Press Releases
REP. WEINER MOVES TO END PALESTINIAN AID
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn) announced that he will offer legislation to immediately end all U.S. aid to the Palestinian authority when Congress returns from the August recess. Weiner’s announcement came on the heels of revelations contained in today’s New York Post that Yasser Arafat has hoarded $1.3 billion in personal assets derived primarily from foreign aid provided to the Palestinian Authority by the U.S., Japan, and European countries.
Since 1999, the United States has poured over $500 million in foreign aid into the West Bank and Gaza. Over the same time frame, the Palestinian Authority has carried out an unprecedented wave of terror against Israel, claiming the lives of over 500 innocent Israeli’s, and recently, five young Americans studying abroad at the Hebrew University.
In 2000, Rep. Weiner became the first Member of Congress to respond to Palestinian terrorism with legislation--H.R. 1087, To Prohibit United States Assistance for the Palestinian Authority and for Programs, Projects, and Activities in the West Bank and Gaza--aimed at ending non-humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Today, Rep. Weiner announced that he will offer an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill in September, to end all aid to the Palestinian Authority.
"Yasser Arafat has used the West Bank and Gaza to leverage over $500 million in foreign aid from the U.S. right into his personal piggy bank," said Rep. Weiner. "And like any thug, he’s used the money for nefarious purposes: to prop up one of the most blood thirsty, corrupt, and destructive regime’s in the Middle East. He’s suckled long enough at the trough of U.S. foreign aid–it’s time to cut off Arafat’s international welfare check."
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Congressman Anthony D. Weiner
