RE: PAYING TERRORISTS' FAMILIES [Andy McCarthy]
Jonah, this is beyond stunning.
There is no question that this is murder-for-hire. Under our federal murder-for-hire statute (18 USC 1959, called “violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity”), such a murder includes one committed “for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay, anything of value[.] …” For a killing to be a murder-for-hire, there is no requirement that the thing of value even be money, much less that it be paid directly to the person who carries out the murder. (Federal law requires the “thing of value” to be provided by a racketeering organization because the feds can’t prosecute murder unless they have some federal jurisdictional hook, like racketeering, drugs, or victims who are federal employees. State murder-for-hire statutes contain no such limitations.)
And Abbas is supposed to be the "good guy" we prefer to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad? Great.
For the millionth time I ask – as we preside, day-by-day, over the creation of a terrorist state on Israel’s doorstep – what ever happened to the Bush Doctrine? What ever happened to "You're with us or you're with the terrorists"? Why are we subsidizing the Palestinian Authority?
Why wasn't Sami Al-Arian charged with this?