Obama administration sued over Palestinian aid

A group of Israeli-Americans has filed suit against the Obama administration, alleging that U.S. aid money to the Palestinian Authority funds terrorist activities.

The lawsuit charges that federal aid money directed to the Palestinian Authority ultimately ends up in the hands of Hamas and other militant groups committed to war against Israel. Hamas is designed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

The lawsuit charges that the State Department is ignoring congressionally-mandated safeguards to keep money out of the hands of such entities.

"The American people are opposed to terror and do not want to fund it via their taxes," plaintiff attorney Norman Steiner said in a statement. "The ongoing non-compliance of the White House and State Department with congressionally mandated protections cannot be allowed to continue."

The plaintiffs are 24 American citizens living in Israel. Two have been victims of terrorist attacks in the past, and all "live in fear of Palestinian terrorist attacks," the lawsuit charges. They name Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as several other government officials as defendants in the suit.

The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, whose director is one of the attorneys representing the defendants, estimates that the U.S. government has given more than $4 billion to Palestinian groups since 1993 — mostly through its development arm USAID.

Federal law mandates that U.S. aid only go towards the establishment of a Palestinian state if its governing entity "demonstrated a firm commitment to peaceful co-existence with the State of Israel."