PA implores international community to put pressure on Israel to release terror salary money
Headline: “Bishara to donors: The financial situation will become more complicated if Israel does not release our money”
“[PA] Minister of Finance [and Minister of Planning] Shukri Bishara informed the representatives of the donor states and bodies that the financial situation is liable to become more complicated in the coming period, if Israel does not release the Palestinian money that it is holding (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.)…
Bishara called on the international community ‘to make all the necessary diplomatic efforts in order to press the Israeli side to accede to our demands.’ He also called to renew the foreign aid to the level from before 2018, at least for an intermediary period.
The minister of finance also called on the donor states to restore their aid to the Palestinian treasury to the level of 2018. He explained that this aid decreased this year [2021] at a rate of 90% compared to 2020.
Representatives of the European Union (EU), Norway, Sweden, Britain, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Denmark, and the UN participated in the meeting.”
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.