Schiff, Ricketts introduce bill targeting group they say was involved in Oct. 7 attack

Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced a bill on Tuesday targeting a group they said was involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel for sanctions.

The Accountability for Terrorist Perpetrators of October 7th Act, also introduced last year by Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), calls for sanctions to be put in place by the president against the Popular Resistance Committees group.

The senators said in their bill that the Popular Resistance Committees took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that started the recent war in Gaza and “regularly carried out terror attacks against Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians.”

“The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) is the third-largest terrorist organization in Gaza and another puppet of Iran,” Ricketts said in a Tuesday statement.

“Despite decades of attacks against Americans and Israelis, including on October 7th, the PRC has yet to be properly sanctioned for its barbarism. This bill will help hold accountable every terrorist that participated in the October 7th attacks,” he added.

Among the sanctions called for in the bill are sanctions targeting property transactions and visa status.

“For years, the Popular Resistance Committees have carried out terrorist attacks against Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians,” Schiff also said in the Tuesday release. “They were willing and cruel participants with Hamas during the horrific October 7th massacre, killing innocent Israelis and taking and holding hostages after that terrible attack.”

Sherman, Kustoff, McCaul and Schneider were joined by Reps. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) in their reintroduction of the bill on the House side Tuesday.