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Eli Lake

How to Sell a Suicide-Bomber Subsidy to Congress

The Palestinian representative to the U.S. defends "martyr" payments. Congress isn't buying it.

Murderous heroes. — Murderous heroes.
Photographer: Saif Dahlah/AFP/Getty Images

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August 1, 2017, 9:00 AM UTC

Husam Zomlot does not have an easy job. He is the Palestinian Liberation Organization's representative in Donald Trump's Washington. And despite Trump's early promise to seek the ultimate deal to bring peace to the Holy Land, his administration is focused on more pressing matters.

Zomlot's biggest problem these days is a piece of legislation named for Taylor Force, a former U.S. army officer who was stabbed to death in 2016 when he was in Tel Aviv on tour with his fellow Vanderbilt University graduate students.