Abbas: We would pay our last penny to terrorists and their families
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas said that it is necessary to achieve a historical national reconciliation in order to deal with all of the plots surrounding our national cause, beginning with the deal of the century (i.e., US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan) and the war against the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners and the like (apparently refers to US Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act of 2018 and Israeli Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct terrorist salaries –Ed.)…
The president emphasized that the children of the Martyrs are the most precious thing that we have. He added that their cause has been sacred since 1965, and that we will not neglect them. He also said: ‘The battle that we are currently in with the Israelis and Americans [was caused by] them not wanting the salaries of the families of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded to be paid, while we emphasize that even if we had only one penny left, we would divide it between these families. We will not abandon them to hunger and poverty.’”
Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act of 2018 - Among other things, this law gives US courts the jurisdiction to seize assets from any body that receives foreign aid from the US government, viewing their acceptance of US foreign aid as consent to US jurisdiction. This enables past and present victims of terror to successfully pursue lawsuits in US courts against such bodies that were connected in any way to the acts of terror. In the past many such cases have been thrown out due to lack of US jurisdiction. The law took effect on Feb. 1, 2019. In response to the law, the PA requested that the US end all of its foreign aid to the PA, which it did.
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.