Israel on Sunday decided to withhold nearly NIS 600 million ($184 million) worth of taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) over its so-called pay–for–slay policy paying terrorists and their families.
The PA transferred NIS 597 million ($182.82 million) in “indirect support for terror in 2020,” a report presented on Sunday morning to the security cabinet by Defense Minister Benny Gantz said.
“Pursuant to the approval of the report, these funds will be frozen on a monthly basis out of the payments that Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
As Breitbart reported, PA President Mahmoud Abbas last month ordered that the family of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis be paid $42,000 and be given new houses.
That marked the first high-profile payments to terrorist families since the Biden administration took office, running counter to claims made by senior Palestinian officials the policy would be revisited as part of an effort to rebuild severed ties with Washington.
In fact, not only was the policy not revisited, this year saw an increase of $83,000 since 2019.
Terrorists who are serving out sentences in Israeli jails receive stipends in accordance with the severity of their crime – the more Israelis they murdered, the more money they receive.
Abbas has in the past vowed that his government will continue to pay salaries to terrorists and their families even if “we have only a penny left.”
“We will not accept a cut or cancellation of salaries to the families of martyrs and prisoners, as some are trying to bring about,” he said.
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