President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to shut down the PLO’s office in Washington, D.C., according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
The move will undoubtedly anger the left, which has already been sharply criticizing this White House for its cutting of funds for UNRWA.
But Trump has reportedly said that he’s not going to allow a “Palestinian” presence in Washington’s PLO office so long as the organization refuses to make peace with Israel.
The White House is expected to make the announcement of the closed office on Monday in a formal statement to the nation.
From Ynet News:
The Trump administration is expected to announce Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s office in Washington, The wall Street Journal reported citing administration officials.
President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, is to make the announcement in a midday speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in Washington. It will be his first major address since joining the Trump White House.
“The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton will say, according to a draft of his speech seen by Reuters.
“The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” according to an early draft of Bolton’s remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Bolton will also say that the State Department will announce the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington out of concern about Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel.
The PLO office in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” says Bolton’s draft text.
This planned move follows Trump’s decision to halt all funding to a UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees in a decision further heightening tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the Trump administration.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the business model and fiscal practices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) made it an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
“The administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA,” she said in a statement.
In addition, the draft speech says the Trump administration “will fight back” if the International Criminal Court formally proceeds with opening an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by US service members and intelligence professionals during the war in Afghanistan.
If such a probe proceeds, the Trump administration will consider banning judges and prosecutors from entering the United States, put sanctions on any funds they have in the US financial system and prosecute them in the American court system.
“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us,” says Bolton’s draft text.
The Trump administration put the Palestinians on notice in 2017 that it will shutter their office in Washington unless they would enter serious peace talks with Israel, US officials said, potentially giving President Donald Trump more leverage as he seeks an elusive Mideast peace deal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Bolton is planned to say, however, that the Trump administration is still committed to formulate a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
“The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense,” according to The Wall Street Journal citing Bolton’s planned remarks.
NPR reported on Saturday the funds, totalling $25 million, were intended to be transferred to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, run partly by local churches. He added that the money will be redirected to other aid programs the US runs in the Middle East, Africa and South and East Asia, aimed to fight mass weapons production.
In addition, the United States may negotiate more binding, bilateral agreements to prohibit nations from surrendering Americans to the Hague court, says the text.
The court’s aim is to bring to justice the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The United States did not ratify the Rome treaty that established the International Criminal Court in 2002, with then-President George W. Bush opposed to the court. President Barack Obama took some steps to cooperate with the organization.
“We will consider taking steps in the UN Security Council to constrain the court’s sweeping powers, including to ensure that the ICC does not exercise jurisdiction over Americans and the nationals of our allies that have not ratified the Rome Statute,” says Bolton’s draft text.
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Great news for a day of blustering winds, rain, and God knows what else. Thank you, President Trump and your administration for acting on the closure of the PLO office in Washington. The PLO and its grand alliances, the UN, EU, and other pro-Jihad Terror nations will go into an utter hissy fit. Gnashing of teeth within the smug-ass Democrats, its by proxy leader Obama and the Deep State will have no end. They will dismiss Trump and company as bigots, a racist faction, Islamophobes but truth or facts hold no value in the corrupt and perfidious minds of the Democrats and others.
…in the South where I grew up…..we just called them kookoo….and ignored them ….
GOOD!
Watch John Brennan get all obnoxious over this. YES, he is a Muslim convert and a Communist sympathizer.
Trump gets it… he is measured in how he handles it. Just like he talked about ending the Iran agreement… then he did it. He is trying to clean up our country but all these ridiculous distractions are slowing things down. He will continue to do the best he can.
I agree entirely. I was wondering about the similarities between Trump and Churchill. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
….by his second term the Dimms, Libtards, and other enemies of America will have all worn themselves out with TDS…..he will make more headway with less resistance because they will be too far gone to be taken seriously…..MAGA-KAG!
Agree ! while Left/liberal pro-jihadi run EU is turning into islamic hellhole with
more jihadi attacks Trump is shutting down jihadi funding that has been running for decades now https://tinyurl.com/ya4gdwt3
Left/Liberal Loons say that makes him “racist” , “islamophobe” . Guess what Trump gives a damn . LOL !
…..and they can say all they want….call me an Islamophobe….I wear that tag proudly because it is based on fact of what heinous monstrous sub-humans they are….
God can and does use anyone. King Cyrus undid the brutal policies that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, instituted against the captive Jewish people, a minority group in his kingdom. Daniel gave clear instructions to Nebuchadnezzar about what God required of a pagan ruler: “Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged” (Daniel 4: 27).
Nebuchadnezzar refused to listen, and instead he engaged in some self-aggrandizing boasting: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence by my own mighty strength and for my majestic honor?” (Daniel 4: 30). So God punished Nebuchadnezzar and later raised up Cyrus. And Cyrus got it right. He ended Babylonian captivity of the Jews and he wasn’t a Jew! It is claimed he was a follower of Zoroaster.
