Dutch MPs call to cut PA funding, following PMW and terror survivor’s lectures
Dutch MPs respond to PMW lecture
with calls to cut funding to Palestinian Authority
- PMW director Itamar Marcus and Kay Wilson, a survivor of a brutal terror attack, addressed members of Dutch Parliament
- Kay Wilson to MPs: “I watched in horror as a Palestinian terrorist butchered my Christian friend to death right in front of me... A second Palestinian terrorist stabbed me 13 times... The PA’s rewarding of those two killers and all the other thousands of terrorists in prison is both morally abhorrent and incomprehensible.”
- Dutch MPs plan to initiate legislation to cut funding to the PA by the amount the PA spends on rewarding terrorists
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| Kay Wilson and PMW director Marcus |
Members of Dutch Parliament expressed their condemnation of these PA activities and discussed steps that should be taken to stop the funding by their own government.
MP Kees van der Staaij: “I think it’s also important to have now further steps [by the Netherlands] and to stop each payment to Palestinians as long as there is no real progress.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
The MPs were also addressed by Kay Wilson, a British-born Israeli tour guide who survived a brutal terror attack in 2010. Kay was bound, gagged, and stabbed 13 times with a machete and left for dead, while her Christian friend, Kristine Luken, was murdered. Kay Wilson: “I watched in horror as a Palestinian terrorist butchered my Christian friend to death right in front of me only because he thought she was a Jew. A second Palestinian terrorist stabbed me 13 times with his machete, snapping my ribs and shattered more than thirty bones. The PA’s rewarding of those two killers and all the other thousands of terrorists in prison is both morally abhorrent and incomprehensible.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
Following previous PMW meetings and lectures with Dutch MPs, the parliament passed three different resolutions in 2013, 2015, and 2016, calling on the government to stop or condition funding of the PA until they stop rewarding terror. However the government has never implemented these resolutions. MP Kees van der Staaij addressed this issue: MP Kees van der Staaij: “All that’s done until now [to stop PA payments to terrorists], it’s too soft, it’s not effective, and further and stronger measures are necessary.”
Wilson’s words left a strong impression on the MPs about the urgent need for foreign governments to stop supporting the PA’s rewarding terrorists:
MP Joël Voordewind: “I was very impressed with the story of Kay Wilson, that she survived 13 stabbings in her body. This makes Itamar Marcus’ appeal even stronger, that the [PA’s] paying of convicted terrorists should stop, and we’ll put this forward in our Parliament again.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
MP Voordewind was optimistic that the parliament would pass stronger legislation this time:MP Joël Voordewind: “We’ll try it again; we’re now part of the government, part of the coalition, so we’ll try to convince other coalition parties to support this resolution now."
MP Voordewind wants the legislation to be very specific about how much funding to cut:
MP Joël Voordewind: “Hopefully the other parties will agree to cut the budget from the PA, by the amount they’re spending on the terrorists.”
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From left to right: MP Kees van der Staaij, Kay Wilson, Itamar Marcus, MP Joël Voordewind |
The following are the complete statements made by the two MPs at the close of the event in Dutch Parliament:
Dutch MP Joël Voordewind, Christian Union Party:Interviewer: “So can you tell me what is the conclusion you are taking from this lecture you got from Itamar?”
MP Joël Voordewind: “I was very impressed with the story of Kay Wilson, that she survived 13 stabbings in her body. This makes Itamar Marcus’ appeal even stronger, that the [PA’s] paying of convicted terrorists should stop, and we’ll put this forward in our Parliament again. Now we’re part of the government, so hopefully the other parties will agree to cut the budget from the PA, by the amount they’re spending on the terrorists.”
Interviewer: “This was also a few years ago [following meeting with Marcus, MPs passed resolutions to cut payments to the PA], this was also in the legislature, so what’s new now?”
MP Joël Voordewind, Christian Union: “That’s right. We’ll try it again; we’re now part of the government, part of the coalition, so we’ll try to convince other coalition parties to support this resolution now."
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
MP Kees van der Staaij, The Reformed Political Party (SGP):
Interviewer: “Can you tell me, what is your conclusion to the lecture that you just heard about Palestinian incitement?”
MP van der Staaij: “I think it’s very important that we heard concrete, recent examples of incitement and about payments of the terrorist salaries. It’s very important for our parliament, for our government to have this relevant, important information, with details about what’s going on. We heard it earlier, we have had a lot of examples in the past (Marcus has met with Dutch MPs many times- Edit.) and I think it’s also important to have now further steps [by the Netherlands] and to stop each payment to Palestinians as long as there is no real progress on these important topics.”
Interviewer: “And what is the news that you heard today?”
MP van der Staaij: “It’s the new and more recent examples. When you compare it to what we were discussing in the past about these issues [i.e., salaries to terrorist prisoners], our government told us after deliberation with the PA, that the payments [to prisoners] were no longer coming from the side of the Palestinian Authority.”
Interviewer: “Because they moved it to the PLO, right?”
MP van der Staaij: “They moved it [prisoner payments] to the PLO, and they said, “but it’s not our responsibility.” But now we see that it’s moved back [to the PA] and it’s very openly on their own [PA] budget bills. So I think it’s a clear example that all that’s done until now [to stop PA payments to terrorists], it’s too soft, it’s not effective, and further and stronger measures are necessary.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]