Abbas’ latest joke: Appoint terrorists to fight terror
“Money for nothing”
– the PA version of Dire Straits
PA planning to absorb released terrorists into the PA Security Forces
PA pays released terrorists high monthly salaries for not working
PA grants terrorists free university education, professional training, and even dental work
In a revealing interview, the Director of the Palestinian Authority-funded Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, made three exceptional revelations – all of which are relevant for the PA’s foreign donors. They show what the PA prioritizes spending its money on, and ultimately, what purposes the foreign donors are helping to fund.
Since Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA’s terror reward payments, many countries who donate funds to the PA earmark their donations for specific purposes, such as the payment of the salaries of civil servants. According to Abu Bakr, the PA’s latest exercise in deception is to recruit released terrorists - to whom the PA pays salaries for doing nothing - to fulfill ostensibly legitimate PA positions, and thereby deceive the world into funding the PA’s outrageous terror reward program. Most outrageously, it appears that the PA is going to integrate the released terrorists into positions in the PA security forces - the very same forces tasked with fighting terrorism.
During the interview, Abu Bakr admitted that there are 7,000 - 8,000 released terrorist prisoners who receive a monthly salary from the PA for doing nothing!
“A prisoner is released from prison and receives a released prisoner’s salary, without working and without doing anything… We have 7,000-8,000 released prisoners who are receiving a salary like this.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Sept. 7, 2020]
Next, Abu Bakr admitted that despite the deep financial crisis the PA has put itself in, and their appeals to the world for assistance to deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the PA continues to pay salaries to terrorists. He even put his own job on the line should the terrorist salaries not be paid:
“I will quit if the allowances are not paid”
Finally, Abu Bakr explained some of the additional benefits - such as university education, professional training, and even dental work - the PA grants to released terrorists:
“Every prisoner who is released after a year is eligible to study at university and also carpentry, metalworking, and the like. Any profession that we can cover for him. We are also covering dental treatment up to 5,000 [Israeli] shekels. We cover implants.”
Money for nothing
The 2004 PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs guarantees terrorists - both those in prison and those released from prison - a monthly salary and many other benefits.
PA Government Decision No. 15 of 2013, as amended in 2015, adopted the “Regulation for Ensuring Jobs for Released Prisoners” which codifies both the payment of salaries to released terrorists and the other benefits to which they are entitled.
Paragraph 8(1) of the regulation provides:
“A released male prisoner who was in prison for 10 years or more, and a released female prisoner who was in prison for 5 years or more, will be employed with a salary in the state institutions, according to the table appended to this regulation.”
While this provision might suggest that these released terrorists - men who spent 10 years in prison and women who spent 5 years in prison – will actually be gainfully employed, article 8(3) clarifies:
“Every released prisoner who is employed with a salary according to this clause, is required to comply with the official decisions of the state institutions and to present himself to work if he is requested to do so.”
In other words, released terrorists who meet the criteria are not actually employed by the PA. Rather, they simply receive a salary for a position, for which they must present themselves only if specifically requested to do so. According to Abu Bakr, there are between 7,000 – 8,000 released terrorists who are “employed with a salary” but sit around doing nothing.
The pay table (referenced in para. 8(1)) attached to the regulation sets the salaries of the released terrorists according to the pay scales of non-terrorist, law-abiding, real, senior civil servants. According to the pay scale, terrorists released after 10 years in prison receive a starting salary equivalent to that earned by an A class manager or of a Lieutenant Colonel, simply because they are released terrorists.
While the fact that the PA pays substantial salaries to terrorists who are just sitting at home is cause for concern, the PA’s new initiative to “solve” this problem is even more worrying. In the interview, Abu Bakr explained that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently approved a change in policy to recruit the terrorists to the PA’s security forces!
Abu Bakr: “A prisoner is released from prison and receives a released prisoner’s salary, without working and without doing anything. We raised before President [Abbas] the need to absorb the [released] prisoners, so that no one will feel that he is at a high level and sits [idly by]. We have [released prisoners ] with degrees – matriculation, BA, MA, and Ph.D. Why should we not absorb them into the PA institutions? Praise Allah, a number of days ago the president agreed to this suggestion and assembled a committee of the highest levels led by Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, to begin absorbing these prisoners. We have 7,000-8,000 released prisoners who are receiving a salary like this. This is also being exploited against us in Europe, the US, and Israel - that they receive a salary because they killed and did this and that...” …
Ma’an host: “They will be absorbed in positions?”
