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Press Release: EMET Applauds the US Congress for the Imminent Passage of the Taylor Force Act

Mar 22, 2018 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Israel, Middle East, Press Releases, Terrorism, Uncategorized

EMET Applauds the US Congress for the Imminent Passage of the Taylor Force Act
Legislation Holds Accountable the Palestinian Authority for Paying Terrorists and their Families

March 22, 2018 (Washington, DC) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), as well as Representatives Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ed Royce (R-CA); and Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Tim Scott (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Richard Burr (R-NC), John Thune (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and John Boozman (R-AR) for leading the effort in Congress to pass the Taylor Force Act. EMET particularly thanks citizen activist Sander Gerber who worked more than anyone else to expose the Palestinian Authority’s heinous ‘pay for slay’ program, and to ensure that America does not turn a blind to this practice.

The Senate is expected to pass the Taylor Force Act (TFA) as part of an omnibus appropriations bill by Friday, in order that it be signed into law by the President. The House passed the Taylor Force Act in December 2017, with overwhelming bipartisan support. The Taylor Force Act is key legislation which conditions aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it stops financially rewarding Palestinian terrorists through their “martyrs’ fund” and “prisoners’ fund.” The bill also calls on the PA to takes steps to end acts of violence against the U.S. and Israeli citizens, including publicly condemning acts of terrorism, and helping to bring Palestinian terrorists to justice.

The bill is named for former U.S. Army officer and Vanderbilt University graduate Taylor Force, an American citizen who served one tour of duty in Iraq and one tour of duty in Afghanistan and came home unscathed, only to be stabbed to death in Israel in March 2016 by a Palestinian terrorist.

Palestinian terrorists that are arrested and imprisoned by Israel are glorified by the PA as heroes and treated as employees of the PA government. While in prison, these terrorists and their families are paid salaries and receive benefits as rewards for their service. The more heinous the crime, the more money the terrorists and their families receive. Since September 2015, 65 innocent people have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in Israel and Judea and Samaria, and more than 900 wounded. They have been killed or harmed by car rammings, stabbings, shootings, and bombing attacks. This includes many Americans, including U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force.

For the past two Congresses, EMET has arduously educated the Congress about the importance of the Taylor Force Act. Last month, EMET also spearheaded a letter signed by 13 pro-Israel organizations, representing at least 4.1 million Americans, to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging him to bring the Taylor Force Act to the floor for a full vote, or to attach it to a legislative vehicle that will ensure it will be sent to President Trump to enshrine into law.

“I wish to express my deep appreciation to Senator Lindsay Graham and Congressman Doug Lamborn, and all of the Congressmen and Senators that have worked tirelessly to ensure that the Taylor Force Act pass. I would also like to particularly thank citizen activist Sander Gerber who worked more than anyone else to expose the PA’s heinous ‘pay for slay’ practice,” Sarah Stern, the founder and president of EMET said.

Stern added: “Although I would prefer a floor debate to further educate the public about the immorality of the Palestinians and their barbaric incentivization of the murder of innocent civilians, the most essential thing is that the Taylor Force Act finally be passed. The willful blindness that the United States and the Western world has been giving to the Palestinians for 25 years, and their systematic incitement to despise and to murder American and Israeli civilians, and their brazen system of ‘pay for slay,’ has finally got to be put to an end.”

Stern concluded, “The Palestinians have been playing all of us by shielding their murderous actions under the phrase of a ‘peace process.’ One asks how this behavior can possibly fall under the banner of ‘Peace?’” The Palestinians, and the Arab world in general, place a great premium on honor, and a significant reduction in their funding will be a tremendous wake-up call that not everyone in the world can continue to be duped by them.”

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About The Endowment for Middle East Truth
Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information, please visit, http://www.emetonline.org. Follow EMET on Twitter and Facebook.

Jan 3, 2018 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Anti-Semitism, Israel, Press Releases

EMET Commends the House Committee for Curbing anti-American, anti-Israel biases on College Campuses:

Education & Workforce Committee Reformed the Title VI International Education Programs

(Washington, DC, January 2, 2017) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) commends the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for including new language into Title VI of the ‘‘Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity 6 through Education Reform Act,’’ also known the ‘‘PROSPER Act,’’ H.R 4508. The PROSPER Act, which passed the House Education & Workforce Committee December 13, 2017, is the new name for the Higher Education Act (HEA), last reauthorized in 2008. EMET has long been working on the issue of International and Foreign Language Studies grants in Title VI of HEA, in an effort to reform this law that helps support many professors and programs on university campuses that espouse anti-American, anti-Israel, and at times, anti-Semitic viewpoints, in violation of federal law.

