POMPEO: Abbas and Palestinian Authority Play Anti-Israel “Pay-for-Slay” Shell Games

I saw firsthand during my time as Secretary of State that America’s adversaries – and maybe even a few allies – will always look for opportunities to take advantage of Americans’ goodwill.  This does not mean we shouldn’t try to produce good outcomes on the world stage – it simply means that, as Jesus once said, we should be “wise as serpents” in our dealings with other countries if we wish to truly put America first.  One blatant example is the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) February 10 announcement that it has paused its pay-for-slay program.  This news should be met by the Trump Administration and Americans with skepticism.  The truth is that the PA fully intends to continue its pay-for-slay programs in other, more nuanced ways.  This is the time for the Trump Administration to double down on its pressure, not relent.

I wrote about the PA’s pay-for-slay programs in my inaugural piece for the ACLJ, pointing out that the Biden Administration was violating the Taylor Force Act by resuming aid to the PA in the West Bank.  The Taylor Force Act ensures no U.S. aid goes to organizations that financially support acts of terror against American citizens.  But what was true during my time as Secretary, was true during the Biden Administration, and remains true today is this:  The PA’s primary function is to support acts of Palestinian terror against Americans and Israelis.  This is made clear by the existence of the Martyrs Fund, until the February 10 announcement ending it. The Martyrs Fund was a welfare program run by the PA which disbursed lifetime payments to families whose relatives had died or were imprisoned as a result of their attempts to kill Israelis.  One such attack in 2016 claimed the life of U.S. veteran Taylor Force, who was in Israel as part of his studies at Vanderbilt University.  The PA’s Martyrs Fund encouraged heinous acts like these by rewarding the families of these murderers with lifetime pensions – pensions that were, in part, subsidized by U.S. foreign aid that propped up the Palestinian Authority’s very existence. We stopped this aid in the first Trump Administration, but Biden foolishly resumed it.

With President Trump back in power, PA President Mahmoud Abbas is hopeful he can keep Biden’s unconditional support rolling – which is the real impetus for his decree “ending” the Martyrs Fund.  Abbas likely hopes Western media will miss that these payments aren’t ending; they’re just moving to a different source.  According to his decree, they will now fall under the responsibility of the Palestinian Economic Empowerment Foundation.  In short, Abbas moved pay-for-slay funding from a PA ministry under his control to a “foundation” also under his control. Indeed, the head of the foundation’s board is Abbas’ Minister of Social Development.  Nobody should be fooled by this, and I am sure the Trump Administration will not be.

We should be clear: pay-for-slay is far from over.  Just last year, the PA was slated to contribute at least $97 million to more than 13,000 Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7th attacks on Israel.  Funding and supporting terrorism is a prime source and sustainer of the PA’s tenuous grasp on power.

Indeed, the PA’s inability to stop funding and encouraging acts of terror illustrates the massive difficulty in making any progress toward genuine, lasting peace with the Palestinians.  The PA’s educational programs, subsidized by international funding, are riddled with antisemitic filth.  The same can be found across PA-sponsored media.  It isn’t only about the Martyrs Fund – just about everything the PA touches, it imbues with anti-Israel, antisemitic hate meant to incite violence and opposition to the Jewish state.  This made the Biden Administration’s decision to work even more closely with the PA – and provide it with over $1.2 billion in aid – all the more frustrating.  Every American should recognize that the PA’s use of this fund indicts the claim that they are caught in the middle of Hamas and Israel – they are sympathetic and have been aiding Hamas’ goal of wiping Israel from the map.  The PA has never acknowledged Israel’s right to exist or renounced terrorism against Israel.

Still, while Abbas’ decree should not be seen as proof that the PA is interested in changing, it is at least proof that the PA takes President Trump seriously.  This is good.  The Trump Administration should take this as a sign not to relent, but to continue applying pressure in much the same way we did in the first Administration: by cutting off funds to the PA and supporting Israel to the hilt, while leaving the door open for negotiations should the PA take steps that demonstrate a meaningful departure from its current goal of destroying the Jewish state.  This would be the best way to put America’s interests first, rather than be fooled by merely symbolic gestures.