This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A key legal team that has fought many of the fights over personal and religious rights, and government overreach, in the U.S. and around the world in recent years is calling for the administration of President Donald Trump to impose sanctions or tariffs on three nations that now have promised to recognize "Palestine."
And that could bring up an interesting fight, as multiple members of the Democrat party now are insisting the Trump administration itself take the same political step.
It is the American Center for Law and Justice that confirms it has written to top officials in the Senate, House of Representatives and the executive branch "urging immediate action in response to France, the U.K., Ireland, and other countries' reckless and dangerous move to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood."
The statehood agenda long has been one of the goals of terrorists such as Hamas members who invaded Israel in 2023, slaughtering in vicious ways hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians.
"Our allies are choosing to reward terror with statehood," the ACLJ said in a report. "As a result, we are urging the Trump Administration to impose swift and decisive tariffs on these nations and economic sanctions to show that America will not support those who reward terror."
The ACLJ explained, "By recognizing Palestinian statehood while Hamas still holds hostages and continues to wage war against Israeli civilians, France, the U.K., Ireland, and other countries are abandoning their commitments to peace, diplomacy, and international law. Their declarations reward a terror regime backed by Iran and responsible for decades of suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and the brutal killing and kidnapping of innocent civilians – including Americans."
The ACLJ warned such actions by American allies are "a disgraceful capitulation to extremist demands," and does nothing to promote peace.
"It only emboldens those who reject it," the report said.
"Our letters explain that the Oslo Accords and key U.N. Security Council Resolutions make it clear: Statehood must be achieved through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," the ACLJ said.
International law provides that a state meet four requirements in order to be recognized: a permanent population, defined territory, effective government, and the capacity for foreign relations.
However, there is no unified Palestinian government, as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority run different regions, there is no defined territory, since those boundaries are in dispute, and the movement "lacks the capacity to independently manage foreign relations."
So, the ACLJ said, Congress and the president should work on suspending preferential trade agreements and impose tariffs, cut diplomatic interactions, and end joint military operations.
It was just as those letters were being dispatched that multiple reports confirmed a handful of Democrats in the U.S. House signed a letter to President Donald Trump telling him to "officially recognize a Palestinian state."
The Washington Post reported they insist that move is needed to provide for the "legitimate national rights" of Palestinians.
The letter, signed by 13 House Democrats so far, noted that the three American allies already have plunged into that political agenda.
Incidentally, Trump has expressed that he now has a conflict with reducing tariffs on Canada, since officials there broached the concept of recognizing a Palestinian state.
