Iran stops paying terrorists, but you still pay them, thanks to Joe Biden

The Iranian protesters who have gained the support of the entire world have pointed out more than once that the mullahs who run the repressive Islamic regime in Tehran spend more money on foreign jihad terrorists than on their own people. So in what may be another regime attempt to calm the protests, or simply an indication that the regime is strapped for cash, the Islamic Republic of Iran has stopped funding Palestinian jihad terror groups. Old Joe Biden’s handlers, however, are still forking over quite enough of your taxpayer cash to keep the terror groups going.

The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that “Iran has stopped channeling funds to a number of Palestinian factions.” The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds “quoted unnamed informed sources in Lebanon as saying that the factions are currently suffering from a financial crisis because of the Iranian move, which was taken three months ago.”

That report came exactly a week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke at a conference of J Street, a far-Left group that is viciously hostile to Israel. According to the Washington Free Beacon, Blinken “touted the Biden administration’s renewed engagement with the Palestinian government, which includes nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer aid, and accused ‘Israeli settlers’ of perpetrating violence against Palestinians, a line that drew applause from J Street’s crowd.”

That nearly $1 billion in aid goes to the Palestinian Authority, but only the most naïve and blinkered assume that it is then spent only on humanitarian initiatives. The Taylor Force Act, which is still U.S. law although the Biden administration blithely ignores it, prevents taxpayer funds from being given to an entity that supports terrorism.

But the Palestinian Authority continues to pay imprisoned jihad terrorists and the families of dead terrorists who killed Israelis. As recently as May 2022, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed that these payments would not stop: the Jerusalem Post reported that he said in a speech on “Nakba Day” that “the Palestinian Authority will continue to pay allowances to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed while carrying out attacks against Israel.”

Abbas has repeatedly vowed to keep paying terrorists. It’s one of the highest priorities of his regime, if not the very highest priority. In July 2018, according to Breitbart, he “vowed that his government will continue to pay salaries to terrorists and their families even if ‘we have only a penny left.’” Abbas added: “We will not accept a cut or cancellation of salaries to the families of martyrs and prisoners, as some are trying to bring about.”

The bulk of the prisoners who receive these payments are or were members of the terror groups Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all of which have received funding from Iran and thus may be feeling the pinch because the mullahs have now cut them off. The Post reported that these groups claim they use the money from Iran to “pay salaries to their leaders and members and cover the costs of their ‘various activities.’” A bit more honestly, “in the past, Hamas and PIJ officials admitted that Iran has been supplying their groups with financial and military aid.”

Donald Trump had cut off the money to the Palestinian Authority in light of its ongoing support for jihad terrorism. Old Joe Biden immediately started the cash flowing again, which has now led to the absurd situation that the United States of America is funding terror groups that are dedicated to the destruction of its only reliable ally in the Middle East, and the only genuine democracy there.

The Biden administration’s continued funding of the Palestinian Authority despite its obvious, defiant and unapologetic financial support for jihad terrorism, and its continuing to fork over the cash when even the Islamic Republic of Iran has stopped, is yet another example of its resolute rejection of reality. Men can become women, a man who claims to be woman can become the first female four-star admiral, a cross-dressing luggage thief is an expert in nuclear waste disposal, and the Palestinian Authority is an upstanding, respectable “partner for peace.”

Instead of boasting at J Street about how much money the U.S. sends to the Palestinian Authority, Blinken could have explained that the Palestinians continue to fund terrorism and that, consequently, the American people are not going to be forced to pay for the murder of innocent Israeli civilians. But that would require that he be part of a sane administration, and that’s obviously not the case.