The Higher Education Act was originally signed into law on November 8^th, 1965, to strengthen the educational resources of American universities and colleges and to provide financial assistance to students in postsecondary and Higher Education. HEA was a later version of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), signed into law in 1958 by President Eisenhower. The original intent of Title VI of the NDEA was to prepare our students to serve the national security needs of the United States by funding foreign language and area studies programs at universities, particularly with respect to combatting the Soviet threat at the time. The area studies programs are known as National Resource Centers (NRCs). In 1965, Title VI legislation was included into HEA, most recently reauthorized as the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in 2008.

In October 2014, more than $3.3 million of federal grant money was awarded to Middle East NRCs under Title VI of HEA. More than $13.4 million will be awarded to 19 Middle East NRCs for the entire 2014-2018 cycle.

Unfortunately, the original legislative intent of Title VI of HEA had been turned on its head. Research shows that many Title VI-funded NRCs – currently at 100 institutions of higher education across the U.S. – are replete with an anti-American and anti-Israel biases. Specifically, many Middle East NRCs, including at such prestigious institutions as Columbia University, Georgetown University, Princeton University, and Yale University, among others, are replete with Title VI-supported faculty and programs that advance the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement; whitewash terrorism and radical Islam; and create a false narrative of U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East.

For example, Hatem Bazian, a champion of BDS and anti-Israel causes, is a senior lecturer at Title VI-funded Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Bazian co-founded the oftentimes anti-Semitic and pro-BDS student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and is the chairman of the radical organization, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). AMP was the topic of a Congressional hearing on BDS in April, 2016, which exposed the organization as one of the main funders of the BDS movement, as well as having ties to the terrorist organization Hamas. AMP called the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration as a “sad date” in history, with Bazian stating, “Everything thing that has befallen Palestine – It’s partition, the settlements, random arrests and detentions, the Apartheid Wall, the siege on Gaza, and the millions of Palestinians living in exile and Diaspora – was made possible because of the Balfour Declaration.”

Also, problematic, under Title VI, NRCs are required to extend their activities by creating programs of “public outreach,” including workshops where K-12 teachers are trained. Many of the workshops, and their lesson plans on the Middle East, are heavily influenced by Saudi money, reports show. Some of the training materials include essays of Islamist radicals who advocate for terrorism; textbooks painting Israel and the West as colonial powers; and lesson plans that promote Islam and criticize the Jewish State. As a result, Title VI-funded Middle East studies biases are trickling down to our most vulnerable youth.

In 2008, EMET was instrumental in amending Title VI of HEA to require the need for “diverse perspectives and a wide range of views,” within the U.S. taxpayer-funded Title VI programs. Despite EMET’s exhaustive efforts in 2008, the U.S. Department of Education, which provides these grants to the universities, as well as the recipients of the grants themselves, have ignored their statutory requirements to provide “diverse perspectives.” Since 2008, EMET has been the only organization on Capitol Hill regularly raising awareness about the abuses of, and calling for legislative changes to, Title VI, through one-on-one meetings with Congressional staffers and Members of Congress.

Thanks to EMET’s hard work educating congressional staff and Members of Congress on the House Education and Workforce Committee for several years on Title VI, these changes were finally made. EMET was also instrumental in helping to draft and include amendments within the new PROSPER Act to strengthen the “diverse perspectives” requirement, and to create accountability for universities and Title VI-funded programs – including the NRCs – that fail to comply with the diverse perspectives requirement, among other amendments. Specifically, the new bill states that the “Secretary shall use [the diverse perspectives] requirement…as part of the application evaluation, review, and approval process when determining grant recipients for initial funding and continuation of awards.” And the bill further mandates that the Secretary annually “submit to the authorizing committees a report that identifies the efforts taken to ensure recipients’ compliance with the requirements under this title relating to the ‘diverse perspectives and a wide range of views’ requirement…”

Perhaps most notably, EMET’s work and diligence on Title VI biases prompted Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) to include an amendment to HEA which states: “Sec. 629 Compliance with Diverse Perspectives and a Wide Range of Views – When complying with the requirement of this title to offer a diverse perspective and a wide range of views, a recipient of a grant under this title shall not promote any biased views that are discriminatory toward any group, religion, or population of people.”

