Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement applauding the administrations decision to close the Palestinian Liberation Organizations (PLO) office in Washington D.C.:
Thirty years ago Congress correctly declared that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its affiliates were terror groups who had no place keeping an office in the United States. Decades of Palestinian behavior since then has confirmed the wisdom of that judgment.
Today Palestinian leaders still refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish State still incite and financially reward terrorism and still lash out against our lawmakers and diplomats.
Until today presidents from both parties let the PLO keep an office open in Washington D.C. which signaled to Palestinian leaders that violence and intransigence had no costs and so hindered the cause of peace. I have repeatedly introduced legislation requiring the offices closure and recently sent a letter to the administration emphasizing that the office was operating illegally and calling for it to be closed.
I commend President Trump and his administration for taking the necessary prudent and long overdue step of closing down the PLO office."
Sen. Cruz has long called for the closure of the PLO office in Washington D.C.:
- In December 2015 Sen. Cruz and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) sent a letterto former Secretary of State John Kerry requesting that the State Department revoke the waiver allowing the PLO to maintain an office in Washington D.C.
- In February 2016and May 2017 Sen. Cruz and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) introduced the PLO Accountability Act.
- In June 2018 Sen. Cruz and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen penned a letterto Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Jeff Sessions urging the administration to begin taking the necessary legal action to close the PLO office.
