Tillerson: PA has ‘changed policy,’ will stop paying terrorists’ families

This is good news, but since I don’t trust the Palestinians I’ll believe it when I see their money trail.

“intends to cease”

And the proof of actual compliance will be.......?????

Call me when we have 5 years of evidence.

The best assurance would be for the U.S. to quit paying the PA ANYTHING!

I always wondered what it would take to teach Western morals to savages. Never guessed it would be a former Exxon CEO.

Trump to Cut Foreign Aid But Palestinians Will Receive More

by DEBORAH DANAN 25 Apr 2017
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/04/25/trump-to-cut-foreign-aid-all-over-the-world-but-palestinians-will-receive-more/

TEL AVIV – The Trump administration is gearing up for major cuts in U.S. foreign aid across the world with the notable exception of the Palestinian territories, which will receive increased funding, State Department documents obtained by Foreign Policy magazine show.

The documents, part of an internal budget proposal for 2018, seem to confirm the State Department and USAID’s 28 percent budget cut announced in March.

While many countries will suffer from major cutbacks or else have aid cancelled entirely, funds to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will see an increase of 4.6 percent for the 2018 fiscal year, from $205 million in 2017 to $215 million.

Despite ostensibly warm relations and mutual admiration between President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s aid will nevertheless be subjected to a 47.4 percent decrease. The proposal also includes a 21 percent cut in foreign aid to Jordan, even though King Abdullah is the only world leader to have met with the president twice over their shared desire to destroy the Islamic State.

In addition to the proposed aid cuts, the budget, if approved, would see an almost $1 billion cut in aid for climate change programs. Congress is likely to oppose the proposed cuts.

On Sunday, a senior delegation of Palestinian officials, including PLO Secretary-General and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, traveled to Washington ahead of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to the White House next week for his May 3 meeting with Trump.

Trump to Cut Foreign Aid But Palestinians Will Receive More

by DEBORAH DANAN 25 Apr 2017
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/04/25/trump-to-cut-foreign-aid-all-over-the-world-but-palestinians-will-receive-more/

TEL AVIV – The Trump administration is gearing up for major cuts in U.S. foreign aid across the world with the notable exception of the Palestinian territories, which will receive increased funding, State Department documents obtained by Foreign Policy magazine show.

The documents, part of an internal budget proposal for 2018, seem to confirm the State Department and USAID’s 28 percent budget cut announced in March.

While many countries will suffer from major cutbacks or else have aid cancelled entirely, funds to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will see an increase of 4.6 percent for the 2018 fiscal year, from $205 million in 2017 to $215 million.

Despite ostensibly warm relations and mutual admiration between President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s aid will nevertheless be subjected to a 47.4 percent decrease. The proposal also includes a 21 percent cut in foreign aid to Jordan, even though King Abdullah is the only world leader to have met with the president twice over their shared desire to destroy the Islamic State.

In addition to the proposed aid cuts, the budget, if approved, would see an almost $1 billion cut in aid for climate change programs. Congress is likely to oppose the proposed cuts.

On Sunday, a senior delegation of Palestinian officials, including PLO Secretary-General and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, traveled to Washington ahead of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to the White House next week for his May 3 meeting with Trump.

I have a hard time believing they will give up this practice. Just more muzzard lies. It’s what they do.

YUGE!

No cash awards, just the usual trust fund.

Trust but verify. Very Reaganesque.

yeah, right...

I would not give the PA one penny much less millions. Why in heck is our tax money sent to people who are sworn to destroy us???

If you fall for this, I got some land in Florida to sell ya (only under 10 feet of water...).

dc just can't help itself

Palestinians say one thing in English and the opposite in Arabic. It will be easy to verify, just watch local TV. If true it will be all they talk about as it is the core of their society. If they arnt screaming and yelling about it day and night, it did not happem.

The PLO leadership has been bribing the breadwinners of the family to kill themselves for over a decade promising that their families will live at ease. To back out now will destabilize their society.

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

Possible, not likely.

What is it with Foggy Bottoms? No matter who’s in charge, they quickly become part of the culture of wrong-headed idiocy.

How about we cement this theory TRex! Stop sending them money, our f’n money, surely there would be no complaints, right? RIGHT!??? I do believe we have just another ‘slam fawning idiot in State. JMO.

First, destroy the pigastinians. Then I may entertain the notion.

Rex Tillerson fibbed about Palestinian terror payment program

June 14, 2017 by Jordan Schachtel
https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/tillerson-fibbed-about-palestinian-terrorist-payment-program

The Palestinian Authority continues to pay salaries to convicted jihadi terrorists and their families, despite assurances from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the program has been suspended.

“They have changed their policy,” Tillerson said, per Reuters, in a Tuesday Senate hearing about the Palestinian terror program. “I have been informed they’ve changed that policy and their intent is to cease payments.”

Palestinian officials explicitly rejected Tillerson’s insistence that there is any change in policy. One told Reuters, bluntly: “They are not going to be stopped.” Another Palestinian minister called the “martyr’s fund” a “national, social, and humanitarian duty.”

A third Palestinian official the Jerusalem Post: “We will continue to pay them. What Tillerson said is not correct.” The official said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas personally assured him that the PLO will ensure the families continue to receive salaries.

Conservative Review reached out to the State Department for clarity on the secretary of state’s remarks.

“We have repeatedly raised our concerns about payments to prisoners and martyrs with the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas, and we understand that they are looking at ways to address this issue,” a State Department official told CR. “We were pleased to see last month that some payments were stopped to Hamas-affiliated prisoners, and we will continue to have this dialogue with the Palestinians. We want to see further steps taken on this issue.”

