Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday praised legislation signed into law Friday by President Donald Trump to stop federal funding to the Palestinian Authority until it ends "martyr payments" to those who commit terrorism against Jews.
Graham, the South Carolina Republican, co-sponsored the Taylor Force Act, which was signed by Trump as part of the $1.3 trillion spending bill.
The law, passed by the Senate on Thursday, was named after Taylor Force, 29, a West Point graduate who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was stabbed to death in March 2016 in an attack by Palestinians in Jaffa.
Force was part of a Vanderbilt University study group examining global entrepreneurship. He was studying for his MBA.
Graham praised Force on Twitter as "an American hero who was brutally murdered at the hands of terrorists in Israel."
Last year, the Palestinian Authority paid $347 million to terrorists and their families who have been killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities in 2017, The Jewish Journal reports.
The payments can reach $3,500 a month.
In 2016, the U.S. gave the Palestinian Authority $357 million in 2016. The payments have averaged $300 million a year.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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