Humanitarian Aid to Terrorists

Dispatch direct from Israel

John Kerry allegedly told the United Nations that the United States would supply $47 million for so-called humanitarian aid in Gaza. As Americans, should we support that or oppose it?

Gaza has been one of the most heavily funded places in the world. Arabs, the European Union, America, and yes, even Israel, have provided various kinds of aid and infrastructure assistance to Gaza. What did Gaza residents do with that? They elected and have supported Hamas, one of the leading terrorist organizations in the world.

The Arabs in Gaza took the money that the world gave to them and built underground tunnels second to none in the world. Those underground tunnels have been used as sophisticated passages in order to attack Israeli civilians, farmers, workers, and soldiers as well.

The underground tunnel network is so extensive, perhaps numbering close to 100, that they are built with concrete, have lighting, waste facilities, and people could live in them, supplied for months at a time. It is an underground rat’s nest like something out of a horrific futuristic movie.

All of that infrastructure was built with Western money! At the same time that the West has generously supplied Gaza, the money has gone not only to build a vast terror network in order to prey on civilians, but it has also gone into the fat Swiss bank accounts of the leaders in Gaza and the Palestinian authority leaders in the West Bank of the Jordan River. Western money has been wasted in a manner that can only be described as shocking.

Some of the terror money has been laundered through the United States. Arab interests and their allies have purchased real estate in New York, Michigan, California, and Florida.

While the West wastes its money on what it calls humanitarian aid, the terror threat grows. Inner cities in Los Angeles, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and many other places could all use that $47 million. The $47 million of humanitarian aid which Kerry has promised to Gaza as a bribe should go to inner-city America.

It is a disgrace that John Kerry and President Obama would think that they can buy off Gazans with $47 million of humanitarian aid. Israel has set up a field hospital for so-called “civilians” in Gaza, and reports are that many of them have refused to use it.

The United States should have learned a long time ago that you cannot bribe terrorists. The $47 million or $43 million, whatever it is, will not even buy a temporary peace. Any humanitarian truce that has been attempted thus far has been blatantly violated by the Arabs in Gaza. Perhaps this is a suicide mission by Hamas, and if so perhaps we should say “bring it on.” People in Gaza who have elected to come and maintain and support Hamas may have to suffer some inconvenience. That is too bad, and I certainly feel terribly sorry for the children and those few innocents that may exist within the Gaza strip.

Remember that Mussolini was hung by the Italians in World War II since they did not want to follow him. Unfortunately, the Germans did not do the same thing to Adolf Hitler. Citizens must have a responsibility.

The War of Hamas is not merely a war against Israel, but is a war against everything modern, diverse and democratic. It is for that reason that Hamas has spent so much time and energy targeting Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is the Twin Towers of the Middle East. Tel Aviv represents everything that the Arabs hate; a diverse culture, a fair and free place where Arabs can live and thrive, and a democracy which is inimical to Muslim philosophy as it is practiced in most places in the world.
It may sound harsh at first to oppose John Kerry’s bid for millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Gaza, but in fact it will have the effect of shortening the war, discouraging terrorism, and helping the Americans who really need the money.

Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters
161 West Third Street
Williamsport, PA 17701
(570) 323-8711 (telephone)
(570) 323-4192 (facsimile)

Cliff Rieders, who practices law in Williamsport, is Past President of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and a member of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. None of the opinions expressed necessarily represent the views of these organizations.

Attorney Cliff Rieders

Cliff Rieders is a Nationally Board Certified Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury law. A large part of his practice involves multi-district litigation, including cases related to pharmaceuticals, vitamin supplements and medical devices. He is admitted in several state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Rieders is the past regional president of the Federal Bar Association and is a life member of the distinguished American Law Institute, which promulgates proposed rules adopted by many state courts. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. As a founder of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, he served on the Board for 15 years.

Not only has Rieders held many highly esteemed, leadership positions, he authored legislation related to the Patient Safety Authority and the Mcare Act, which governs medical and hospital liability actions in Pennsylvania. He authored texts upon which both practitioners and judges rely, including Pennsylvania Malpractice Laws and Forms, and Financial Responsibility Law Issues in Pennsylvania, the latter governing auto and truck collisions in Pennsylvania. In addition, he wrote several books on the practice of law in Pennsylvania regarding wrongful death and survivor actions, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice claims and worker rights, among others. Rieders also serves as a resource to practitioners as a regular speaker for Celesq, an arm of the world’s largest legal publisher, Thomson Reuters West Publishing.

As recognition of his wide range of contribution to his profession and of his dedication to protecting the rights of his clients, he received numerous awards, among them the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award, the Milton D. Rosenberg Award, the B’nai B’rith Justice Award, and awards of recognition from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. [ Attorney Bio ]