IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1131 

Condemning the murder of Sara Duker and renouncing Palestinian Authority 

martyr payments to terrorists. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 

Mr. GOTTHEIMER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 

the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the murder of Sara Duker and renouncing 

Palestinian Authority martyr payments to terrorists. 

Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Resolution to 

Stop Rewarding Terrorists’’; 

Whereas Sara Duker attended high school at the Frisch 

School in Paramus, New Jersey, and graduated from 

Barnard College, Columbia University, in May 1995; 

Whereas, on February 25, 1996, three United States citizens, 

Sara Duker of Teaneck, New Jersey, Matthew Eisenfeld 

of West Hartford, Connecticut, and Ira Weinstein of New 

York City, were killed in a Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem; 


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Whereas Barnard College President Judith Shapiro remembered Sara as ‘‘a person of extraordinary talent and 

promise’’; 

Whereas Sara traveled to Israel with Matthew, a graduate of 

Yale University and a second-year rabbinical student at 

the Jewish Theological Seminary; 

Whereas Ira Weinstein, a dual American and Israeli citizen, 

died of burns suffered from the bus bombing, leaving behind a widow and three children; 

Whereas, since 1993, the terrorist group Hamas has killed 

more than 400 Israelis and at least 25 United States citizens, including Sara Duker; 

Whereas the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that 

1,360 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and 

terrorism since September 2000; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas the Palestinian Authority rewards deadlier attacks 

of terrorism with even more money; 

Whereas, since fiscal year 2015, Congress has mandated the 

reduction of aid for the Palestinian Authority as a result 

of their payments for acts of terrorism including, in fiscal 

year 2017, a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the amount of 

money that the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization pay to terrorists and their families 

from the Economic Support Fund aid that the United 

States provides; 

Whereas, on March 23, 2018, Congress passed the Taylor 

Force Act (Public Law 115–141), bipartisan legislation 


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which eliminates funds that directly benefit the Palestinian Authority if the Palestinian Authority continues to 

make payments to terrorists; and 

Whereas martyr payments for violence and terror continue to 

undermine the prospects for peace, making it even harder 

to achieve a viable Palestinian state: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the attacks on United States citi3 zens by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, 

4 Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups and their fol5 lowers, and demands that the Palestinian Authority 

6 work with Israel to protect all innocent individuals 

7 from terrorism; 

8 (2) offers its condolences to the families and 

9 loved ones of United States and Israeli citizens who 

10 were killed in terrorist attacks; 

11 (3) calls for justice for Sara Duker and all 

12 other victims of terrorist attacks; 

13 (4) calls on the international community to con14 demn the practice of paying salaries to terrorists 

15 and to urge the Palestinian Authority to revoke all 

16 associated laws, budgetary funding, and agencies de17 voted to such payments; and 

18 (5) affirms its support for penalties for the fail19 ure to comply with the Taylor Force Act, as well 


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1 visa restrictions for terrorists and those responsible 

2 for martyr payments. 

Æ 


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