US: Palestinians Should Pay Hospital Bills Instead of Terrorists

The PA should cease funding terrorists and instead use its budget to benefit the Palestinian people, the US State Department demanded. 

By: United with Israel Staff

The Palestinian Authority (PA) should use its budget for the benefit of the Palestinians, and not for inciting terrorism against Israelis through terror stipends, the US State Department asserted.

Responding to a question about the termination of US funding for Palestinian hospitals in east Jerusalem, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said Thursday that “the United States Government does not believe that it is responsible for paying for the hospital bills. Now, that may shock some people to hear that. The Palestinian Authority is the one that actually incurs these bills on behalf of Palestinian citizens and others who seek treatment at that hospital. The Palestinian Authority is solely responsible for paying for the treatment of Palestinians in those hospitals.”

“Historically, they [the PA] have neglected to pay the bills at their hospital of those individuals and other bills related to the hospital. Our funding in the past has generously shored them up. The PA, though – we have seen the Palestinian Authority is prioritizing paying its debts – has failed to prioritize paying its debts and has instead put money into funding things like payment to families of terrorists and payment to – as you all are well aware of the Taylor Force Act – and payment to families of those who have been imprisoned,” she charged.

“We think that that is a wrong decision, that the Palestinians should be funding the care of their own people in the hospitals and that it should not be the responsibility of the United States Government to pay those bills when the Palestinians have that money that they could choose to use on their own people, as opposed to funding the families of terrorists and those who are serving in prison,” she added.

The Palestinians Must Choose

Asked again if she meant that the PA takes money that should be used to pay for medical treatment for Palestinians and instead gives those funds to the relatives of security prisoners and those who have committed acts of terrorism, Nauert responded with “three words to answer that question: Money is fungible, and that is the money that we provide to different entities and groups throughout the Palestinian Authority can be used for other things.”

“We hope that the Palestinians will choose – the Palestinian Authority will choose to spend money on its own people at the hospital, and the United States should no longer be forced to shoulder that bill,” she concluded.

The US has recently cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the PA due to its continued incitement to terrorism, its refusal to return to the negotiating table with Israel and its boycott of Washington.

The PA has dedicated a significant portion of its budget, some seven percent, to encourage the murder of Jews directly through stipends to terrorists and their families.

In its 2018 budget, the PA increased the funding and allocated $360 million for the Prisoners and Martyrs fund, which disperses payment to imprisoned terrorists, released terrorists and the families of dead terrorists.

Israel has shown that the stipends for families of Palestinian terrorists killed or jailed in Israel are rewards for terrorism that directly generate additional acts of terror.