Peace Partner Update: Your Dollars Paying for A Designated Terror Organization that Directly Threatens America

Let’s connect the dots here:  

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are Fatah’s terrorist wing.  They have been a specially designated Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law since 2002, and, as I noted here, have now taken to directly threatening the United States.  (“We won’t remain idle in the face of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, the U.S. and other countries[.]…We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad.”)

Fatah’s Abbas, our “moderate” “peace partner,” maintains close ties to the Brigades — even if he didn’t want to (which I doubt) he has no choice as they are very popular among Palestinians. 

Even as the administration announced its strong support for Fatah in the wake of Fatah’s ouster from Gaza by Hamas, Fatah’s al Aqsa Brigades have continued to carry out attacks against Israel, in coordination with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another designated terrorist organization with a long history of working with Fatah. 

As predicted here last week, Abbas will not try to disband the al Aqsa Brigades.  Instead, he will be incorporating them into the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.

The administration, meanwhile, is pushing for a renewal of millions of foreign aid dollars for the PA, including for its security forces to buck them up against Hamas.  Thus, our tax dollars will be directly underwriting and arming the al Aqsa Brigades (instead of indirectly underwriting and arming them, as they have been doing up until now).

BONUS ROUND:  We were arming Abbas even before the latest outbreak of fighting between Hamas and Fatah.  As a result, when Fatah got run out of Gaza, Hamas took control of caches of American assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and ammunition.

So our new policy both arms terrorist factions designated as such under U.S. law and throws U.S. support behind an organization, Fatah, with a long history of terrorism, a constitution that dedicates the organization to the annihilation of Israel, an academic and media program that relentlessly inculcates hatred of Jews and the illegitimacy of Israel, and which doesn’t even have the good grace, ability or will to stop its terrorist wing from launching attacks on Israel while the U.S. and Europe are publicly pressing for a renewal of financial and political support. 

Super.