Abu Bakr:“In security positions – the [PA] Security Forces, or in the governmental ministries, the institutions of the PA, and its authorities.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Sept. 7, 2020]
Clearly, in the PA world where terrorists are paid cash rewards simply for being terrorists - including murderers and mass murderers and other members of internationally designated terror organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine arrested for the full spectrum of terror offences - it is fitting to recruit the released terrorists into the security apparatus that is meant to fight terror.
Despite financial crisis, terrorist prisoners still get paid
In the last few months, the income of the PA has plummeted, both as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and as a result of the PA’s decision to cut its ties with Israel, including refusing to accept hundreds of millions of shekels that Israel collects in taxes and transfers to the PA every month. To cover the shortfall, the PA has been begging the world to increase donations. While many, most predominantly the EU, have generously answered the call the PA has shamefully continued to waste its own money by maintaining its cash rewards to the terrorist prisoners.
PA Government Decision Number 23 of 2010, “Regarding the Regulation of Payment of the Monthly Salary to the Prisoner” codifies both the pay scale of the terrorist prisoners and other benefits to which they are entitled.
The pay scale starts at 1,400 shekels/month, rising with time spent in prison to 12,000 shekels/month.
Due to the financial crisis, the PA has had to cut significantly the salaries it pays to its civil servants. Since the PA also considers the terrorist prisoners in their prison cells to be “employees” of the PA, the same salary cuts, which were applied to the law-abiding, non-terrorist, civil servants, were also applied to the salaries of the terrorists. The exception to that rule being the part of the terror salaries that the PA deposits monthly to the accounts of the prisoners in the prisons for use in the canteen.
Ma’an host: “[You’ve said] “I will quit if the allowances are not paid.” In other words, if the [PA] Ministry of Finance does not pay the allowances of the Commission [of Prisoners’ Affairs], even partly…”
Abu Bakr: “We have the canteen [expenses] that are paid monthly to the prisoners. They are being paid, and also on the first of the current month [of September] they transferred the canteen [expenses] to us… The prisoners’ allowances are also being paid…”
Host: “The prisoners’ issues need to be at the top of everyone’s priorities, even in a matter such as their allowance payments. Do you think that the prisoners’ cause is being neglected and is no longer at the top of the priorities regarding the monetary allowances paid to them?”
Abu Bakr: “No, I don’t think so and the proof of this is that even when the Israelis cancelled the allowances, a full salary was paid to them. A 100% salary was paid to the prisoners, while the [public] employees received half a salary.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Sept. 7, 2020]
As exposed by PMW, in 2019 the PA admitted to spending 517.4 million shekels (circa 150 million US dollars) funding its terror rewarding salaries. With an average monthly expenditure in excess of 43 million shekels, even if the PA cut the salaries of the terrorist prisoners in half, it still means that the PA’s terror rewards cost over 21.5 million shekels (circa 6.25 million US dollars) every month.
Free studies and dental work
Referring to some of the other benefits the PA provides to the terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, including higher or vocational education and dental work, Abu Bakr added:
“In prison [the prisoner] is “covered,” [and paid for] whether at university or studying for his matriculation exam… Every prisoner who is released after a year is eligible to study at university and also carpentry, metalworking, and the like. Any profession we can cover for him. We are also covering dental treatment up to 5,000 [Israeli] shekels. We cover implants.”
Since the only criteria required by the PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs to receive the salaries and benefits described by Abu Bakr is to be a terrorist arrested by Israel, it is clear that the goal of these overly generous payments is to incentivize and reward terror.
These payments continue to this day irrespective of the circumstances and irrespective of the PA’s begging the international community to increase donations to relieve them of the self-imposed financial crisis.
If Mark Knopfler, the legendary lead vocalist of the British rock band Dire Straits, were a Palestinian terrorist, the group’s iconic parody, “Money for nothing” of the MTV culture, would have taken on a whole new meaning.
