Blood money -The PA has paid 2,692,500 shekels to terrorists who murdered 23 people
Blood money -The PA has paid 2,692,500 shekels to 6 terrorists who murdered 23 people, and will continue paying them more every month
16 years ago tonight, the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Av, 23 Jews were murdered in a suicide bombing while traveling on a bus in Jerusalem's Beit Yisroel neighborhood. Those murdered included 7 children. There were six terrorists directly involved in the attack, including the suicide bomber, two terrorists killed in an attempt to arrest them and three terrorists who are still in prison.
According to the calculations of Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority has paid the imprisoned terrorists and the families of the dead terrorists, as payment for the murderous attack, a cumulative sum of 2,692,500 shekels ($764,482).
One of the more dominant terrorists who planned the attack was Majdi Za'atri who was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences and an additional 50 years. He alone, through June 2019, has been paid by the PA 706,800 shekels ($188,996).
Two other terrorist arrested at the same time have been paid the same amount. Accordingly, since the arrest of the three terrorists in August 2003, the PA has paid them, to date, a total of 2,142,300 shekels ($608,263).
During the next four years, the PA will continue to pay the three imprisoned terrorists a monthly salary of 7,300 shekels. The payment consists of a base salary in the amount of 7,000 shekels/month (the monthly salary of the terrorists was raised last year from 6,000 to 7,000 shekels when they started their 16th year of imprisonment) together with a monthly addition of 300 shekels that the PA pays to terrorists who were residents of Jerusalem. In four years, the PA will again raise the salaries of the terrorists, until their salaries reach 12,000 shekels/month, plus the Jerusalem residency addition.
In addition to the salaries the PA pays the imprisoned terrorists, the PA also pays a monthly allowance to the families of dead terrorists (so-called "Martyrs"). Since 2013, the monthly allowance stands at 1,400 shekels per month. Accordingly, the PA had paid, through August 2019, no less than 183,400 shekels ($52,073) to the family of the suicide bomber. It had also paid a similar amount to the families of the two dead terrorists who recruited the members of the cell and created and armed the suicide vest that was used in the attack. It is important to note that the PA also pays a special addition to the families of dead terrorists who were residents of Jerusalem or Israeli citizens.
It must be stressed, that the PA pays the salaries to the imprisoned terrorists and the allowances to the families of the dead terrorists, not on a needs basis. The salaries and the allowances are paid simply as "payment" for the acts of terrorism and are not, as some PA representatives occasionally claim, as "welfare benefits".
Since it is clear that the payment of the salaries/the allowances by the PA are an incentive to commit acts of terror, the payment of an addition to the Jerusalem residents/Israeli citizen terrorists, is proof that the PA is actively encouraging Israeli Arabs to take part in terrorism.