Names and Narrative: ‘Slain Attackers’ and ‘Popular’

The United States Congress passed bi-partisan legislation which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2018 which limited funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as long as it supported terror.

H.R. 1625 included language from the Taylor Force Act, named for an American murdered by a Palestinian Arab while visiting Israel, which specifically called out:

“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.“

It added that Congress further

“calls on the Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and any successor or affiliated organizations to stop payments for acts of terrorism by individuals who are imprisoned after being fairly tried and convicted for acts of terrorism and by individuals who died committing acts of terrorism and to repeal the laws authorizing such payments.“

The terms “terrorists” and “terrorism” being used for Palestinian Arabs is an anathema for The New York Times. The liberal paper actively seeks to portray the Palestinian Arabs in a favorable light as much as possible and did so in a March 11, 2021 article called “Chance of Renovation of School on West Bank Hinge on Aid From U.S.”

March 11, 2021 pro-Palestinian propaganda article by The New York Times

After twenty paragraphs of describing the students in an Arab school simply wanting an education and fearful of “ultranationalist settlers,” the article described the Taylor Force Act, albeit quite differently from than the actual text cited above. The Times wrote:

“The Act restricts the U.S. government’s ability to disburse aid that “directly benefits” the Palestinian Authority as long as the authority pays the salaries of Palestinian security prisoners and slain attackers.“

The word “slain” is defined as “to kill violently, wantonly, or in great numbers.” In other words, according to the Times, it is the Palestinian “attackers” who are killed violently and wantonly by Israelis. In regards to the Palestinians, they are not terrorists, but just “attackers” who may or may not kill violently, wantonly or in great numbers. Probably not.

This is a complete inversion of the U.S. law which sought to defend basic human rights by denying the funding of terrorism, turning the killers into the victims.

The misdirection of the Times continued a few paragraphs later with:

“The Palestinian Authority hasn’t announced plans for any significant reforms to its highly popular payment system.” That’s true. Palestinian Arabs love the flow of money coming from U.S. taxpayers to terrorists even if it means that they will be denied any aid from the United States. They would rather continue funding the murder of Israelis than have money to pay for a school.

But that story is lost in the Times’ misinformation piece which made the money to Palestinians look like a convenient system set up to aid the impoverished. Instead, the article finished with the plea “Our [Palestinian] kids have nothing to do with politics… why should they pay the price?” A brilliant advertisement, making the reader adopt the first person image that their “own” children are the ones who suffer from the U.S. law.

The United States stands against terrorists and those who fund and support them – not just including, but specifically – the Palestinian Authority. It is an insult to the memory and families of the American and Israeli victims of Palestinian Arab terrorists that the Times actively inverts the killers and the victims.