Sarah Stern, founder and president of EMET said, “I am thrilled by the new language included within Title VI of the PROSPER Act. Congressman Wilson’s amendment is nothing short of historic; students previously discriminated under Title VI of HEA programming for their religious and political beliefs – including politically divergent views, Jewish student groups, and pro-Israel groups – will now be guaranteed protections under Title VI. Furthermore, EMET has been calling for reforms to Title VI of HEA for years – and we are pleased that many of our recommendations have been included in the PROSPER Act, including an annual report by the Secretary of Education on ‘Compliance with Diverse Perspectives and a Wide Range of Views Requirement.’”

Ms. Stern added, “I applaud the entire House Education and Workforce Committee for taking the matter of Title VI of HEA seriously, and for taking the long overdue step to include language that will work to remedy the terrible anti-American and anti-Israel biases within the program. EMET was also pleased to collaborate with other civil rights and pro-Israel organizations on the issue, and looks forward to working with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) to help ensure the legislation passes and is subsequently signed into law.”

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Media Contact: Jennifer Dekel
Endowment for Middle East Truth

202.601.7422

jdekel@emetonline.org

Press Release: EMET Strongly Applauds Groundbreaking Taylor Force Act

Dec 4, 2017 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Israel, Middle East, Press Releases

EMET Strongly Applauds Groundbreaking Taylor Force Act

Legislation Holds Accountable the Palestinian Authority for Paying Terrorists and their Families

December 4, 2017 (Washington, DC) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised U.S. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Tim Scott (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Richard Burr (R-NC), John Thune (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and John Boozman (R-AR) for reintroducing the Taylor Force Act in February of this year, and leading the effort in Congress to pass this vital legislation. The legislation will cut U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it stops paying the salaries of Palestinian terrorists who are imprisoned in Israeli jails, and financially rewarding their families. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the bill in August, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved it in November. The bill will vote on the Taylor Force Act on Tuesday, December 5^th.

The Act conditions aid to the PA until it stops the rewarding of acts of terrorism to Palestinians who have been incentivizing terrorism through their “martyrs’ fund” and “prisoners’ fund.” The Act also calls on the PA to takes steps to end acts of violence against the U.S. and Israeli citizens, including publicly condemning acts of terrorism, and helping to bring Palestinian terrorists to justice.

Congressman Doug Lamborn, the primary sponsor on the House side, has announced, “I am pleased to see the Taylor Force Act come to the House Floor for a vote on Tuesday, December 5. It is critical that Congress pass this legislation to ensure that U.S. tax dollars do not go to supporting terrorism.” He continued, “In Taylor’s memory, we must stop sending aid money to an entity that rewards his murderer’s family. I urge my colleagues to vote ‘yes’ on this bill and hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for financing terrorism.”

Palestinian terrorists that are arrested and imprisoned by Israel are glorified by the PA as heroes and treated as employees of the PA government. While in prison, these terrorists and their families are paid salaries and receive benefits as rewards for their service. Since September 2015, 59 innocent people have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in Israel and Judea and Samaria, and more than 800 wounded. They have been killed or harmed by car rammings, stabbings, shootings, and bombing attacks. This includes many Americans, including U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force.

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, 69 innocent Americans, plus two unborn children, have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists. Yet since 1991, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has refused to prosecute Palestinian terrorists who have killed or wounded Americans in Israel and Judea and Samaria, even though U.S. law gives American prosecutors the necessary tools to seek justice. For well over two decades, EMET has been fighting for justice for those Americans victims of Palestinian terrorism in Israel and the disputed territories. EMET has focused on the unwillingness of the DOJ to indict, extradite, and prosecute a single Palestinian terrorist with American blood on his/her hands.