The following is a longer excerpt of the interview with Abu Bakr:
Video posted on the Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs; the video shows an interview by the independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an with Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr
Independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an host: “The debts of the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs are accumulating, and a while ago you said: ‘I will quit if the allowances are not paid’ – in other words, if the [PA] Ministry of Finance does not pay the allowances of the Commission, even partially. Let us talk first about the problem: First of all, what are the Commission’s allowances? Where are they being paid? We know that the prisoners are studying in the universities, and accordingly there are allowances that are transferred to the universities in exchange for the prisoners’ studies. Could you explain to us first about this matter?”
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr: “Firstly, there is an economic crisis, whether in the Commission or in the PA in general. We are witness to the PA’s difficulty in transferring half salaries to the [PA public] employees. Now regarding the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, we have the canteen [expenses] that are paid monthly to the prisoners. That is not being touched. They are being paid, and also on the first of the current month [of September] they transferred the canteen [expenses] to us as they are.”
Host: “The prisoners’ expenses.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “The prisoners’ allowances are also being paid, and what is correct in relation to the [public] employees is correct in relation to the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs. We are being subjected to great pressure, primarily on the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs. For example, in Gaza half salaries have been paid for a long time, and for a number of months they have given them half of their half salaries. There is also the matter of stopping the salaries on a monthly basis, particularly in Gaza. It appears that there are many annoying reports that are being published and this also constitutes [a problem] for us, since everyone is calling us. We are the address. They are calling us. Another matter-”
Host: “In other words, who is publishing these reports?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “I don’t know. From Gaza, of course. Like, people- Now the universities, for example. Every prisoner who leaves the prison – in the prison he is ‘covered,’ [and paid for] whether at university or studying for his matriculation exam and the like. Every prisoner who is released after a year is eligible to study at university and also carpentry, metalworking, and the like. Any profession that we can cover for him. We are also covering dental treatment up to 5,000 [Israeli] shekels. We cover implants.”
Host: “For all the prisoners, or for prisoners who served a specific number of years?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “I am speaking about all the prisoners who served more than a year in prison.”
Host: “More than a year, okay.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “They have the right to this. Now on the topic of the PA, and even the Ministry of Finance, those who are close to this matter are not saying ‘We don’t want to pay,’ but a number of [academic] institutions have begun – after [the debts] were not paid for a while – to implement measures.”
Host: “Like who?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “For example the Arab American University. There are three or four [prisoners] who completed their degree, and one of them completed the degree a year and a bit ago and they want to appoint him to a specific field, but he cannot work because they are delaying his degree.”
Host: “They are delaying it because [the debts] were not paid?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “[Because] they were not paid. Even though a while ago we paid them $18,000. Al-Quds Open University, for example- I wanted to say that they have gotten close to $2.5 million.”
Host: “The debts!”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “The debts. However, they are committed, and [Al-Quds Open] University President Dr. [Younes] Amr said that even if the debts reach $250 million he would not be able to prevent a prisoner, a fighter, from studying. Abu Dis University is also [committed] to us, but not at the same level. In any case, matters have begun to move.”
Host: “What is the approximate sum of the debts to the universities? Do you have an idea, Mr. Qadri?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “Over $3 million.”
Host: “To the universities.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “To the universities. $3-3.5 million.”
Host: “That indicates that for a long period there have been no allowances to pay these debts to the universities.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “There has been an economic crisis for two years already. We are paying in parts, slowly. In other words, this present year [2020], at the end of the year, we agreed to take 100,000 [Jordanian] dinars (approximately $141,000 –Ed.) for the universities each month… The crisis arrived – the Coronavirus and the [economic] crisis – [and things] have been frozen for a year, but we hope [for resolution soon]. This week a meeting will be held with the Ministry of Finance. It was supposed to be held last week, but they were very busy with arranging the salaries, the half salaries, in cooperation with [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] and [PA] Prime Minister [Muhammad Shtayyeh]. The loan from the banks has reached approximately 5 billion shekels according to my understanding – these debts for us, for the PA. In other words, we don’t envy our situation.”
Host: “This meeting, or the call for a meeting, arrived after you sent [a message] to the president and prime minister, informed them about this topic, and briefed them on this crisis?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “The crisis is known. The crisis is known to everyone.”
