When Taylor Force was killed, Vice President Biden was just a few miles away meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Biden condemned the killing and called upon Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to do the same. Abbas refused, consistent with his often-repeated remarks that “we welcome every drop of blood spilled … with the help of Allah, every martyr will be in heaven and every wounded will get his reward.”

Meanwhile, Bashar Masalha was given a hero’s burial. A large poster of the killer (labeled a “shaheed” (martyr)) was created with pictures of the Temple Mount and Yasser Arafat in the background, and Koranic verses scattered throughout. The poster was plastered all over his neighborhood of Kalandya and other cities under the governance of the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority went all out in its praise of Masalha. On PA television, a reporter gushed that “Martyr Bashar Masalha , 22, ascended to Heaven in Jaffa on March 8, 2016.” The official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported that “Masalha died as a Martyr … after carrying out a stabbing operation in Jaffa, in which he killed an American tourist.”

But Masalha’s support from the Palestinian Authority wasn’t just emotional. His family became entitled to money, and lots of it. Everyone knows that Palestinians reward terrorists and their families. But most people assume that such aid is clandestine, unable to imagine that such assistance could be part of an official government policy. The truth is shocking.

Since 2004, the Palestinian Authority has enacted public laws, increasing in scope and generosity from year to year, providing an elaborate compensation structure to terrorists and their families. The more heinous the terrorist activity, the more money they and their families are entitled to.

Here’s how it works. Every imprisoned Palestinian terrorist, regardless of affiliation (i.e. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, etc.), is assigned a military rank. A terrorist sentenced to, say, 5-6 years is a lieutenant, 15-20 years a colonel, and 25-30 years a major general. While the terrorist is in prison, he receives a salary commensurate with his rank. And, once he is released from prison, he is entitled to an “employment priority,” which essentially guarantees that his income will be maintained regardless of whether there’s actually a job for him to perform.

Now, what happens if the terrorist is killed during the course of his crime? Under those circumstances, he is no longer eligible for a prison stipend. Instead, his family receives relief from the “Institution for the Care of Martyrs’ Families.” Under this system, the “shaheed” is assigned a rank based upon the prison term he would have received had he been captured. Again, the more barbaric the crime, the higher the rank. Based upon that rank, the institution commits to pay the terrorist’s family a monthly stipend in perpetuity.

So, make no mistake about it, the Palestinian Authority encourages, glorifies and compensates ruthless terrorists and their families, including the murderer of Taylor Force.

Now, where does this money come from to reward Palestinian killers? The answer, shockingly, is the United States of America. Let me say this more directly: The United States is funding a monthly reward to the family of Bashar Masalha and countless other cold-blooded murderers.

Before assigning blame for this outrage, let me first make clear that rewarding terrorists is absolutely against the law in the United States. It is a federal crime to provide financing in support of terrorism. In the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, Congress not only prohibited US aid to terrorists, but even went so far as to prevent funding of NGO’s that “honor” people who commit terrorist acts. Critically, Congress also enacted 22 USC 2656f, a little known law that requires the Secretary of State to provide an annual report to Congress on terrorist activity in various regions, including Israel and the West Bank.

This annual report from the Secretary of State is critical to our foreign aid program. While the State Department and the President may control foreign policy, Congress controls the funding. As we saw recently when Congress sought to curtail a portion of aid to the PA in the face widespread violence, Congress is more than willing to withhold funds from the PA that are used to support terrorists, and, undoubtedly, would have withheld funds in circumstances where the State Department did not vouch for the PA.

From 2009 through 2012, the report to Congress was the responsibility of Secretary Clinton. In every one of her reports, and in subsequent reports containing almost identical language, Mahmoud Abbas – the one who “welcomes every drop of blood spilled” — was presented as a statesman and a peacemaker rather than the arch-terrorist we know him to be. Here’s an example of what Mrs. Clinton said in her 2011 report: “PA President Mahmoud Abbas consistently reiterated [his] commitment to nonviolence.” Again, you will find a statement to this effect and more reckless misstatements in every one of Secretary Clinton’s vital reports.

Even worse than Clinton’s false and misleading statement about Abbas was her glaring omission with regard to the elaborate PA funding apparatus in support of terrorists and their families. It’s not like she didn’t know about it – the mechanism was adopted as a public law by the PA and has been on the books since 2004!

And so, year after year, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry misrepresented to Congress that the Palestinian Authority was pro-peace and anti-terrorism, and thus entitled to upwards of $400 million annually in American aid, which they knew was being used to reward cold-blooded killers.

Shouldn’t some criticism be reserved for President Bush and Secretary Rice as well? After all, it was on their watch in 2004 when the PA first began its formal aid program for terrorists. I think some criticism is fair, but one needs to remember that it was in 2004 that Abbas finally replaced Yasser Arafat – a violent and venal leader whom no one trusted. Abbas took office with a public renouncement of violence and entered into several rounds of negotiations with Prime Ministers Sharon and Olmert. So one can understand why the Bush administration might have cut him some slack. But by 2009 when Hillary Clinton took office, the bloom was plainly off Abbas’ rose. All negotiations had failed, Abbas proved to be as corrupt as his predecessor and his “commitment” to abandon violence was a distant memory. When Secretary Clinton issued her reports to Congress, her characterizations of Abbas and the PA plainly were false.

In the recent months, people have argued whether Hillary Clinton provided “pay to play” access to state sponsors of terrorism was responsible for the death of Americans in Benghazi, or whether her reckless security practices resulted in the disclosure, and ultimate execution by Iran, of a pro-Western intelligence agent. While those propositions are debated, there can be no doubt that her misconduct in misleading Congress directly resulted in American financial aid to Palestinian terrorists and their families, including the murderer of Taylor Force. She plainly cannot be trusted to protect us from the ongoing terrorist threat to our homeland and our allies.

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