Members of Congress are petitioning the Obama administration to close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington, D.C., office due to a continuing wave of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel that have killed multiple Jewish individuals.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), as well as more than 30 other members of Congress, demanded in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry that the administration revoke the PLO’s waiver permitting it to maintain a D.C.-based office.
The PLO, which is guilty of waging multiple deadly terrorist attacks, stands accused of funding terrorist and paying imprisoned Palestinian terrorists a salary as an award for acts of terrorism.
"Shockingly, despite being complicit in spreading hatred and terror, the PLO retains an office in Washington, D.C.," the lawmakers wrote. "We ask that the State Department revoke the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s waiver to maintain an office in the United States."
"Closing the PLO office in Washington, D.C., would send a clear statement that the kind of incitement to violence perpetrated by the PLO and its leaders will not be tolerated," they write.
Meadows said in a statement that the United States is turning a blind eye to the PLO’s encouragement of terrorism.
"For too long the PLO has not just tolerated acts of terrorism against the Israeli people-but incited others to commit acts of violence in the name of jihad," Meadows said in a statement. "It goes against everything we stand for as an American people to allow the PLO to retain an office in our nation’s capital, considering its long and well-documented history of encouraging violence and terror against our Israeli allies."
Meadows said that the United States must take concrete action to show Israel that it "does not tolerate extremism and demonstrate our unwavering support for our allies in Israel by revoking this waiver."
Cruz condemned the recent wave of terrorism in Israel and said that "the continued incitement and glorification of violence by Palestinian leadership" must be addressed with action.
"Just last week," Cruz said in a statement, "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the recent attacks a ‘justified popular uprising’ following his remarks in September, in which he said, ‘We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem.’ It is long past time for the United States to hold the PLO and its leaders accountable for engaging in such rampant incitement, for celebrating the murder of Jews, and for providing payment to Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israel and their families."