Host: “But perhaps you informed them about your intention to quit?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “No, that is an old matter, not new, at the level of the [Fatah] Central Committee. But now I say, for example the salaries that are nearly stopped monthly – there is a way now that we may participate in examining these cases. Before that, the salaries were stopped without any consultation with us. Now [cooperation] can be carried out between us. In other words, the bodies that are reducing the salaries-”
Host: “The prisoners’ salaries?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “The salaries that were stopped for some of the prisoners.”
Host: “You asked that the matter be carried out in consultation with you first.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “Yes, it will be done in consultation and we will study some of the cases and the people whose salary was stopped in prison in particular, and also outside of prison, as there is a sector whose salary was stopped. There is a solution also to the other matters. It may be that the Ministry of Finance has no connection to the matter of stopping the salaries – the Ministry of Finance spends what comes to it.”
…Host: “Let’s say that sometimes the matters do not come easily. In other words, early signs of a solution do not come easily. You pressed for this, but even though the matter was not new you threatened to tender your resignation, and afterwards came responses, discussions, and conversations on this matter.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “There is huge pressure on us.”
Host: “From whom?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “From the people. Prisoners’ families, prisoners inside the prisons, prisoners outside the prisons. We have a huge number of queries that we cannot deal with. For example, a prisoner from Gaza whose salary was stopped… talks with me and tells me: ‘We cannot live. My salary was 6,000 shekels [a month] – it became 3,000 shekels when they reduced it. We relied on the 3,000 shekels, and now I am getting half of that same 3,000 shekels.’ I tell him: ‘There is economic hardship and there are other bodies.’ He tells me: ‘You are our address, and if you cannot solve our problem – please, quit!’ And he is right in what he says, completely right.”
Host: “In other words, one of the prisoners told you these things, that you [should quit].”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “More than one. I feel their sadness and pain. There is no doubt, the situation is very difficult. This situation, as I said, is true for everyone, but particularly for the prisoners. Regarding me personally, I feel that there is helplessness. In other words, in general, and helplessness regarding us too, we are the ones who are being negligent.”Host: “This neglect- in other words, the prisoners’ issues need to be at the top of everyone’s priorities, even in a matter such as their allowance payments. Do you, Mr. Qadri, think that there is neglect and negligence on the prisoners’ cause and it is no longer at the top of the priorities regarding the monetary allowances that are paid to them?”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “No, I don’t think so and the proof of this is that even when the Israelis cancelled the allowances (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct the PA’s terror salaries; see note below –Ed.), a full salary was paid to them. A 100% salary was paid to the prisoners, while the [public] employees received half salary. Also for me personally, as a prisoner who served 17 years, I had a half salary paid to me. It may be that I will refuse [to accept the salary], I will be different, because it is a general cause. Sometimes a number of prisoners ask- even now prisoners call me and ask: ‘Why are we not being paid 100%?’ We told them that this was a provocation by the US (apparently refers to the Taylor Force Act; see note below –Ed.) and currently there is [economic] distress for everyone. In other words, we can’t enforce a double standard. There are also topics that we have discussed in the past with the president, for example a prisoner is released from prison and receives a released prisoner’s salary, without working and without doing anything. We raised before President [Abbas] the need to absorb the [released] prisoners, so that no one will feel that he is at a high level and sits [idly by]. We have [prisoners who are released] with degrees – matriculation, BA, MA, and Ph.D. Why should we not absorb them into the PA institutions? Praise Allah, a number of days ago the president agreed to this suggestion and assembled a committee of the highest levels led by Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, to begin absorbing these prisoners. We have 7,000-8,000 released prisoners who are receiving a salary like this. This is also being exploited against us in Europe, the US, and Israel - that they receive a salary because they killed and did this and that. The prisoner himself needs to feel that he is giving, dedicating [himself].” …
Host: “They will be absorbed in positions? In other words-”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “Yes, security positions – the [PA] Security Forces, or in the governmental ministries, the institutions of the PA, and its authorities. This is a very positive program.” …
Host: “However, the topic does not begin and end just with the universities. In other words, the headquarter buildings of the Commission also have not paid their rents for a while.”
Qadri Abu Bakr: “Not only the Commission, also the governmental ministries. They briefed me that there are many governmental ministries that are not paying like us. We have the matter of the vehicles, we have the matter of the [public] employees in the organizational structure, we have countless problems. So too in other governmental ministries there are problems… The political situation is also a reflection of the economic situation.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Sept. 7, 2020]