PRINTER'S NO. 1399
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
249
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, RESCHENTHALER, RAFFERTY, SCHWANK AND
SCARNATI, JANUARY 2, 2018
REFERRED TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS, JANUARY 2, 2018
A RESOLUTION
Urging the President and the Congress of the United States to
enact S. 1697 or H.R. 1164, legislation aimed at ending the
Palestinian Authority's practice of providing monetary
rewards to terrorists and their families who kill Americans
and Israeli citizens.
WHEREAS, The Palestinian Authority (PA) has established laws
and decrees that allow terrorists and their family members to
receive compensation and services after a violent act is
committed, known as "pay to slay," and is an incentive to commit
acts of terror; and
WHEREAS, The PA pays lump sums and lifetime salaries to
terrorists and their families. The size of the payments
correlates to the number of their victims and the severity of
the harm inflicted on them according to the Hudson Institute;
and
WHEREAS, The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in a report
entitled "Incentivizing Terrorism: Palestinian Authority
Allocations to Terrorists and their Families" indicates that in
2016 the PA expended over $300 million on salaries for
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terrorists and their families, which accounts for 7% of the
total PA budget and nearly 30% of the foreign aid it receives;
and
WHEREAS, According to The Washington Post, the United States
provides approximately $400 million a year in economic
assistance to the Palestinian territories, much of it in the
form of grants and contracts for specific projects, such as
water and sanitation; a portion is dedicated to directly
supporting the Palestinian Authority's annual budget; and
WHEREAS, These direct payments provided by the United States
could be intermixed with payments for acts of terrorism; and
WHEREAS, While the State Department has taken action in
recent budget cycles, at the request of the Congress of the
United States, to lower Federal aid to the PA by an amount
equivalent to what the PA spends on terrorist salaries, there
remains interest and support to further restrict aid; and
WHEREAS, S. 1697 and H.R. 1164, known as the Taylor Force
Act, would make certain foreign assistance for the PA dependent
on certifications by the Secretary of State that the PA has
ended payments to individuals who commit terrorist acts against
Israeli and United States citizens and taken other steps to
reduce violence; and
WHEREAS, These measures are in honor of the young American
student and United States Army veteran Taylor Force, who was
murdered in 2016 by a Palestinian terrorist; and
WHEREAS, In an outrageous example of glorifying terror,
official PA media broadcast the funeral of Force's murderer and
referred to him as a hero and martyr; and
WHEREAS, The lead senator of the Taylor Force Act stated that
"This bill shines a light on the very real problem of 'Pay to
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Slay.' Taylor was an American hero who was brutally murdered at
the hands of terrorist. Yet instead of condemning this horrific
attack - and so many others like it - the Palestinian Authority
rewards terrorists. These rewards for terrorist attacks are
inconsistent with American values"; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
urge the President and the Congress of the United States to
enact S. 1697 or H.R. 1164, legislation aimed at ending the
Palestinian Authority's practice of providing monetary rewards
to terrorists and their families who kill Americans and Israeli
citizens; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania.
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