Dear Recipient's Title and Name:
I am writing to urge you to support the bipartisan Taylor Force Act (H.R.1164) introduced earlier this year by Representatives Doug Lamborn and Lee Zeldin. The Taylor Force Act will suspend U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless the PA ends its practice of paying financial stipends both to terrorists who commit acts of terrorism and the terrorists’ families.
The legislation was named for Taylor Force, a 28-year-old Vanderbilt University graduate student stabbed to death in Jaffa by a Palestinian terrorist in March 2016. A graduate of West Point Military Academy, Force served in the U.S. Army and did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The attack left 10 other people injured.
The practice of ‘pay for slay’ is codified in detail in Palestinian law. In 2017, the PA allocated $344 million in payments for tens of thousands of terrorists and their families from a dedicated ‘martyrs’ fund that dates back to the 1960s. The payments amount to 7 percent of the PA’s overall budget and 49.6 percent of foreign aid received by the PA.
The PA, through the Palestinian Liberation Organization, pays terrorists monthly salaries as high as $3,429; the greater the violence, the greater the financial reward. Incarcerated terrorists can receive bonuses of as much as $25,000; after prison, terrorists are typically given priority for civil service jobs. Terrorists’ families, too receive lump sums along with life-long monthly stipends and other support.
The Taylor Force Act will suspend future U.S. financial assistance to the West Bank and Gaza until the U.S. Secretary of State can certify to Congress that the Palestinian Authority is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against Israeli and American citizens and that the Palestinian Authority has terminated payments for such acts.
Tomorrow, the full House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Taylor Force Act. I urge you to take a stand against Palestinian terrorism and vote in favor of this legislation.
Sincerely,
Your Full Name
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