Since 2005, there has been an office within the DOJ – the Office of Justice of Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT) – to pressure the DOJ to prosecute. EMET’s Sarah Stern was instrumental in the initial creation of the OVT. This DOJ unit is meant to monitor acts of terrorism against Americans outside the U.S., to assist the living victims and their families, and, most importantly, to pressure the DOJ to bring to justice those terrorists who have harmed Americans anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, since its establishment, the office has not helped produce a single DOJ prosecution of Palestinian terrorists who have harmed Americans in Israel or Judea or Samaria. Neither the OVT, nor the DOJ, have ever adequately explained their unwillingness to prosecute these Palestinian terrorists.

In the years since 2005, EMET has doggedly been working to educate Congress about the DOJ and the OVT’s unwillingness to do their job and make sure that any Palestinian terrorist who harms an American is brought to justice. EMET has held a staff briefing on Capitol Hill, bringing in American victims and family members. EMET has also met with more than 100 offices to explain to them this issue. EMET has worked with a bipartisan group of House members, and Senators, to produce numerous letters to the DOJ, demanding prosecutions of these terrorists, and also assisted in finding co-sponsors for these letters. In 2015, thanks in large part to EMET’s tireless efforts, a Senate Subcommittee led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) held an oversight hearing, primarily focusing on Iranian funded Palestinian terrorism and civil lawsuits. And in 2016, EMET prompted another hearing by Rep. Ron Desantis (R-FL), the Subcommittee Chairman for the National Security Subcommittee of Oversight and Government Reform, focusing on criminal prosecutions and the OVT. EMET also assisted the Subcommittee in preparing for the hearing. At the second hearing, for the first time ever, a DOJ representative, Brad Wiegmann, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, who supervises the OVT and these prosecutions, was called to account for the DOJ’s lack of prosecution. He was also forced to agree to provide a report to the Subcommittee on DOJ/OVT progress.

For the past two Congresses, EMET also has arduously educated the Congress about the importance of the Taylor Force Act.

EMET Founder and President, Sarah Stern, said, “For far too long, the Palestinian Authority has glorified the virtues of terrorism. That has been the very core of the problem for why there is no peace with Israel. A culture of glorification of terrorism has been part of the zeitgeist of the areas under PA control. The more heinous the act of terrorism, the more innocent civilians who have been killed, the greater the salary that has been paid out by the PA to the families of the prisoners of the terrorists. This is morally unconscionable.”

She continued, “The Palestinians need to understand that there are serious consequences for their moral, political, and material support of terrorism. I strongly applaud Congressman Doug Lamborn and Senator Lindsey Graham, and all their Congressional allies, for reintroducing and passing the Taylor Force Act, which sends a very strong message to the PA and all would-be terrorists that America will not turn a blind eye towards Palestinian terrorism. For far too long, people throughout the world have been fooled by the PA’s double message when it comes to terrorism, one to their own people in Arabic, and another in English to foreign diplomats and journalists. Fortunately, there are still Members of the United States Congress who are not willing to allow American tax payers’ dollars be a party to this culture of deification of terrorism.”

Press Release: EMET Applauds President Trump for Taking the First Courageous Step in Extricating the U.S. from the Dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal

Oct 16, 2017 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Press Releases

(Washington, DC, October 16, 2017) EMET applauds President Trump for taking the courageous, critical first step in extricating the United States from the dangerous Iranian nuclear deal that has been bequeathed upon on us by the Obama administration. This deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been sold to the American public and the international community based on a series of false assurances and sometimes outright fabrications about the nature of the deal, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. EMET strongly believes President Trump did the right thing by reviewing the conditions required by the U.S. Congress in the Iranian Nuclear Review Act of 2015, and then honestly determining which of these conditions have been met. In the end, the President determined that Iran had been in material breach of the JCPOA, and that he (Trump) could not certify that continuing to grant sanction relief to Iran best serves the national security interests of the United States.

By inserting the United States as just one of six nations (the P5 plus 1: the US, Russia, China, France, Great Britain plus Germany), the Obama administration engaged in an attack on our national sovereignty. It made it that much more complicated for the US legislative body to exercise their constitutional responsibility of oversight and review, and if found that Iran has been in violation of that deal, to extricate ourselves from it.

