US lawmakers issue rare bipartisan critique of Israeli policy toward Palestinian Authority
Times of Israel · LC · trust 38/100
WASHINGTON — Three Republican lawmakers on Wednesday joined three Democratic colleagues in the US House of Representatives to issue a rare critique of Israeli policy.
The six lawmakers penned a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging them to talk Israel out of withholding billions of dollars of tax revenues, in what has brought the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse.
“Continued withholding of billions in clearance revenues risks accelerating the West Bank’s fiscal collapse – an outcome that would serve the interests of extremist and Iran-backed groups, not Israel, nor the United States,” wrote Representatives Brad Schneider, Craig Goldman, Ann Wagner, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jimmy Panetta and Gus Bilirakis.
The 1990s Oslo Accords peace agreements tasked Israel with collecting Palestinian clearance revenues on the PA’s behalf and transferring them to Ramallah on a monthly basis. But since 2019 Jerusalem has been deducting portions that it says are equivalent to the amount the PA gives to the families of security prisoners and those killed or wounded in the conflict with Israel, including while carrying out deadly terror attacks.
In December 2022, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to have Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich lead the Finance Ministry as part of their coalition deal, giving authority over the clearance revenue transfers to a far-right lawmaker who has long advocated for bringing down the PA.
Smotrich began expanding the deductions from the clearance revenues — which make up the majority of the PA’s budget — and since May 2025 has stopped issuing the transfers completely.
The policy, together with other economic measures advanced by Smotrich, have left the PA unable to pay tens of thousands of public sector employees, while deteriorating the West Bank financial situation to its worst state in decades.
“We therefore urge you to work with Israel and the Palestinian Authority on practical, security-conscious mechanisms that keep clearance revenues flowing to legitimate Palestinian institutions while ensuring none are diverted to terror financing,” the lawmakers wrote.
While such calls for US intervention against Israeli policy in the West Bank have become common among Democrats, they are rarer from Republicans.
The letter was sent one day after a Western official told The Times of Israel that US President Donald Trump refrained from talking the UK out of announcing a sanctions package against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The decision not to interfere on the matter appeared to reflect growing American discontent with Israel’s broader policy in the West Bank. US officials have privately pressed Jerusalem to do more to crack down on rampant settler violence and Trump has spoken out publicly against plans once considered by Netanyahu’s government to annex large parts of the West Bank.
The current US approach is still a far cry from that of former president Joe Biden’s administration, which led the international community in sanctioning extremist settlers. But it is also a departure from Trump’s return to office early last year, when he reversed those sanctions and didn’t rule out supporting Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
In an apparent effort to secure the support of both parties, the letter from Wednesday also stated that the signatories “recognize Israel’s legitimate security concerns since October 7, and we are not asking for Israel to relax vigilance against terror financing.”
It also framed the call to resume the transfers of Palestinian clearance revenues as one aimed at “preventing Hamas and other Iran-backed bad actors from exploiting economic instability in the West Bank.”
“All parties, including the PA, must do their part. Continued reform and anti-corruption measures by the PA are necessary to advance responsible fiscal treatment by the Israeli government,” the lawmakers said.
“Despite its significant shortcomings and flaws, the PA remains the only current viable governing alternative to Hamas and thus must play an essential role in promoting regional stability and security,” the lawmakers said, expressing a stance that would clash with that of the current Israeli government.
“With the risk of increased hostilities involving Iran continuing across the Middle East, we must prevent further instability in the region,” the lawmakers added, requesting a classified briefing with Rubio and Bessent to hear on any progress the administration has made on the matter.
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