Hundreds attended the funeral of Adiel Coleman, a 32-year-old married father of four children, who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday. He was laid to rest in Kochav Hashachar, north of Jerusalem. The attack came two days after a Palestinian terrorist killed two Israeli soldiers in a car-ramming attack.
Terrorist group Hamas hailed the killing of the father of four, saying it marked 100 days since the U.S. formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Both Hamas and PLO-Fatah have been inciting terror attacks against Jews and Israelis. They not only lure the potential terrorists with promises of rewards in the afterlife, but offer financial incentives to would-be ‘martyrs’ and their families.
According to a report published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs last May, between 2013 and 2016, the PLO-led Palestinian Authority (PA) paid $1 billion to terrorists and their families. The otherwise bankrupt PA can afford to run this lavish pay-to-sly scheme thanks to generous international donors.
India, bearing the brunt of Islamist terrorism at home, has been a prominent contributor to the Palestinian Authority’s terrorist welfare scheme.
In an official document dated August 31, 2017, India’s Ministry of External Affairs summarizes the extent of Indian financial aid given to the Palestinians:
India has so far extended budgetary and project support of US$ 60 million to Palestine. During the visit of President Abbas to India in the year 2008, India announced a grant of US$ 10 million as budgetary support and this was transferred to Palestine in March 2009. During the visit of President Abbas to India in February 2010, India announced a budgetary support of US$ 10 million and this was transferred in the month of March 2010. Again in 2012, during the visit of President Abbas India announced a grant of US$ 10 million as budgetary support to Palestine. During the year 2015, India provided a total of US$ 9 million as financial assistance to Palestine; US$ 4 million was provided as project assistance towards the reconstruction of Gaza (on 12 January 2015), and US$ 5 million was provided as budgetary assistance (on 12 October 2015).
Last month, during his maiden visit to Ramallah, Prime Minister Modi pledged additional $40 million in ‘economic’ aid to Palestinian Authority. Bloomberg reported:
Narendra Modi pledged $40 million for economic development in the Palestinian territories, marking the first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister to the West Bank. (…)New Delhi already sponsors several development projects in Palestinian territories, and Modi said Saturday the $40 million would go for media equipment, schools and a hospital. Modi also visited the tomb of Yasser Arafat, Abbas’s predecessor, before talks with the current leadership.“We count on India, an international force on a strategic and economic level, to help Palestinians achieve a just peace in our region,” Abbas said at the press conference.
This begs the question as to why New Delhi remains aloof to the its taxpayers’ dollars financing terrorism against Israeli civilians. According to a US State Department report publish in 2017, out of 11,072 terror attacks in 2016 worldwide, 927 were aimed at Indians—making India the 3rd largest terror target after Iraq and Afghanistan.
India’s diplomatic overtures to the Palestinian Authority are often described the Indian media and analysts as part of a balancing act in light of the country’s growing economic and defense ties with the State of Israel. There is, however, no diplomatic necessity to placate the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. With Iran emerging as a nuclear power and the Shia-Sunni blood feud raging from Syria to Yemen, the Arab states are too distracted to notice India’s nifty diplomatic footwork on the issue of ‘Palestine’.
Meanwhile, the ‘moderate’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is showing no signs of moderation when it comes to incentivizing the killing of Israeli civilians. This Year, the PA increased the payments to terrorists and their families by nearly $56 million, raising the annual funding for the pay-to-slay scheme to $403 million.
Pay for Slay: The Palestinian Leadership’s Terrorist Policy
How would India react if Israeli financial aid was going to pay for the blood money to the families of Mohammad Afzal Guru, the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attack? At a time when the Islamist ideology is fueling terror campaigns worldwide, Indian government cannot remain complicit in funding infrastructure of terror abroad.
The U.S. Congress has introduced the Taylor Force Act—named after a U.S. Army veteran murdered in 2016 while visiting Israel—aimed at stopping the aid flowing to convicted Palestinian terrorists and their families. India must take an unequivocal stand against international terrorism and consider introducing similar measures.
Israel’s Deputy Minister for Diplomacy, Michael Oren, on Taylor Force Act
[Cover image via YouTube]
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