As you know, Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself after G-d punished him (Daniel 4:33-37). But Cyrus came after Nebuchadnezzar’s descendant King Belshazzar, who was slain by the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:1-31; Ezra 1:1-4).
Why aren’t you living in the atheist paradise state of North Korea?
I take all my required meds daily thank-you-very-much.
It’s your prerogative to avoid reading my comments. Will pray for you.
VoiceInDesert. Thank you for sharing this. Nebuchadnezzar was cautioned by Daniel before he actually suffered his fall. Prophesied in Daniel’s biblical writings, and later verified through the historical record about his mental illness. It was his son Belshazzar who ruled Babylon when it actually fell. The conqueror was the son of Cyrus. Both he and his father were covered by the biblical prophesy of Cyrus. Partially contained in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and 14:7, Isaiah 45, and Daniel 5. It is also historical fact that Babylon was conquered by Persia which finalized its slow decline. It was one last battle, and it occurred swiftly all in one night behind high walls and a deep moat. It was a miracle that made it happen. The moat drained, the mud dried to dust, and the open entrance though the wall was far below where the surface of the water had been. This could not have possibly happened in one night otherwise.
Thank you for sharing this. G-d can do all things, just as He parted the Red Sea, and the Israelites passed through on dry ground. Also the Jordan.
All of this about the actions of King Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, and his son Belshazzar not only is in the Bible, but is part of the historical record. It is only the spiritual parts that are only in the Bible. The historical record offers more detail about the actions of these people. Thus here is proof for anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear. Yet some still hold that it is untrue and make fun of the beliefs of others. A very shallow person that believes only what he can see. Don’t try to pet a baby bear you find in the woods, or in a few minutes you will experience why it was a bad idea. Fatal flaw of a person who believes only in what he has experienced. Thank whomever you express thankfulness to, that someone will pray for you.
Felix1999. Thank you for sharing this. The modern version of this ancient biblical prophesy is unfolding right before our eyes!
Once these offices are Closed, don’t forget to send the occupying islamic jihad terrorists HOME! (Each one of those terrorists has an Israeli bullet, with Their name on it, waiting for them!
Why was there even a PLO office in D.C. in the first place. Guess they needed a place away from home to you know, indulge in all the American things they rail against everyday to their people. Turn that office into a Jewish deli.
That is what I was thinking, Why does DJT even have to waste time expelling these terrorists. Why were they allowed in the first place!
Feel good story of the …MONTH. I watched, yesterday, President Trump’s announcement of and signing of order to finalizie the effort to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Now this news!
The next time I see someone with Trump Derangement Syndrome, I’m going to say, “Smell the coffee, MORON!”
What a bonanza, been hoping he’d do this. A President who actually does good and smart things.
The Palestinians should reject Islam if they really want to be taken seriously. They will never reach any real progress otherwise.
Getting closer to putting them on the Travel ban hopefully.
Letting new anti-Semites from the East is repeating the mistakes that Germany made during it’s nazi past.
If you followed Ann Corcoran’s site: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT WATCH…..you would see how drastically President Trump is cutting the numbers of the invaders and stopping more from coming in…..these invaders are brought in largely by the Catholic and Lutheran churches….and they are PAID to do it with our tax payer dollars!
Ann can tell you where they are being put around the country, how many, and what the impact is to that community….
The brave woman has been tracking this activity for 11 years….
PLO sounds like POS.
Hear, Hear……Well done, sir……….
….hopefully to the point of a brain aneurysm….
I absolutely luv all this. Now cut off ALL aid to “Palestine” and get the USA out of the tyrant’s club the UN has become.
Bolton just announced that we are leaving the UN’s criminal court crapola….Win, Win, Win….
Yes that is awesome. Now if we can just be rid of the whole damn organization finally.
God bless president Trump. send the plo and their muslim terrorists to hell. this we will fight for.
Love it! Keep doing what you are doing, Prez.
Finally, somebody calling a terrorist a terrorist!
This is great news! Now….if he really wants to make it better….declare CAIR and SPLC terrorists organizations and shut them down…..then deport them.
One theory I read that seemed to offer promise of peace between Israel and the people who call themselves Palestinians is the following. Allow the King of Jordan to annex all of Iraq into Jordan, while letting a western strip along the border to go to a Palestinian state. There is a good chance that the King of Jordan would agree to this. The next step would be having these people agree to move into this new state, and cease all hostilities against Israel. They would have to move out of Gaza, Samaria, Judea, and the other areas in the West Bank that should be part of Israel. The terrorist government structure they operated under the PLO would have to be disbanded and a new one formed. One approved by the U.S., Israel, Jordan, and maybe Egypt. It might work, but the biggest obstacle is the PLO and the attitude of these people.