is almost 20 years later, and I am still dealing with the long-term effects of the attack,” Singer said. “There is still shrapnel in me that is not operable and not a day goes by that I am not reminded that a simple bus ride to meet a friend for dinner turned into one of the largest bus bombings in Israel during that time.”

In 2022, the Biden administration admitted to providing over half a billion dollars in funding since April of 2021, according to the lawsuit. In May, another private report was submitted to Congress showing the president and the secretary of State were well aware that the PA had continued its “Pay to Slay” policy by providing $150 million to terrorists and $191 million to families of terrorists.

The lawsuit described the Biden administration and the state department’s conduct as “utterly lawless.”

“It is a total mystery to me why Biden and Blinken are violating a federal law, the Taylor Force Act,” Force concluded. “By stopping the flow of dollars that funds Pay for Slay (and other horrific actions), we hope to change their criminal behavior.”

A State Department spokesperson told the DCNF, “As a matter of practice, we do not comment on pending litigation.” The White House did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.