Major PMW success in Europe: Following lecture by PMW director, Dutch Government to stop all aid to the PA
After a lengthy process that started in November 2018 with a lecture in Dutch Parliament by Palestinian Media Watch’s director Itamar Marcus and terror attack survivor Kay Wilson, the Dutch Government has announced that it will no longer provide aid to the Palestinian Authority’s budget. The decision was made as a result of PMW’s documenting to the MPs the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” terror reward policy and its refusal to abandon it.
Immediately following the PMW presentation, Dutch MP Joël Voordewind announced his intention to seek a cut in funding to the PA:
“I was very impressed with the story of Kay Wilson, that she survived 13 stabbings in her body. This makes Itamar Marcus’ appeal even stronger, that the [PA’s] paying of convicted terrorists should stop, and we’ll put this forward in our Parliament again.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
Just three weeks after that, MP Joël Voordewind submitted a resolution and Dutch Parliament voted 94-56 to cut 7% of Dutch funding to the Palestinian Authority. The cut of 7% was chosen because PMW documented that the PA spends 7% of its budget on payments to terrorists in jail and to families of killed terrorists (the so-called "Martyrs").
The new decision to cut all Dutch aid is a major development. The Netherlands, that had until now been funding the PA’s Ministry of Justice, is saying that the PA’s paying salaries to terrorists makes the PA ineligible for any funding – even if the donor money pays for a legitimate need- such as the Ministry of Justice. In addition, money is fungible and any donor money frees up other PA money for terror support and terror rewards.
While accepting the evidence provided to them by PMW documenting the PA’s terror rewards, other European governments have responded that they “have guarantees” that their donor money is not being used to fund this policy, but rather to fund other legitimate PA expenses. The Netherlands is now rejecting this European excuse to continue funding the PA even though it incentivizes terror.
PMW director Itamar Marcus called MP Joël Voordewind today to personally thank him and congratulate him on the government's decision.
It’s worth noting that the Dutch report of the new decision states that since Marcus’ trip to the Dutch Parliament in 2013, the Dutch government has raised the subject of the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy over 20 times with PA officials but they have refused to budge and declined to abandon their terror reward policy.
Holland is the first European country to cut all aid to the PA as a result of PMW’s exposure of the “Pay-for-Slay” policy, and the fourth country overall. The Australian government cut aid to the PA in 2018 shortly after a lecture given by Marcus to Australian lawmakers. America cut the aid to the PA as part of the 2018 Taylor Force Act. Canada similarly cut direct aid to the PA many years ago. Australia and Canada continue to fund UNRWA.
An additional message that the Netherlands is sending to the PA is straightforward: It is inconceivable that the PA receives hundreds of millions of dollars each year from foreign governments to support its activities, while all the time the PA squanders hundreds of millions of dollars each year to pay salaries to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners and allowances to the families of dead terrorists.