Released terrorist: It will be impossible to recruit terrorists without Pay-for-Slay
A terrorist released from Israeli prison confirms what Palestinian Media Watch has shown for years: The Palestinian Authority's salaries to imprisoned terrorists, released terrorists, and families of dead terrorists—"Martyrs"—are a fundamental form of motivation for Palestinian terror. In response to the changes in the way terrorists are rewarded by the PA, which in some cases has lowered the monthly payments, one released terrorist complained to PA TV that it will be impossible to recruit terrorists without Pay-for-Slay:
Official PA TV host: "How do you view today the situation and living conditions of our released prisoners (i.e., terrorists)?" …
Released terrorist Khaled Abu Amsha: "It's a very difficult life."
Official PA TV host: "He needs something to support his continued existence."
Released terrorist Khaled Abu Amsha: "Right, something to strengthen his resolve, support his continued existence, and strengthen the idea he carries with him since the beginning of his life, so he can spread the idea and establish it. When we tell people or future generations that the [released] prisoner is humiliated, that he has no salary, that he has no life and nothing to live on, that means he doesn't think about the struggle (i.e., terror) and doesn't adopt the idea of the prisoner, namely, to go out to struggle, to fight, to resist, and to instill the idea [in others]."
[Official PA TV, I Call You, May 24, 2026 and July 12, 2026]
Ever since first exposing the PA's Pay-for-Slay program, PMW has repeatedly alerted the US and Europe that the PA's terror rewards were a central motivation for Palestinian terror. PMW even exposed a transcript from Israeli Police's questioning of a Palestinian terrorist, Khaled Rajoub, who attempted to murder Israeli soldiers solely for the financial rewards that his family would receive as that of a "Martyr":
Terrorist Khaled Rajoub: "I am a man with a family of seven, including me and my wife. I don't work, and I've accumulated large debts, and am unable to pay them off… Therefore, I decided to die – it didn't matter how – by hanging – any way, [just] to die. I thought about it and said to myself that if I die by hanging, or any other way, I won't get anything out of it, so I decided to do something serious, such as committing murder, something in which I will both kill and get killed, and then my family will get money and will live comfortably. In other words, something will come out of my death. In the end, I decided to kill Israeli soldiers… So, they'd shoot me and I'd die, and my children would receive an allowance."
[Israeli Police interrogation of terrorist Khaled Rajoub, Feb. 2, 2014]
Although the PA has lowered some of its salary rewards to terrorists and released terrorists under intense international pressure, which is what the released terrorist above was complaining about, it has also indicated to the terrorists that these steps are temporary and that prisoners and "Martyrs" remain the most honored and deserving among Palestinians.
Despite Mahmoud Abbas' promises to Western donors that he had stopped Pay-for-Slay in November 2025 and that payments were now only for social welfare through PNEEI, PMW has exposed that the PA is still paying salaries to terrorists and their families in 2026, as was the case with 8,000 PA former-prisoner pensioners, unmarried Martyrs, other Martyrs' relatives, and other terrorist prisoners.