[{"indexId":"index52","imageUrl":"/STORAGE/ARTICLES/impacting_media/Bloomberg_view.png","news":false,"published":true,"tags":[],"id":10458,"contentType":"Article","tagIds":["190","193","254","1035","1036","1039","1045","1153"],"description":"\"[A terrorist's] mother told a local news outlet: 'My son is a hero. He made me proud. My son died as a martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque,' according to a translation from Palestinian Media Watch.\"","lang":"en","author":[{"id":78,"citeName":{"en":"Lake, E.","he":""},"name":{"en":"eli lake","he":""},"about":""}],"authorId":[78],"content":"

Bloomberg View op-ed about PA salaries to terrorists
\ncites PMW documentation
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\n

$\"\"$

\nThe Palestinian Incentive Program for Killing Jews

\nBy Eli Lake, July 1, 2016

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\nWhoever said crime doesn't pay hasn't talked to the family of a Palestinian terrorist. For the Palestine Liberation Organization and the related Palestinian Authority, the killers of Jewish Israelis are considered "martyrs." And as such, their families are paid for the service these murderers have done for the Palestinian cause.
\n
\nThis has come to light this week after a Palestinian, Mohammed Tarayra, stabbed Hallel Yaffa Ariel, a 13-year-old Israeli girl, as she was sleeping in her bed. The stabbing was part of a wave of attacks by Palestinians who have for nearly eight months been shooting, stabbing and running down Jews with the encouragement of social media and popular songs.
\nAccording to the latest report of the Russian, European, U.S. and U.N. group known as the Quartet, there have been 250 of these kinds of attacks since October. It says, "These terrorist attacks, which have been carried out mostly by young, unaffiliated individuals, contribute to the sense among Israelis of living under constant threat."
\n
\nBut this misses important context. The Quartet's report, which is even handed to a fault, makes no mention of the "martyr's fund," through which the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization pay the families of all Palestinian prisoners and the families of martyrs. So while there is no evidence that the Palestinian government plans these killing sprees, it encourages them as a legitimate act of resistance.
\n
\nAs Commentary's Evelyn Gordon wrote this week, the prisoners and the families of the prisoners themselves are actually paid a higher wage than what most Palestinians earn for nonviolent work.
\n
\nThe origins of these payments goes back a long way. Before the Palestinian Authority was established in the 1990s through the Oslo peace process, the Palestine Liberation Organization paid the families of "martyrs" and prisoners detained by Israel. That practice became standardized during the Second Intifadah of 2000 to 2005. The Israelis even found documents in the late Yasser Arafat's compound that showed payments to families of suicide bombers.
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\nFor years the Israelis and the Americans didn't do much on this issue. The Israel Defense Forces work closely with Palestinian security services to keep the peace in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Bush and Obama administrations have pressed both sides to restart negotiations over a final status.
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\nThis is starting to change. On Friday, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that he would begin withholding part of the tax revenue that Israel sends to the Palestinian Authority -- equal to the amount paid to "martyrs."
\nFrank Lowenstein, the U.S. special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, told me the U.S. has recently started withholding funding for the same reason. "We have robustly complied with legislation passed in 2014 that requires us to deduct from development assistance to the Palestinian Authority for Palestinian payments to individuals imprisoned for acts of terrorism," he said. The amount of development assistance that has been withheld is classified.
\nT
\nhe Palestinian Authority seems to be aware of this and has figured out ways to hide these payments to the families of murderers, by creating new accounts. Senator Dan Coates, a Republican from Indiana, has introduced new legislation aimed at closing this loophole.
\n
\nOne problem is that the payments to terrorists' families are exceedingly popular these days. Ziad Asali, the president and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, told me that in recent years the media and politicians have elevated these payments to something "sacred in Palestinian politics." Asali said the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and others are too weak to stop it. "This is where we find ourselves now. The vast majority understand there has to be an end to violence; it's not serving the Palestinians in any way," Asali said. "But I think nobody really has the stature and clout to confront these issues publicly."
\nAsali is getting at one of the many tragedies today for the Palestinians. Abbas came to power initially after he condemned suicide bombing and terrorism during the Second Intifadah. His bravery at the time to confront Arafat earned him a reputation as a peacemaker and is one reason President Barack Obama has never publicly criticized him with the same ferocity he reserves for Netanyahu.
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\nBut today Abbas is in the 11th year of a four-year term as president. He has made some vague statements opposing the recent wave of violence. But he never condemns the murderers by name. Meanwhile, his own Fatah Party glorified Tarayra on its official Facebook page.
\nNo wonder the killer's family is so proud of him. His mother told a local news outlet: "My son is a hero. He made me proud. My son died as a martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque," according to a translation from Palestinian Media Watch.
\n
\nIsrael's alleged peace partner appears to agree. If the past is precedent, she will receive a steady check to honor her son's murder of a 13-year-old Jewish girl in her sleep.\n

[http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-01/the-palestinian-incentive-program-for-killing-jews]

