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Ari Fuld’s murderer walked free last month.
Ari was an American who moved to Israel in the 1990s. A father of four, he devoted his life to defending our country’s greatest ally, serving in the Israeli military and then supporting it every way he could after retiring. But in 2018, a Palestinian terrorist walked up behind him at a shopping mall and stabbed Ari in the back. While he survived for a few minutes — long enough to chase the terrorist and even shoot at him — Ari’s wounds were too severe. He was dead within the day.
Ari’s murderer was released from Israeli prison as part of that country’s deal for the return of hostages Hamas took on October 7, 2023. While that’s deeply unfortunate, what’s even more unjust is that his murderer’s family has been paid hundreds of dollars a month because he killed an innocent American. They’re benefiting from an evil Palestinian program known as “pay-for-slay.”
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Ari’s loved ones have fought back. Since the 1990s, thanks to an act of Congress, American victims and their families have been able to file civil lawsuits against the terrorists who targeted them. Congress has strengthened that law in the face of legal challenges, most notably through the 2019 “Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.”
Now, on April 1, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether that law is constitutional. The case is named after Ari Fuld, and his loved ones are asking the justices to side with them over Palestinian terrorists. The justices should do so, upholding America’s ability to deter even more terrorists from killing our citizens.
Ari’s family are far from the only ones who’ve encountered the injustice of Palestinian pay for slay. The Palestinian Authority alone spends nearly $350 million a year to the families of terrorists who died killing innocent people, including Americans.
The program is so huge, it even has a formal name in the Palestinian Authority: the “Martyr’s Fund.” While the PA recently claimed to have ended pay-for-slay, its leadership has since made clear it’s not going anywhere. Its very existence encourages more Palestinians to take a murderous road. They know that if they kill as many people as possible, including Americans, their families will be rewarded for years to come.
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American victims absolutely deserve the right to sue those who aid and abet this blatant evil. The constitutional case is clear, as plenty of legal groups have shown to the court. Lower courts agreed the U.S. government has legal authority to impose criminal liability on foreign groups that murder Americans, but ruled that allowing civil cases to go forward would be “fundamentally unfair.” Not true. There’s nothing unfair about requiring those who murdered Americans to face civil penalties for their evil actions, just as they must face consequences in criminal cases.
And the moral case is even more obvious. No American should have to worry that if a terrorist kills their son or daughter, their mother or father, the terrorist’s family will be richly rewarded. If that happens, Americans should be able to sue whoever or whatever is doling out the blood money. After all, if anyone should be compensated for the killing of an innocent, it should be the victims. Justice demands nothing less.
For the Supreme Court, this should be an easy decision. But Congress also needs to do the hard work of ending the Palestinian pay-for-slay altogether. Congress should immediately pass the “PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act,” authored by Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
The bill would impose strong sanctions on any person or organization involved in paying terrorists for murdering innocent people. The Palestinian groups that reward murderers, along with their foreign backers, would think twice if their own finances were crippled. America’s leaders should do everything possible to hold them accountable and end the killing.
Ari Fuld’s killer may be free, but his family’s quest for justice should be allowed to continue. Most importantly, no American family should ever again suffer like they have.
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