Judge lets lawsuit claiming Biden admin knew US funds were aiding Palestinian terrorists move forward

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday evening ordered the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of knowingly providing funds that benefited Palestinian terrorists get underway.

America First Legal (AFL) first filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resumed payments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that former President Trump ended in order to be in compliance with the Taylor Force Act — a federal law that prohibits the government from sending American taxpayer dollars to the PA until it stops supporting terrorism. 

The lawsuit claims the Biden administration has transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars “to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority” while admitting that the PA still operates its “Pay to Slay” program – which encourages terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, of the Northern District of Texas, found Tuesday that AFL’s “recent production of records shows that the Government knew its economic support fund (ESF) funding in the West Bank and Gaza was benefiting Palestinian terrorists, thereby ‘increasing the risk of terrorist attacks against the Plaintiffs and others similarly situated.’”

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Rockets fired into Israel from Gaza Strip. (Photos Majdi Fathi/TPS)

“And they aver that the Government’s ‘admission that its activities in the West Bank and Gaza benefit Hamas suggests, with reasonable particularity, the possible existence of other facts, currently hidden, establishing traceability,’” the order says.

“These reasons, in concert with Hamas’s recent attack on Israel that killed fourteen Americans and resulted in others being held hostage, provide a sufficient basis for Plaintiffs Request,” Kacsmaryk wrote. 

AFL asked the court to grant what is called expedited and limited jurisdictional discovery, which will require the Biden administration to produce related documents and testimony for the court. 

The legal group represents Congressman Ronny Jackson, R-Texas; Stuart and Robbi Force, parents of West Point graduate Taylor Force murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv – after whom the Taylor Force Act was named; and Sarri Singer, the survivor of a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus. 

“This case is about the Palestinian Authority’s decades-long program of financial payments, social services, misinformation, and indoctrination to incentivize terrorist attacks against persons living in or visiting the State of Israel. The program is known as ‘Pay to Slay,’” the lawsuit states. 

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 23 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“Under Pay to Slay, the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorists and/or their families with increased rewards in proportion to the casualties inflicted. Terrorists who are married, or have children, or are Israeli residents/citizens receive an additional payment. Terrorists who spend more than 5 years (in a single term or cumulatively) in prison are paid a guaranteed salary by the Palestinian Authority for the rest of their lives,” the lawsuit explains.

“Every terrorist, regardless of their affiliations or the identity of their victims, is paid by the Palestinian Authority. This includes members of designated terror organizations, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who kill U.S. citizens,” the lawsuit alleges. 

According to the suit, the “Pay to Slay” program beneficiaries include the family of Bashar Masalha who stabbed 11 people and murdered 28-year-old U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war Taylor Force on March 8, 2016. Mr. Force was visiting Israel as part of his graduate program. Shortly after his death, Congress passed the legislating in his memory. 

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President Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In the Taylor Force Act, Congress determined that “The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.”

Through the Act, Congress prohibited the Executive Branch from providing any grant or award from U.S. taxpayer funds available for assistance under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that “directly benefits the Palestinian Authority” unless the Secretary of State certifies that the Palestinian Authority is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against Israeli citizens and United States citizens and has terminated “Pay to Slay.”

Congress also made it clear that the Palestinian Authority could directly benefit from U.S. taxpayer-funded projects in the West Bank or Gaza, or operate the “Pay to Slay” program, but not both. 

The lawsuit outlines that the Palestinian Authority chose “Pay to Slay” and consequently, the Trump Administration terminated funding. 

Smoke rises after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP)

AFL alleges, however, that when President Biden took office in January 2021, his administration transferred “hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to the Palestinian Authority despite “Pay to Slay” and contrary to the Taylor Force Act.”

“Contrary to law, they have transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, the defendants are unlawfully laundering U.S. taxpayer funds through non-governmental organizations to directly benefit the Palestinian Authority,” the lawsuit alleges. 

The lawsuit says that at the time the complaint was filed in court, President Biden and Secretary Blinken “admit that the Palestinian Authority operates ‘Pay to Slay’ to encourage terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.” 

The lawsuit was filed in December 2022. 

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As of July 2023, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were still requesting an update from Blinken on the administration’s plan to end “Pay to Slay.”

On Sept. 27, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on efforts to stop “Pay to Slay.”

Former Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams testified before the committee that he believes the Biden administration has been encouraging other nations, like Saudi Arabia, to give the PA case, undermining the Taylor Force Act. 

Blinken is expected Wednesday to meet with senior Israeli officials and “reiterate his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks against Israel and condemn those attacks in the strongest terms,” a statement from his office said Tuesday. 

“ The Secretary will also reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with the government and people of Israel,” the statement said. “ He will also discuss measures to bolster Israel’s security and underscore the United States’ unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment,

Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.