Terrorists deserve to be paid - “they defended Palestine, that has been watered with the Martyrs’ blood”
Terrorists deserve to be paid - “they defended Palestine, that has been watered with the Martyrs’ blood”
PA Tubas and Northern Valley District Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture Director Mu’in Sawafta: “First of all, the Israeli side is fighting us with the deducted [tax] money, because we insist and say that the Martyrs are more noble than us all, and we need to pay the money to the Martyrs’ families and also to the prisoners inside the prisons, because they defended the land of Palestine, the Arab land of Palestine that has been watered with the Martyrs’ blood. A position that enjoys appreciation is that of [PA] President [Abbas] and the [PA] government,which insisted on paying the sums to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners. Israel will fight this portion, and this has prominently affected the Palestinian economy... We will not beg Israel to return the deducted money that we deserve and that the families of the prisoners and the Martyrs deserve. In the end, the PA will take the deducted money in spite of Israel, because in the end Israel is not above the law among the states, the UN, and the governments that say the deducted money is an indisputable right of the Palestinians.”
[Official PA TV, March 10, 2024]
Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.