Defense Ministry 'stalling' on local 'Taylor Force Act'
Like its American counterpart, the bill would reduce part of Israel's aid to the Palestinian Authority over its payment to terrorists and their families.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: NOVEMBER 14, 2017 16:25Taylor Force, 29, was killed by a Palestinian terrorist who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa on March 8, 2016(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
A bill that would require the government to deduct the equivalent of what the Palestinian Authority gives to terrorists and their families from tax and tariff revenue Israel collects is not being advanced because of work that has yet to be done by the Defense Ministry, a ministry official revealed to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.The legislation is modeled after the Taylor Force Act in the US, which is named for a former US Army officer killed by a Palestinian terrorist in Jaffa in March 2016.The Knesset voted in June to advance the bill, sponsored by Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, sending it to the committee in preparation for its final readings. But at a meeting of the panel on Monday, government representatives noted that the Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided that the Defense Ministry would write its own government-sponsored bill on the issue and the coalition would back Stern’s bill only if the government’s bill was not advanced.IDF destroys house of terrorist who killed American Taylor ForceCommittee chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) complained that Israel continues to give the PA 1.2 billion shekels every year.“Five months have passed and the cabinet ministries still haven’t presented the committee with legislation that would freeze the funds the PA pays to terrorists,” Dichter said. “We see a fire approaching, we have a supertanker that could put it out, and you are telling us to wait.”Attorney Gal Cohen of the Defense Ministry’s legal department responded that the legislation cannot yet be written because key data is missing. Cohen asked for three more months.Dichter responded by summoning him in another two months to report on. He said the committee would convene in a closed session where all the necessary data would be presented.