According to a report in the Associated Press, the Biden administration has quietly transferred $75 million to the Palestinian Authority. This sharply reverses a Trump administration policy of halting aid to the Palestinians until they stop paying salaries to terrorists.
State Department spokesman Ned Price asserted that the “financial support for the Palestinians is consistent with American values”.
Here to discuss this development is former mayor of Shiloh in Israel, David Rubin, the author of the soon-to-be-released book, Confronting Radicals: What America Can Learn From Israel.
Suggested Q&A:
- Why has the Biden administration reversed the Trump policy on aid to the Palestinian Authority? The stated goal is to “reset relations with the Palestinians”. It reminds me of the first Obama administration’s ambitious plan to reset American relations with the Muslim world, a plan which led to total chaos in the Middle East. Pandering to radicals never works. In contrast, the Trump doctrine of enabling real peace by strengthening relations with Israel had been very successful.
- What did Trump specifically do that was different? Firstly, he told the Palestinian leadership that he would not give them millions of dollars in American aid anymore, until they halted their policy of paying monthly salaries to terrorists. Secondly, Trump had been warned that if he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, there would be massive riots and acts of terrorism, but he wisely ignored the advice. He understood that radicals only respect strength, so he went forward with his plan and it worked. Instead of an upsurge in terrorism and riots, we have had an outbreak of peace between Israel and its neighbors.
- What about the approach that says that if we give the Palestinians financial aid, they will agree to talk to us again and we can influence their behavior? We are not talking here about moderate, reasonable individuals who can be gently encouraged by improving their standard of living. We are talking about corrupt Muslim radicals who are totally unwilling to compromise. That’s why the “land for peace” formula that has been attempted for the past thirty years has never worked. The Palestinian leadership doesn’t really peace as in Shalom, but they do want to destroy Israel piece-by-piece.
- You were wounded in a terror attack nineteen years ago, along with your then three-year-old son, who was shot in the head. Are you telling us that those same terrorists are receiving salaries from the same Palestinian Authority that just received $75 million in aid from the Biden administration? Absolutely, the terrorists were captured and convicted in an Israeli military court, but their families have been receiving their very substantial monthly salaries for many years. Trump tried to put an end to that, but Biden is once again encouraging the terrorism by his policy of appeasement.
- In your new book, Confronting Radicals: What America Can Learn From Israel, you discuss the dangers of appeasement, both in America and in Israel, and why it doesn’t work. Where can people get a copy? The book will be released on April 15, but it can be pre-ordered on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in the words, Confronting Radicals: What America Can Learn From Israel.
About Mayor David Rubin:
David Rubin, former Mayor of Shiloh Israel, is the author of the book, Trump and the Jews, and six other books, including his latest, Confronting Radicals: What America Can Learn From Israel.
Rubin is the founder and president of Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, established after he and his then three-year-old son were wounded in a terror attack.
Websites: www.DavidRubinIsrael.com or www.ShilohIsraelChildren.org
