Itongadol.- Legislation requiring Secretary of State John Kerry to offer a monetary reward for information leading to the capture of the murderers of American-Israeli teenager Naftali Fraenkel passed unanimously in the Senate on Tuesday.
Fraenkel, 16, together with Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah, was kidnapped and shot at a hitchhiking post in the Etzion settlement bloc on June 12, leading to a massive search operation and anti-terror operation in Judea and Samaria.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the attack, a claim the terrorist group denies.
The mass arrest of Hamas operatives in the West Bank coincided with a dramatic uptick in Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. Over 100 rockets had already been fired into Israeli territory from the coastal enclave during 2014 prior to the latest escalation.
A bipartisan companion bill filed in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Douglas Lamborn (R-Colorado) and Brad Sherman (D-California) had yet to be voted on.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), requires Kerry to “offer rewards totaling up to $5,000,000 for information on the kidnapping and murder” under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program, which provides financial incentives for anyone with information on terrorists targeting Americans to come forward.
The Jewish Federations of North America, which represents hundreds of local community bodies across the US, praised the passage of the legislation, indicating that it sees the move as a sign of Congressional ire at the rulers of the Gaza Strip.
“The Senate is boldly signaling to Hamas terrorists that there are consequences for murdering American citizens,” JFNA Senior Vice President for Public Policy William Daroff told The Jerusalem Post. “This is another indicator of the unanimity of Congressional support for Israel in its battle against Iran-backed Hamas terrorists.”
The bill earned the endorsement of the Fraenkel family as well, with Yishai Fraenkel, Naftali’s paternal uncle, thanking the American legislators behind the two bills earlier this month.
Cruz had been a vocal opponent of the Obama administration’s approach to the Israeli-Arab conflict, calling the President’s policies “misguided,” according to The Hill.
Critiquing the White House’s calls for a ceasefire, Cruz said that “Israel did not want this conflict” and that the US “with or without the president — will continue to stand with Israel,” asserting that he believed that the White House had “undermined US and Israeli security.”
The Senate also passed a resolution “supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas” on Tuesday. Cruz has already filed another bill along these lines condemning Hamas for using human shields and endorsing Israel’s military offensive.