by Andrew Bernard
“You can’t give aid and comfort to the terrorists who kill Americans and Israelis,” the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee stated.
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| Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the opening session of the Palestinian Central Council in Ramallah on April 23, 2025. Photo by Flash90. |
The U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority on Thursday over their “pay-to-slay” payment scheme for terrorists.
The department said that the organizations had fallen afoul of the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002.
“It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and P.A. accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace,” the department stated.
The P.A. and PLO are also illegally “initiating and supporting actions at international organizations that undermine and contradict prior commitments in support of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel, such as through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice,” according to the State Department.
The U.N. Security Council passed Resolutions 242 and 338 in the wake of the 1967 and 1973 wars, respectively. The resolutions call for a ceasefire between all parties and a “withdrawal of Israel’s armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
The P.A. maintains a “martyrs fund” and prisoners’ fund that provide stipends to the families of Palestinians who have been killed, injured or imprisoned after attacking Israelis.
The sanctions impose visa bans on P.A. and PLO officials to the United States. Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at George Mason University, stated that the sanctions could go further.
“While Biden sanctioned dozens of Israeli Jews for living in Judea, the Trump administration is sanctioning P.A./PLO for literally paying for the murder of innocents, pay-for-slay,” Kontorovich wrote. “Thus far, just limited to visa bans, but could progress to bank accounts.”
Shortly after Trump took office, the administration withdrew sanctions on Israeli citizens that the Biden administration accused of “extremist settler violence” and of undermining U.S. foreign policy.
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, welcomed the sanctions announcement on Thursday in the wake of decisions by France, the United Kingdom and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state, or to say that they might do so in the future.
“In the face of too many countries with a flawed moral compass, that repeatedly choose to side with evil, stands the United States under the leadership of President Trump, choosing to lead with justice and morality,” Smotrich stated.
“The Palestinian Authority pays salaries to the families of terrorists, promotes terrorism, wages political warfare against the State of Israel on the global stage and engages in incitement through its educational system,” the minister said.
“Instead of condemning this, certain countries choose to reward terror and promote the establishment of a state that would pose a threat to Israel,” Smotrich said. “The American sanctions against senior PA officials are a just and moral step.”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also applauded the decision to ban P.A. and PLO officials from entering the United States.
“You can’t give aid and comfort to the terrorists who kill Americans and Israelis and expect to be welcomed on American soil with open arms,” Mast stated.
Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the League of Arab States signed the “New York Declaration” on Tuesday. The document, in part, calls for all future participating Palestinian political parties to “respect the PLO political platform.”
Andrew Bernard
Source: https://www.jns.org/trump-admin-imposes-sanctions-on-plo-palestinian-authority/
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