The Taylor Force Act announced by Graham and two colleagues

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Dan Coats (R-Indiana) and Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) have introduced The Taylor Force Act which would require the Secretary of State to certify the Palestinian Authority has ended its policy of paying monetary rewards to terrorists and their surviving family members. Graham, Coats, and Blunt were joined at the legislation’s introduction by Stuart and Robbi Force, parents of Taylor Force.  Taylor was a former U.S. Army officer who was part of a Vanderbilt University tour group visiting Israel when he was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian terrorist (http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/middleeast/israel-violence).  Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction praised the terrorist as a “heroic martyr” and the Palestinian Authority has yet to condemn the terrorist attack.

 

The legislation:

 

·        Requires the Secretary of State to certify to Congress the Palestinian Authority is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against United States and Israeli citizens that are perpetrated by individuals under its jurisdictional control, such as the attack on Taylor Force;

 

·        Calls on the Palestinian Authority to publicly condemn such acts of violence and is taking steps to investigate and cooperate in investigations bringing perpetrators to justice; and

 

·        Terminates payments for acts of terrorism against United States and Israeli citizens to any individual who has been imprisoned after being convicted of terrorist acts, to any individual who died committing a terrorist act, or to family members of such individuals.