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","title":"Bloomberg View op-ed about Palestinian Authority salaries to terrorists cites PMW documentation","date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1467331200,"nanoseconds":0},"thumbnail":"/STORAGE/ARTICLES/impacting_media/Bloomberg_view.png"},{"id":515,"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1119571200,"nanoseconds":0},"published":true,"title":"Report: US Government Funds Terrorism-Promotion","imageUrl":"","contentType":"Article","lang":"en","tagIds":["190","193","1035","1036","1037","1045","1543"],"indexId":"index2","content":"WASHINGTON - An Israeli watchdog group alleges that American aid to Palestinian universities and cities promotes terrorism.
\nA report to be released Friday by Palestinian Media Watch singles out the U.S. Agency for International Development, contending that it has ignored new congressional restrictions that the group helped craft last year on aid money. Specifically, the report points to American development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza that funds universities with student chapters of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which have funded roadwork for streets renamed to commemorate suicide bombers and television programming that encourages hatred of Jews.
\nA USAID spokeswoman yesterday said that procedures are in place to make sure that in-kind donations to Palestinian institutions are not diverted to terrorism. But the report has already drawn attention from Capitol Hill, where Palestinian Media Watch"s director, Itamar Marcus, is scheduled to testify Friday before the House International Relations Committee on his findings.
\nWhen asked for a comment on the report yesterday, Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat who drafted the tighter restrictions last year from her post in the House Appropriations Committee, said USAID must respond to Palestinian Media Watch"s allegations.
\n"I am very disturbed by the findings of this report, particularly the widespread nature of the alleged violations," she said. "I will ask USAID to provide Congress with a detailed response to these findings immediately. This report cannot go unanswered by the leadership of USAID."
\nThe Bush administration broke a long-standing taboo last month when the president announced $50 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, meant to help the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, prepare for Israel"s scheduled withdrawal of settlers next month from Gaza. In February, the State Department announced a new package of $350 million in American aid to Palestinian nongovernmental organizations.
\nMr. Marcus"s report is particularly critical of USAID: "Governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Palestinian Authority continue to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. Agency for International Development, some of which is going directly to frameworks that sponsor branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations," the report"s executive summary says.
\nA spokeswoman for USAID, Heather Layman, said in an e-mail response for comment, "USAID provides "in-kind" assistance to some Palestinian Authority agencies - for example, technical assistance, training, office equipment, medical supplies, and the construction of infrastructure facilities, such as water wells, pipelines, and schools. All of this in-kind assistance is targeted to specific development objectives, and is carefully monitored to ensure that no assistance is diverted to other uses."
\nIn her e-mail, Ms. Layman said that USAID has a careful vetting process to ensure that none of its subcontractors are connected with terrorist organizations. She said that employees and grant recipients must sign agreements stating as much.
\nMr. Marcus, who served during the Oslo negotiations with a team of Israelis who prodded Yasser Arafat to end incitement of terror, said that major gaps in USAID"s vetting process allow funds to go to organizations that promote and honor terrorism.
\n"If they think they can pour millions into Palestinian universities while turning a blind eye to the Hamas branches on those universities, they are making a mockery of the United States anti-terror policy,"he said."The problem is that Palestinian children, all they see, is the honoring of these suicide bombers."
\nMr. Marcus"s report garners most of its evidence from Palestinian press reports. Nonetheless, these open sources are revealing. In the last year, USAID gave $41 million to Palestinian universities, including five with prominent Hamas and Islamic Jihad chapters that receive money due to their standing as student organizations.
\nThe report details how sports clubs are named after suicide bombers and assassinated leaders of Hamas. Streets in Gaza and West Bank towns have been renamed for these so-called martyrs, as have schools. For example, in February the 14-year-old winner of a marathon sponsored by Mr. Abbas came from a learning center named after Salah Khalaf, the head of Black September, the terrorist organization responsible for murdering 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
\nThe report cites a March 29, 2005, article in al-Hayat wherein the dean of faculty at al-Najah University is described as opening an exhibition dubbed the "bridge of the shahids," a reference to martyrs. Less than two weeks later, on April 10, the Hamas chapter of the university invited a member of the terrorist organization"s political bureau, Mahmoud Ghazel, to a mass assembly. Last year, al-Najah commemorated in a display on campus the Sbarro Pizzeria bombing from 2001 that killed 15 Israelis. The exhibition featured replicas of body parts on the walls.
\nMr. Abbas has earned respect and confidence from the White House and European leaders for criticizing suicide bombing and the violent tactics of the Intifadah. However, Israelis have complained recently that he has failed to dismantle Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
\nThe presence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on campus is important, the report says, because many suicide bombers - such as the woman this week who had strapped dynamite to her body as she was taken to an Israeli university for surgery - are university students.
\nA former senior adviser on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to three presidents, Aaron Miller, yesterday said that Palestinian universities have chapters of terrorist organizations like other Palestinian political parties. But he also said that American policy has an obligation not to fund any programs that promote terror.
\n"We cannot give money that is being channeled directly or that is associated with promoting violence," he said. "There are all kinds of derivative implications of providing this to the Palestinian Authority. A lot of the incitement has been toned down, but it has not been eliminated."","description":"\"I am very disturbed by the findings of this [PMW] report, particularly the widespread nature of the alleged violations,\" [Representative Nita Lowey] said.","author":[{"id":78,"citeName":{"en":"Lake, E.","he":""},"name":{"en":"eli lake","he":""},"about":""}],"tags":[],"news":false,"authorId":[78],"thumbnail":""}]