This was further complicated by Obama making an end-run around Congress and going directly to the UN Security Council to enshrine it by a vote (although it has no standing under international law).
Although the US was the essential driver of the deal, it now becomes increasingly difficult to get out of it because America now appears like just one of 6 passengers. This was Obama’s calculation all along.
This is exactly what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they asserted that a treaty had to be ratified by 2/3 of the Senate. That is why members of the US Congress had felt that they needed to play more of their constitutionally mandated role of oversight and review and drafted the Iranian Nuclear Review Act of 2015, known in shorthand as Corker-Cardin.

Contrary to popular belief, President Trump did not de-certify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, (JCPOA) or withdraw from the nuclear agreement on Friday. He simply did what he had been legally mandated to do under Corker-Cardin: to certify that the lifting of Iranian sanctions is in the national security interest of the United States.

In contrast to many European leaders, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, an arm of the United Nations which has not actually been on the ground in Iran to monitor the deal since before implementation day, (January of 2016), and has been dependent on Iran to monitor itself, President Trump has told the truth.

“I firmly believe that a foundation built upon wishful thinking, falsehoods and flimsy assurances could not stand. But only serves to empower the most ruthless actors on the world’s stage, as lonely as it is the first step towards a sound and healthy foreign policy that will end up saving the lives of Americans, and those of our friends and allies,” said Sarah Stern, founder and president of EMET.

To read EMET’s fact sheets regarding Iran, and the Iran deal, and Iranian aggression, please click here.

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth

Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information, please visit www.emetonline.org. Follow EMET on Twitter and Facebook.

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Press Release: EMET Applauds the U.S. Justice Department for Filing Criminal Charges Against Palestinian Terrorist Ahlam Tamimie

Mar 15, 2017 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Israel, Middle East, Press Releases, Radical Islam, Terrorism

EMET Applauds the U.S. Justice Department for Filing Criminal Charges Against Palestinian Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

The Justice Department also Seeks Extradition of the Terrorist from Jordan

(March 15, 2017, Washington, DC) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to publicly charge Palestinian terrorist Ahlam Tamimi. Ahlam Tamimi planned and implemented a bombing that killed and injured American citizens in a Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem in 2001. This is the first and necessary step in achieving justice for the American victims of her terrorism. …

Press Release: EMET Sends Letter to Senators Urging Them to Confirm David Friedman

Mar 9, 2017 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In Press Releases

EMET Sends Letter to Senators Urging Them to Confirm David Friedman as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel

(Washington, DC, March 8, 2017) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) sent a letter to Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to encourage the Senators to confirm David Friedman as the U.S. ambassador to Israel.

President Trump has nominated David Friedman, a lawyer and ardent supporter of Israel, to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the nomination tomorrow before it is sent to the entire Senate for a floor vote.

A number of leftist groups, such as J Street, have launched a campaign against Mr. Friedman, arguing that he is not suitable for the position due to his opposition to the two-state solution.

These leftists group do not seem to understand the job that Mr. Friedman has been nominated for. As he has unequivocally acknowledged at his confirmation hearings, he represents President Trump and the United States, and President Trump has already stated that he would like to facilitate a negotiated peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

These groups also ignore the fact that the two-state paradigm has continuously failed, and alternative solutions, which have the potential to improve the lives and security of both Israelis and Palestinians, are more feasible. In 2000, 2001, and 2008, Israel offered major land withdrawals. In 2005, the Israelis actually gave up part of Judea and Samaria, and all of the Gaza strip, but none of this has gotten Israel and the Palestinians any closer to the goalpost of a true peace. On the contrary, each and every time Israel makes territorial concessions the Palestinians launch campaigns of terror against innocent Israelis. This is most clearly illustrated by the thousands of rockets from Gaza.

The real problem is that the Palestinians have refused to stop the incitement to violence and murder. Palestinian culture deifies the “shahid,” or the martyr, e.g., the suicide bomber and knife stabber, and demonizes the Israeli and the Jew. The Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to teach its children to want to hate and kill Jews, and continues to provide convicted terrorists and their families with money for their acts of terrorism.

The refusal of the PA to end its incitement is a violation of the Oslo Process. The Palestinians are also violating Oslo by seeking membership in various international agencies, and by attempting to use international organizations to force Israel to give them land without the Palestinians having to agree to implement a real peace. None of these actions demonstrate that the PA is a positive force for peace.

