Senior PLO official: Killing Israelis is not “terror”; it’s not “criminal”- it’s “legitimate”

Official PA TV program 'The Content of the News'

Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake: "We reject these laws (i.e., to deduct terrorist salaries from PA tax money)... We continue to stand by the families of the prisoners (i.e., terrorists), the Martyrs (i.e., terrorists), and the wounded. This is part of the Palestinian national struggle... We reject labeling them ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists.’ Israel wants to turn the entire struggle of the Palestinian people into ‘terrorism.’ It wants to remove the legitimacy of our struggle against the occupation."

Law to deduct terrorist salaries from PA tax money - Israeli law 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 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]