Additionally, the Washington Free Beacon reports that the Trump administration will continue to deliver aid to the Palestinian government in the West Bank’s Ramallah despite the fact that the government will continue to invest up to 10 percent of its annual budget into paying salaries to terrorists and families of terrorists who’ve been killed attacking Israeli innocents.

The Trump administration will boost aid to the Palestinians by around 5 percent, bringing taxpayers’ funds to the PLO to about $215 million.

Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails, many of whom are accused of committing mass-casualty terrorist attacks, receive an estimated $350 to $3,000 a month, depending on several factors. In the tiered system, the more people terrorists kill or wound, the more terrorists’ families are rewarded.

A bipartisan group of legislators have introduced the Taylor Force Act as a means to stop the Palestinians from rewarding terrorists.

Last year, Taylor Force, a 28-year-old U.S. Army officer, was killed by a Palestinian terrorist while he was visiting Tel Aviv, Israel. The terrorist wounded 10 others in his jihadi attack, including a pregnant woman, before he was taken down by Israeli police.

Trump to Boost Aid to Palestinians Despite Ongoing Payments to Terrorists

Tillerson walks back claim terror payments have stopped

BY: Adam Kredo June 14, 2017
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-boost-aid-palestinians-despite-ongoing-payments-terrorists/

The Trump administration remains committed to increasing U.S. taxpayer aid to the Palestinian government despite its ongoing policy of using a portion of these funds to provide monetary aid to terrorists who have carried out attacks on Israel, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, contradicting his earlier statements this week that the Palestinians had reversed its policy of paying terrorists.

Tillerson, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked to explain his remarks earlier this week claiming that the Palestinian government had stopped its longstanding policy of paying terrorists salaries using aid granted by the U.S. government, a claim that was almost immediately rebutted by Palestinian and Israeli officials.

The secretary of state claimed on Tuesday that the Palestinian government had given him assurances that it was no longer providing aid to terrorists and their families, a statement that raised confusion in the region and prompted pushback.

Palestinian officials stated on Wednesday that they have no intent to stop these terror payments. However, the Trump administration still endorses a budget proposal that would increase aid to the Palestinian government by nearly five percent, bringing the total amount of U.S. aid to around $215 million.

The increase in aid to the Palestinians, who continue to sponsor and incite terror attacks on Israel, drew opposition from Democrats and Republicans who criticized Tillerson for seeking to increase this aid while cutting the overall State Department budget by more than 30 percent. This includes a massive funding cut to overseas security for U.S. facilities, a move that has prompted security concerns.

The Palestinian Authority has “not complied with their commitments under U.S. law, yet all potential sanctions were waived,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) said during the hearing. “How can you justify and increase [the aid], when so many things in the budget were cut, but the PA has an increase in your budget request.”

Tillerson mostly dodged the question, telling Ros-Lehtinen that the Trump administration remains focused on restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians

“We’re in active discussion with the Palestinian Authority,” Tillerson said. “These discussions are around issues of how they manage terrorism and how they manage violence in the West Bank and Gaza but it’s also hopefully setting the stage for a reengagement in the peace process with the Israelis.”

Tillerson was challenged by Rep. Ted Deutch (D., Fla.) to explain his Tuesday remarks claiming that the Palestinians had ceased their payments to terrorists.

Tillerson said he was given assurances by senior Palestinian during his recent trip to the Middle East.

“Those were assurances that were given to me in the most recent trip to Bethlehem,” he said. “We’ve had conversations with them and told them they cannot continue these types of payments and expect the U.S. and American people to see any explanation for why they do that.”

“They have indicated they would” stop these payments, Tillerson added. “They indicated to me they were in the process of changing that.”

Asked to clarify Tillerson’s remarks, a State Department official appeared to walk back his earlier statement, telling the Free Beacon that the Palestinian government is still “looking at ways to address the issue.”

“We have repeatedly raised our concerns about payments to prisoners and martyrs with the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas, and we understand that they are looking at ways to address this issue,” the official said. “We were pleased to see last month that some payments were stopped to Hamas-affiliated prisoners, and we will continue to have this dialogue with the Palestinians. We want to see further steps taken on this issue.”

Palestinian officials told Tillerson “they have to support widows and orphans. I said, ‘Widows and orphans is one thing. Attaching payments as recognition of violence or murder is something the American people could never accept or understand.’”

Palestinian officials were quick to contradict Tillerson on the issue, telling news outlets that the payments would never be fully halted.

“There have been talks about making the payments in a different way, but not ending them,” one Palestinian official was quoted as telling Reuters. “They could perhaps be labeled differently,” but they “are not going to be stopped.”

One former Israeli official told the Free Beacon that, contrary to Tillerson’s initial claim, there is no evidence the Palestinians have ceased these payments.

“Regarding the reported commitment of the Palestinians to change their policy and to stop the payments, there is no confirmation to this intention,” said the source, who would only speak on background. “As a matter of fact, Palestinian officials […] clarified yesterday that the policy is not going to change. I would advise everybody to be very suspicious of any such promise coming from thee Palestinians.”

Congress is currently considering legislation, dubbed the Taylor Force Act, that would cease all U.S. aid to the Palestinian government until it can certify these payments have stopped.

Lawmakers further pressed Tillerson to address concerns that international inspectors affiliated with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, have been unable to certify that Iran has ceased all nuclear weapons work.

While the Trump administration has continued to fulfill U.S. commitments under the landmark nuclear deal, it remains unclear if Iran is upholding its end of the deal, despite recent certifications from the State Department that relied on third party reporting.

“We rely upon the process called for under the” nuclear agreement, Tillerson said. “We did question that vigorously and are in discussions with [the IAEA] to ensure that they [Iran] are meeting all those obligations to certify compliance to us.”

Lawmakers have become increasingly concerned that Iran is hiding some of its nuclear work from international inspectors, particularly work on advanced nuclear centrifuges that may violate the deal.