The EMET letter concludes, “the U.S. should not be wedded to the idea of producing another pro-terror radical state in the Middle East. The fact that David Friedman has recognized this fact should not be a reason to critique him, but rather, should be a reason to confirm him as the next U.S. Ambassador to Israel. We urge you to take the above information into account, and to confirm Mr. Friedman’s nomination.”

To read the letter in its entirety, please click here.

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth

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Press Release: EMET Applauds the Taylor Force Act

Feb 28, 2017 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In Israel, Press Releases

EMET Strongly Applauds the Taylor Force Act
Legislation Holds Accountable the Palestinian Authority for Paying Terrorists & their Families

(February 28, 2017 Washington, DC) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised U.S. Senators Lindsay Graham (R., S.C.), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Representatives Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Doug Lamborn (R-CO) for vowing to reintroduce the Taylor Force Act. This legislation will cut U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it stops paying the salaries of Palestinian terrorists who are imprisoned in Israeli jails, and financially rewarding their families.

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Press Release: EMET is Disturbed by the Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic Vote by UNESCO Diminishing any Jewish and Christian Connection to Jerusalem

Oct 13, 2016 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Israel, Press Releases

EMET is deeply disturbed by the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic vote by UNESCO diminishing any Jewish and Christian connection to the Old City of Jerusalem

(October 13, 2016, Washington, D.C.) The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) is disturbed by the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic resolution passed by UNESCO declaring that the Jewish people have no connection to the Old City of Jerusalem. On Thursday, October 13th, 2016, the 200th session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) met in Paris, France. Where they voted on Item 25 of the provisional agenda under “Occupied Palestine” that disregards the historical and validated Jewish and Christian ties to the Old City of Jerusalem. There were 24 countries that voted in favor of the resolution while 6 voted against and 26 abstained. …

Press Release: EMET Strongly Applauds U.S. Senator Dan Coats’ Legislation That Cuts Off Aid to Palestinian Terrorists and their Families

Jun 30, 2016 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Press Releases

EMET Strongly Applauds U.S. Senator Dan Coats’ Legislation That Cuts Off Aid to Palestinian Terrorists and their Families

(June 30, 2016, Washington, DC) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised U.S. Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) for including a provision into the 2017 State, Foreign Operations Appropriations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act that will cut U.S. aid to the Palestinians that is equivalent to the amount expended by the Palestinian Authority (PA), or the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and any successor or affiliated organizations toward the salaries of terrorists and/or their families.

On Tuesday, the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs subcommittee passed the legislation, and the full committee passed the legislation Wednesday, June 29th, 2016. The legislation states that U.S. aid toward the PA will be cut “by an amount the Secretary [of State] determines is equivalent to the amount expended by the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization and any successor or affiliated organizations, as payments for acts of terrorism by individuals who are imprisoned after being fairly tried and convicted for acts of terrorism and by individuals who died committing acts of terrorism during the previous calendar year.”

Says EMET Founder and President, Sarah Stern, “For far too long, the Palestinian Authority has deified and extolled the virtues of terrorism. That has been the very core of the problem for why there is no peace. A culture of glorification of terrorism has been part of the zeitgeist of the areas under PA control. The more heinous the act of terrorism, the more innocent civilians who have been killed, the greater the salary that has been paid out by the PA to the families of the prisoners of the terrorists. This is simply morally unconscionable.”

In 2014 Senator Coats co-sponsored legislation that was signed into law that called for the reduction of budgetary support for the PA “by an amount…expended by the Palestinian Authority as payments for acts of terrorism…” In order to avoid any foreign aid cuts, that same year PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree that moved the payment system for terrorists from the PA to the PLO. Senator Coats’ new provision will ensure that the PA does not move the payment system to another subsidiary to avoid a reduction in U.S. aid.

“Payments that reward and encourage terrorism must stop,” said Senator Coats. “I am glad the subcommittee included this morally imperative provision in the bill. These payments by the PLO under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas provide rewards and motivations for brutal terrorists, plain and simple. To provide U.S. taxpayer money to Abbas and his government so that they can treat terrorists as heroes or glorious martyrs is morally unacceptable. It ends with this legislation,” the Senator added.

