Taxes for Terror

by: Mike Evans

The prophet Isaiah had the perfect response for today’s politicians, and especially those who try to cover their blatant anti-Semitism with big smiles and a hearty handshake. He cried out a warning:

What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter (Isaiah 5:20, NLT).

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon expressed his contempt for the recently formed and highly provocative “unity government” which included Hamas and Fatah. It establishes an unprecedented union between the Palestine Authority and the terrorist organization. The hatred for Israel expressed by both entities is obvious and brazen.

Danon warned taxpayers in the US of something that I have espoused for decades: your tax dollars are being used to fund and feed the terror tiger that has been unleashed in the Middle East. He said:

The replacement of ministers in the Palestinian government is just a pretty wrapping for the terrorist attacks that were conducted and will be conducted under their protection. Now, all aid given to the Palestinians by the US and other countries directly aids terror attacks against the state of Israel.

Uri Ariel, Israeli Housing Minister added, “Abbas signed on the establishment of a terror government today together with lowly murderers, who murdered dozens and hundreds of Israelis."

Let me remind you that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (now serving his tenth year of a four-year term) is the man who provided the money to the Black September PLO terrorists who murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He claims he had no knowledge of the purpose of the funds. This is the man the US says is a moderate, and can be trusted to make a viable peace deal with Israel.

His predecessor was Yasser Arafat whom I boldly confronted at the UN General Assembly in December of 1988. He has been asked by the US government to denounce terrorism. I stood before him, held up a copy of the PLO covenant and challenged him, “If you really are going to denounce terrorism, then begin with this covenant that calls for the destruction of Israel.” He responded by vehemently screaming for me to shut up! I didn’t shut up then; I won’t shut up now.

While a façade of cooperation surrounds the newly formed government, there is great speculation that the accord will dissolve when the current euphoria is replaced with a contentious rivalry and arguments over who is actually in power. As Naftali Bennett, Economics Minister opined, “The newly-inaugurated joint Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Authority government is nothing more than a gang of terrorists in suits.” Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar has been staunch in commitment that any treaty between Israel and the PA will lead to certain war.

As Abbas executed the oath of office, US Secretary of State John Kerry was busily informing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Obama Administration was determined to work with the new “unity” government, a position that is deeply disappointing to the Israelis. The fig leaf being used to cover the naked justification of Kerry’s support is that the new government includes no Hamas leaders. The Secretary of State was joined by government leaders in Europe, all prepared to work with terrorists with only one agenda: Overrunning the State of Israel and annihilating the Jewish people.

Jen Psaki, Kerry’s State Department spokesperson went on record as saying the administration refused to halt aid to the PA in the sum of some $500 million per year—a half billion taxpayer dollars. She added, “Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this government. We will continue to evaluate the policies of the new government, and if needed, we will recalibrate our approach.”

That position nullifies the demand that Israel be recognized as a legitimate state by the Palestinians. Both PA and Hamas leaders are resolute in their untiring efforts to circumvent any mandates that would require an admission that Israel had a God-given and UN-sanctioned right to their land. Israel has stressed that it would not negotiate with a PA coalition that included a recognized terrorist organization such as Hamas. According to Netanyahu, “The US has supported that position until now.” Kerry and the Obama Administration are busily sending signals that seem to deny any such commitment—a sign that such a pledge did, indeed, exist; one that will not be kept.

Prime Minister Netanyahu was critical of the EU’s move to support the new alliance after having called for just such reconciliation. He addressed this latest move:

“Islamic terror is raising its head in Europe, and the latest horrible manifestation of this was the abominable murder in the Jewish museum in Brussels. And I find it strange that governments in Europe that harshly condemn this murder, also speak in friendly tones about a unity government with Hamas, a terror group that carries out and praises such crimes. I think the policy must be against terror, against the partnership of terror groups in the diplomatic process.”

Of added interest to the Israelis is that arms production in Gaza has been ramped up to maximum speed even as foreign nationals from other terrorist organizations have flowed into the country to provide training. The Jerusalem Post indicates that groups such as Islamic Jihad and other smaller terror cells have added their manpower to the 16,000-strong Hamas fighters—each having its own battery of missiles.

John Bolton, former UN Envoy under the George W. Bush administration, reiterated that “the laws of the United States prohibit assistance to terrorist organizations,” a point which the Obama administration seems intent on overlooking. Bolton was adamant that the US should not negotiate with terrorists “under any circumstances.”

Now, leaders in Washington, DC, have joined the global cacophony of those who embrace the ideology that terrorists are good, and those who oppose them are evil. The US government should be supporting its friends and trusted allies, not funding the radical Islamic terrorists who threaten both Israel and America.