Just before Tuesday’s presidential election, the Biden-Harris administration quietly waived mandatory terrorism sanctions on the embattled Palestinian government—even as it determined that the government’s leaders are paying imprisoned terrorists and fomenting violence in breach of U.S. law.
The State Department, in a non-public notice to Congress, determined that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are not complying with agreements to curb terrorism against Israel and end the “pay-to-slay” program, which rewards imprisoned terrorists for committing acts of violence.
Those violations should trigger American sanctions, barring members of the Palestinian government from obtaining U.S. visas. The Biden-Harris administration nonetheless used its executive power to waive the sanctions.
“A blanket denial of visas to PLO members and PA officials, to include those whose travel to the United States to advance U.S. goals and objectives, is not consistent with the U.S. government’s expressed willingness to partner with the PLO and PA leadership,” the State Department told Congress in the private notification obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The agency issued the waiver just as Americans headed to the polls Tuesday to hand Donald Trump a decisive victory driven in part by the former president’s clear-cut commitment to Israel’s security amid a broadening regional war. The waiver enables the Palestinian government to duck American sanctions for another 180 days, at which point it will come up for renewal once Trump is in the White House. […]
— Read More: freebeacon.com
