WASHINGTON— Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement on the murder of Taylor Force, the American business school student who was recently stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel, the latest attack in a wave of violence that began last September:

“My thoughts and prayers are with the Force family and the Vanderbilt University community.  Taylor Force was a combat veteran and a West Point graduate, an American hero seeking to learn more about the world around him. 

“The murder of Taylor Force is the fifth death of an American citizen at the hands of Palestinian terrorists since October.  It should be a wake-up call for all Americans.  Palestinian terrorism is not a distant threat—it affects even innocent American bystanders. 

“Palestinian leadership must now make clear to their people that violence is not—and will never be—the answer.  I call for an explicit condemnation of this murder.  It is the height of hypocrisy for Palestinian leaders to call murderers of U.S. citizens ‘martyrs’ while American taxpayers lead the world in humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people.  Any attempt to glorify or misrepresent the murder of an American citizen risks continued American support for the Palestinian people.”

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