Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ruled the Palestinian Authority (PA) can be held liable for terrorism and sued by the families of those killed in terror attacks, as a result of its so-called “pay-for-slay” policy gifting salaries to convicted terrorists and their families.
The court found the decision to pay Palestinian terrorists and those killed as part of the “struggle against Israel” makes the PA responsible.
“[The PA] expresses its consent to their actions, in a manner that takes responsibility for the acts. This justifies that [the PA] will be assigned personal and direct responsibility,” Justice Yitzhak Amit wrote according to the Times of Israel.
The plaintiffs against the PA are the families of those killed in suicide bombings that took place in the beginning of the Second Intifada, between 2001 and 2002.
Meir Sachivshordar, a plaintiff who lost his parents, sister, and brother in a 2001 attack, said in response to the ruling: “This is a war I have been waging for 21 years… rewards salaries to terrorists,” according to Walla! News.
The ruling, however, said that the PA can only be sued for compensation, rather than punitive damages.
Also on Sunday, Israeli media reported senior officials asked the Biden administration to pressure the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cut the “pay-for-slay” scheme and refuse payments to the father of the terrorist who carried out a deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Under the Trump administration, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act in 2018, which banned the U.S. from giving aid to the PA until it ended the practice. However, the Biden administration reinstated aid to the PA last year.
Abbas has repeatedly vowed he would never stop rewarding terrorists, even if it was down to its last penny.
Thursday’s attack was the fourth one in two weeks, bringing the death toll to 14.
The deadliest occurred in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, claiming five lives.
Palestinians in multiple cities later came out in droves to celebrate that attack, handing out sweets to passersby.
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