Watchdog Sues Biden Admin Over Funding for Palestinian Government
A watchdog group is suing the Biden administration for refusing to turn over internal documents that could show it violated a bipartisan law banning the federal government from sending money to the Palestinian government until it stops using these funds to pay terrorists.
Protect the Public's Trust (PPT), a watchdog group comprised of former government officials, is accusing the State Department of stonewalling its Freedom of Information Act request for all internal documents and communications related to the administration's decision last year to unfreeze U.S. aid to the Palestinian government. Taxpayer funds for the Palestinian Authority were stopped under former president Donald Trump due to that government's ongoing support for terrorism.
The lawsuit, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, says the State Department sat on PPT's FOIA request for more than 240 days, well past the statutory period in which federal agencies like the State Department must provide the requested information. The State Department says it will not be able to turn over the relevant information until at least Dec. 16.
The information in question could show the Biden administration resumed Palestinian aid in violation of a law known as the Taylor Force Act, a 2018 bipartisan piece of legislation that bars the federal government from providing taxpayer aid to the Palestinian government as long as it continues a policy known as "pay to slay," in which aid dollars are used to pay terrorists and their families. The Palestinian Authority continues to make these payments, generating concerns from lawmakers and watchdog groups like PPT that the Biden administration violated the law.
"The American public deserves transparency around this decision, which may not only be in violation of the law but could potentially result in increased danger for U.S. citizens and their allies," Michael Chamberlain, PPT's director, told the Free Beacon. "But the State Department has yet to even give an estimate for when we will receive records, much less provide any."
Texas Synagogue Hostage Crisis: A Case Study in Downplaying Antisemitism
So, you can’t really blame some Jews for being perturbed at the FBI, recently charged with keeping an eye on “domestic terrorists” who challenge school-board members, for initially contending that the Texas synagogue attack was “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” Or, our suddenly judicious president, who only last week was smearing anyone who refused to support his power grab as a white supremacist, for now saying, “I don’t think there is sufficient information to know about why he targeted that synagogue or why he insisted on the release of someone who’s been in prison for over 10 years, why he was engaged — why he was using antisemitic and anti-Israeli comments. I — we just don’t have enough facts.”Deborah Lipstadt: Being Jewish Today Means Training for Active Shooters
Being vigilant is fine. In fact, it would serve the nation better if law enforcement, media, and politicians always took their time assessing these events before placing blame. This cautious approach, however, seems reserved for certain politically inconvenient crimes. Everyone knows well what will happen the next time a white male commits anything resembling a politically motivated act. The media still seem to think every conservative is somehow culpable for January 6, while liberals will never be asked to answer for the terrorist who attempted to massacre the entire Republican leadership on June 14, 2017, or for the widespread rioting of 2020.
As Batya Ungar-Sargon pointed out today on HillTV, there is no need to get hysterical about every anti-Jewish incident, as Jews in the United States are still the luckiest Jews in history — safer, freer, and better off, than at any time. That, however, goes for everyone who lives here. As Ungar-Sargon also notes, it is unreasonable to diminish the presence of anti-Jewish behavior to protect “marginalized” groups. Antisemitism is quite popular in the Islamic world. Forget the Middle East, where Pew found near unanimity among national populations on the Jewish question; look at allegedly liberal Europe. As one recent EU study found, among the most serious incidents of antisemitism in the European Union, 31 percent include someone the victim did not know, but 30 percent were perpetrated by someone with extremist Muslim views; 21 percent with someone who held left-wing political views; 16 percent by a colleague from work or school; 15 percent by an acquaintance or friend; and 13 percent by someone with known right-wing views.
And, in the historic harmony of American life, there are more anti-Jewish crimes perpetrated than all the other religiously motivated crimes combined — often at the hands of other minority groups. The habit of downplaying this kind of antisemitism, or appropriating it for partisanship, is a dangerous game.
We are shaken. We are not OK. But we will bounce back. We are resilient because we cannot afford not to be. That resiliency is part of the Jewish DNA. Without it, we would have disappeared centuries ago. We refuse to go away. But we are exhausted.
Rabbi Cytron-Walker credited his survival to the active-shooter training and security courses that he and his congregants took in order to prepare for just such a moment. He knew to stay calm and knew the right moment to fling a chair at his captor and dash for the exit with the other captives. The Jewish community offers such training on a regular basis to an array of Jewish institutions, especially to our synagogues and our schools.
It is not radical to say that going to services, whether to converse with God or with the neighbors you see only once a week, should not be an act of courage. And yet this weekend we were once again reminded that it can be precisely that.
Among those morning blessings that are part of Blessings of the Dawn is one that thanks God for opening up the eyes of the blind. Jewish eyes did not need to be opened. But this week we wonder if the eyes of our non-Jewish friends and neighbors, particularly the ones who didn’t call to see if we were OK, have been opened just a bit.
There is an additional blessing during these early prayers that thanks God for allowing us to stand tall and straight. We are standing tall and we are standing straight.
But we are checking for the exits.
Just beautiful.
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 18, 2022
The (Orthodox) Rabbinical Council of America (@RCArabbinical) letter to (Reform) #Colleville Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker (@URJorg) ends with the traditional prayer of Jewish Peoplehood and Unity.
H/t my incredible (@UJAfedNY) brother @rabbicreditor! pic.twitter.com/Ms91dR8gFi