Sarah Stern, the founder and president of EMET, said: “The Palestinians need to understand that there are serious consequences for their moral, political, and material support of terrorism. I strongly applaud Senator Coats for his provision, which sends a very strong message to the PA and all would-be terrorists that America will not turn a blind eye towards Palestinian terrorism. For far too long, people throughout the world have been fooled by the PA’s double message when it comes to terrorism, one to their own people in Arabic, and another in English to foreign diplomats and journalists. Fortunately, there are still members of the United States Senate, such as Dan Coats, who are not willing to allow American tax payers’ dollars be a party to this culture of deification of terrorism.”

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth
Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information, please visit www.emetonline.org. Follow EMET on Twitter and Facebook.

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Press Release: Pro-Israel Coalition Calls on Hillel International to End Partnership with “Breaking the Silence”

Apr 11, 2016 Posted by The Endowment for Middle East Truth In All, Press Releases

Pro-Israel Coalition Calls on Hillel International to End Partnership with “Breaking the Silence”

(Washington, DC March 28, 2016) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) announced that it sent a letter to Eric D. Fingerhut, President of Hillel International, signed by a coalition of pro-Israel organizations who are “deeply concerned” with Hillel’s hosting of Breaking the Silence (BtS). “Breaking the Silence” is an Israeli NGO that features former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers that “have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories,” according to the organization’s website.

BtS hosts biased speaking tours in both Europe and the U.S. of former IDF soldiers that accuse Israel of committing “war crimes,” thereby serving as a mouthpiece for Israel’s enemies and detractors. Hillel International, the largest Jewish student group in the U.S., has hosted Bts on university campuses during past years. Hillel plans to host BtS at Columbia University on Thursday, March 31st, and already hosted BtS this month at Brown University on March 17th.

The EMET letter, sent on March 25, 2016, states, “By enabling the one-sided view of ‘Breaking the Silence’ to be heard on America’s college campuses, Hillel is contributing to an attitude that might well prove to weaken the morale of the IDF and therefore the existence of the State of Israel.”

Hillel is violating its own Standards of Partnership by hosting BtS, according to the letter. Hillel’s Standards read, in part, that it “will not partner with, house or host organizations, groups or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice: Deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders; Delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel; Support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel…”

BtS “seeks to portray a distorted, demonized view of the Israeli Defense Forces” and “supports the BDS movement,” according to the letter. Among others, the letter quotes Natan Sharanksy, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and a former refusenik, who said BtS “’is not a human rights organization but a BDS organization.’” Sharansky also wrote in a recent op-ed in Haaretz: “Breaking the Silence…is not a human-rights organization in any meaningful sense of the term … [It uses] unproven allegations peddled as truths to credulous foreigners in order to override the decisions of a democratic government.”

The letter calls on Mr. Fingerhut to “not allow ‘Breaking the Silence’ to participate in forums at Hillel Houses across the nation.” The signatories encourage Mr. Fingerhut “to instead partner with the Embassy of Israel and the IDF to provide appropriate forums with credentialed spokesmen.”

Sarah Stern, the founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), who spearheaded the letter said, “I am deeply dismayed that an organization that is supposed to serve as a home for our Jewish students on campuses and educate them about the beauty of their heritage and homeland is partnering with an organization that seeks to demonize and defame the IDF – the very backbone of the existence of the State of Israel.” Stern added, “By hosting ‘Breaking the Silence’ Hillel is providing the organization with a stamp of legitimacy, and contributing to the spread of anti-Zionist sentiments at our nation’s college campuses, which are already infested with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activities.”

In addition to EMET, heads of the following organizations also signed onto the letter: the Middle East Forum; American Jewish International Relations Institute; Americans for a Safe Israel; the Center for Security Policy; Proclaiming Justice to the Nations; ACT for America; Arabs for Israel; Scholars for Peace in the Middle East; Z Street; Americans for Peace and Tolerance; The Iron Dome Alliance; and Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign.

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth

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Review Category : Press Releases

EMET Applauds the U.S. Justice Department for Filing Criminal Charges Against Palestinian Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

EMET Sends Letter to Senators Urging Them to Confirm David Friedman as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel

EMET Strongly Applauds the Taylor Force Act Legislation Holds Accountable the Palestinian Authority for Paying Terrorists & their Families

Pro-Israel Coalition Calls on Hillel International to End Partnership with “Breaking the Silence”

EMET Strongly Applauds the Taylor Force Act
Legislation Holds Accountable the Palestinian Authority for Paying Terrorists & their Families