Adam Kredo - Is U.S. Money Funding Terrorists?

A new State Department report finds the Palestinian Authority continued paying convicted terrorists, even after promising to stop. Now the question is whether U.S.-backed agreements are being exploited, and if American support should come with stricter consequences.

Adam Kredo, senior writer at the Washington Free Beacon, joins the program to break down what the report reveals and whether the U.S. should cut off funding until those payments end.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome back to the program. It's a pleasure to be with you. Well, the U.S. just got the Palestinians breaking their promises to President Trump. Our American vaccine fire deals being used to pay the salaries of convicted terrorists. Adam Credo is a senior writer writing on national security and foreign policy matters for the Washington Free Beacon. Adam, it's good to have you back.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

It's good to be with you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

So tell me what should people understand that the deal was with the PA about whether or not we pay their bills and what they agree to do in return.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Sure. When the ceasefire was inked in October, uh there was a pathway to a government in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority wanted to play a role. We said they could not. Why? Because they pay terrorists salaries, they continue to incite terrorism, they teach children through summer camps and other programs they have that Israel does not exist and it should be destroyed. So we put a mandate on them to reform. What we found now in the first report from the State Department, since those deals were inked, is that the Palestinian Authority is not living up to any of those promises. They continue to incite, they continue to pay terrorists, they continue to teach children that Israel does not exist and it should be destroyed. All of those commitments violated.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Okay, so how do we get them to play ball? I mean, are they ever likely to play ball when it comes to things like this?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah, it's a good question. It's something I speak to people often about, that the PA has been making these promises. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been making these promises for decades and they cannot deliver. How do you get to a pathway in the Gaza Strip after Hamas is gone, let alone, and they're still there, by the way. How do you get to a place where the Palestinian Authority is equipped to take over? I would say from reading this report and others they've done in recent months, it's not really something that's going to happen. On one hand, you get promises to the United States, and on the other hand, the real hand that actually matters, Abbas's government is paying for terrorism. They're supporting the groups that uh wage jihad against Israel on the Gaza Strip, and they're continuing to breach virtually every promise they've made before the United Nations to moderate and accept the two-piece deal. It's just not something they're willing to have.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Well, see, and and is it because they've never been called to account on it by previous presidents, by previous uh you know American Congresses, if if they never get called on the carpet for it and actually cut off, they're they're just gonna say we we have to play the game, we're gonna say the right things, we'll then do the wrong things, but they won't cut us off until Trump does, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Correct. There have been virtually no repercussions. And by the way, this report that I wrote about, they mandate uh they mandate them every couple of months since 1989. 1989, the Palestinian Authority and the PLO agreed to moderate, agreed to recognize a two-state diplomatic situation. They haven't done any of these things. What the Trump administration has done, though, since issuing these reports and seeing that the Palestinian Authority refuses to moderate or comply, they strip their visas. They said you can't come here. You can't come for the United Nations, you can't come here to engage in diplomatic activities. Yeah, no, the Palestinian Authority. It's great. Uh, I think it's it's a very good call. I'm not sure, however, that these repercussions are tough enough to actually spur them to take any action. Abbas has promised repeatedly before the United Nations to United States diplomats, the Trump administration itself, he's going to stop these payments to terrorists. What did they actually do? They stopped that program and they created a new one that does essentially the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I mean, because all they're doing is they're running the payments through a new welfare authority, put a different badge on the front of the payment, but still make the payment to the families of terrorists, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Correct. A hundred percent correct. What they've done is they scrapped the old program that was widely known as pay to slay, and they've gone to a more uh innocuous sounding welfare agency. But essentially the welfare agency is providing welfare to people in prison. And by the way, the Palestinian Authority uh just earlier this month said that anybody who's in prison for 20 years, you get a leadership position. You can come to uh when we do the new government, and you can come vote on that. So I I think that really shows you where their priorities are with peace.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

I mean, because imagine this, Adam, I just had this crazy thought coming into my head. So let me make this up. It's all made up at a whole clock. But imagine if you had not Donald Trump, but some other president said, I oppose having illegals coming across the border, but I don't know how to stop them from coming into the United States. And say some private organization said, Don't worry, Ms. President, we'll go take care of them, we'll we'll shoot them, we'll set off bombs, we'll have suicide bombers, and the but what can you do for us? If the president of the United States said, Well, if you have people who go out and blow up the illegals or kill them or slaughter them as they try to cross the border, I'll make sure the families of those people get taken care of. And people would say, Well, that's monstrous. You can't do something like that. And it said, Well, the PA has been doing it for decades. They say, Go kill the Jews, and if you if one of your guys goes to prison, we'll make sure your family gets taken care of. If one of your guys ends up dead, and it's always guys, um then we'll we'll we'll pay the pay to slay. That's exactly what they're doing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

It is. It's exactly what they're doing. And I think it's very telling when you see that the Palestinian Authority has not only continued the former prisoner payment system, that is pay to slay, but also very specifically paying people who were released from prison due to the October 7th ceasefire deal. This is exactly what the Israelis feared, that all of these people in prison being released would not only be taken care of, but be incentivized to conduct terror again. And that's essentially what the PA is signaling by sending millions of dollars, by the way, mostly international aid, to families and terrorists.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

So, so Adam, I'm talking to Adam Credo from the Washington Free Beacon. Is Trump going to cut them off once and for all, now that we know this?

SPEAKER_00 6:48

I think that's a lingering question here. The State Department has a lot of options at hand. One of those is the diplomatic penalties, but it seems that it's not in they seem really soft, and it's not really getting into their head that they need to moderate. What I would expect the State Department to do in this case is go beyond visas, beyond holding money that we're supposed to be giving to them, and actually showing that there are real repercussions to the Palestinian Authority, and a boss himself, by the way, who makes these promises all the time and then walks them back, that there are real penalties to play here. Not only uh not giving you a role in Gaza, but really holding the West Bank government accountable. I think that's long overdue and we've not seen it.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Well, because otherwise, Adam, all they're really doing is the, you know, the the often-mocked strongly worded letter. Like, hey, North Korea just set off another nuke uh or set off a uh uh intercontinental ballistic missile. Let's send them a strongly worded letter. I mean, it is such a joke, it's been parodied in American uh political parody because it's such a stupid thing to do. Trump certainly isn't gonna go for something that simplistic, is he?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

I would certainly hope not. We haven't seen the president himself comment on this. I think the State Department uh is being a little bit quiet because they're trying to figure out just how they respond to this. You know, we have a Board of Peace operating now in Gaza. So hopefully we see some of these individuals look, it's a test for them. Let's see if they're willing enough and moderated enough to actually take a stand against this. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Well, if they don't do it, then uh I guess then then we've got just what we've always had all along. Adam Credo is a senior writer reporting on national security and foreign policy for the Washington Free Beacon. Back in a moment. You're listening to the Lars Larson show.