US/World News

Key House panel condemns Palestinian incitement

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously called on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel.

The non-binding resolution passed Oct. 22 after a hearing on Palestinian incitement says “the Palestinian Authority has not fully lived up to its prior agreements with Israel to end incitement and should do more to prepare the Palestinian people for peace with Israel.” It “urges President [Mahmoud] Abbas and Palestinian Authority officials to discontinue all official incitement and exert influence to discourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in Palestinian civil society.”

The hearing was convened by committee chairman, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif.

“This wave of violence isn’t some random flare-up,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the committee, at the hearing. “It’s the product of years and years of anti-Israel propaganda and indoctrination – some of which has been actively promoted by Palestinian Authority officials and institutions.”

Separately, the State Department cut its economic aid to the Palestinian Authority from $370 million to $290 million annually, al-Monitor reported. What’s behind the cut is not clear, but the Middle East news website noted approbation from lawmakers, including Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, the chairwoman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, who this week wrote Abbas with her Democratic counterpart, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., warning that such a cut might be in the offing if the incitement is not ended.

CAP: Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Sept. 8, 2015. (Molly Riley/AP Images)

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