Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and its National President Morton Klein strongly commend Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his principled stand in withdrawing his sponsorship of the “Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021.” Unfortunately, over the objections of several members of the committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee rewrote the bill to declare it is U.S. policy to push for a Palestinian Arab state, which would surely be an Iran/Hamas-controlled terrorist dictatorship, and implement authorizations to give funds to the terrorist dictatorship called the Palestinian Authority (PA) without regard for current restrictions that are enshrined in U.S. law.
Sen. Cruz said:
“Hours before the vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee radically changed the bill. The language added declared it would be ‘policy of the United States’ to create a Palestinian state and to pour millions into Palestinian areas despite ongoing Palestinian government salaries for terrorists. I offered amendments to return the bill to its original bipartisan embrace of the Abraham Accords, but they were rejected.
“U.S. diplomats have no business telling our Israeli allies what to do with their territories, let alone pressuring them to cede sovereignty for a Palestinian state. We should not be subsidizing Palestinian terrorism. I have removed myself as a co-sponsor of the rewritten Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021, I voted against it today, and I will continue to oppose it.”
ZOA National President Morton Klein said:
“This is a core issue for ZOA and for those fighting Palestinian Authority terrorism, which pay Arabs to murder Americans and Jews. The establishment of a Palestinian Arab terror state in the territory that is the heartland of biblical Israel and on Israel’s longest border is an existential threat to the Jewish state and a reward for the Nazi-like policies of the present Palestinian Arab terrorist dictatorship. In addition, we must never forget that these territories are guaranteed to the Jewish people under binding international law, including treaties to which the U.S. is a party. The idea of weakening the Taylor Force Act by allowing Presidential waivers for aid to the PA is a fundamental betrayal of U.S. law and American principles. It directly enables the PA to continue the obscene Nazi-like ‘pay to slay’ compensation to killers of Americans and Jews. And the more Americans or Jews a Palestinian Arab terrorist murders, the larger the lifetime pension to them and their families. Last year the Palestinian Authority paid $400 million to these murderers. All senators must oppose this bill as long as these provisions are included.
“We are deeply disappointed that Sen. Menendez did not pursue a bipartisan, productive approach to this bill that would have preserved the restrictions of the Taylor Force Act to fund this terrorist Palestinian regime, and would not have established a new policy supporting the creation of an anti-peace, pro-terror, anti-American, anti-democracy Palestinian Arab state.”
ZOA Government Relations Director Dan Pollak said:
“In addition to Sen. Cruz’s point that it is not the job of the United States to dictate the terms of any future peace agreement that Israel would agree to, the formulation of the language in this proposed law is deeply troubling. It implies that any peace agreement that did not include a new Palestinian Arab state would be opposed by the U.S. as a matter of policy. ZOA has for many years opposed any bill that endorses the establishment of a new anti-American terrorist dictatorship in the region, but this goes beyond that, to oppose peace if the plan does not include a new Arab state. This is extraordinarily counter-productive in the long search for a true peace. A Hamas/Iran State was established in Gaza which gave us 25,000 rockets and wars. Let’s not make a similar mistake again.”