Obama sends $192 million in “aid” to Palestinian government with terrorist ties

Since the Fatah political party officially tied itself to the Hamas terrorist organization to form a Palestinian government about one year ago, Republicans and some Democrats in Congress asked that taxpayer funding of the newly formed, terrorist-infused government be stopped.

In October, we learned three congressional committees had blocked $192 million in aid in late summer. Of course, the Palestinian government complained since the aid was destined to support health care, food distribution and infrastructure efforts, but since Hamas was now officially part of the government – and they are outspoken terrorists – it would be impossible to ensure that funding was not used to proliferate terrorism in the region.

President Obama does not care, and on Friday night we learned the Executive Branch released that funding.

President Barack Obama has signed a waiver to remove curbs on funding to the Palestinian Authority, declaring the aid to be “important to the security interests of the United States.”

A $192 million aid package was frozen by the US Congress after the Palestinians moved to gain statehood at the United Nations last September.

So the media spin is that the original aid block was a result of the Palestinians demanding statehood at the UN? Sure, that was a big deal, but don’t you think it would be important to recognize the marriage between Fatah and Hamas? As a reminder, the Hamas charter acknowledges Israel does exist, but it will no longer exist once Islam obliterates it. I wrote about the Hamas charter back in January 2009 when there was discussion about negotiating with terrorists.

So, why did the Obama administration release – they referred to it as a waiver – the funding? Andrew McCarthy writes about the issue and he’s ticked off, with my emphasis in bold.

White House spinmeister Tommy Vietor stated that President Obama made the decision to pour American taxpayer dollars into Palestinian coffers in order to ensure “the continued viability of the moderate PA government.” He added the claim that, as the report puts it, “the PA had fulfilled all its major obligations, such as recognizing Israel’s right to exist, renouncing violence and accepting the Road Map for Peace.”

In the real world, the very immoderate PA has reneged on all its commitments. In addition to violating its obligations by unilaterally declaring statehood, the PA has also agreed to form a unity government with Hamas, a terrorist organization that is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The PA continues to endorse terrorism against Israel as “resistance.” Moreover, the PA most certainly does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Liar liar, pants on fire. Vietor claims the Palestinian government has fulfilled major obligations, but this is an outright lie. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air notes.

Hamas has refused to change its charter to recognize Israel or renounce violence, and certainly they have rejected the Road Map for Peace, which has been lying dead for years thanks to the PA’s refusal to seriously implement it.  When Hamas broadcasts its recognition of Israel in Arabic — something that the PA has never done, to my knowledge — then perhaps the Obama administration’s claims can be taken seriously.

In short, you can not negotiate with evil and if you do, you best be ready to take a shot to the head.