In March 2018, as part of the US war on terror, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act (TFA). Named after US veteran Taylor Force who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist, TFA conditioned US direct aid to the Palestinian Authority on the abolition of the PA’s payment of cash rewards to terrorists.
Since the PA’s creation, it has paid salaries to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists. The PA also pays monthly allowances to wounded terrorists and to the families of dead terrorists (so-called “Martyrs”). These payments are known as the PA’s Pay-for-Slay policy. TFA determined that these payments are an “incentive to commit acts of terror.”
Rejecting the elementary requirement of TFA, the PA has continued to pay the terror rewards to terrorists, spending hundreds of millions of shekels/dollars every year.
Since the PA leaders have publically attacked the US’ passage of TFA, rejected its terms, and continue rewarding terrorists and their families, the appropriate next step in the US war on terror is to designate for sanctions those PA/PLO officials and entities involved in this incentivizing of terror.
Executive Order 13224 authorizes the US to designate “individuals or entities... [who] assist in, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, acts of terrorism .” The PA/PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr, the entity and individual who are directly responsible for the paying of salaries to terrorist prisoners, directly “provide financial... [and] other services ... in support of, acts of terrorism.” Accordingly, designating the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and Abu Bakras sponsors of terror in accordance with Executive Order 13224, is the appropriate and necessary next step toward accomplishing the anti-terror goals of TFA. The designation would be fulfilling both the letter and spirit of TFA and Executive Order 13224.
