Fatah: Anti-Pay-for-slay legislation is “theft,” meant to “criminalize the legal Palestinian national struggle against the occupation”
Headline: “The [Fatah] Revolutionary Council emphasized the importance of strengthening the internal front and aiding the [PA] government in this”
“The Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council, …in its summary statement published yesterday, Friday [June 14, 2019], emphasized… the unity of the movement’s position and national position to reject and fight the steps of theft that the Israeli government is committing against our money, through unacceptable deductions that not only harm the families of the Martyrs and the wounded, but also target them to criminalize the legal Palestinian national struggle against the occupation (refers to Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct terror salaries; see note below –Ed.).
The council mentioned the honorable national position of [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas], the leadership, and the people in general in this essential and important matter, and called on the international community to fulfill its role and pressure the Israeli government to uphold its commitments and return our money without any deductions.”
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.