Palestinian Authority prioritizes terrorists’ salaries over salaries for working employees—again

The Palestinian Authority has once again demonstrated that paying salaries to terrorists is a higher priority than paying Palestinians who work for a living.

Ahead of the upcoming local elections, the PA Central Elections Commission has ruled that PA employees must resign from their jobs, and therefore relinquish their salaries, if they wish to run for office. Terrorists receiving payments from the PA, however, may keep their terror-reward payments while running for election.

PA Central Elections Commission spokesman Fareed Taamallah explained that the requirement applies only to those currently working as PA employees:

"A [PA] employee who holds a position, receives his salary from the state, and is currently engaged in his work is required to resign from his position [to run in the elections] and attach proof of resignation to the candidacy application.

He clarified that this does not apply to individuals who receive allowances from the state but are not currently employed as [PA] employees, such as retirees, prisoners, the wounded (i.e., 3 categories of terrorists), or recipients of social benefits."

[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 7, 2026]

The "prisoners and wounded" who can keep their salaries are terrorist salary recipients. In addition, the "retirees" who can keep their salaries also include thousands of released terrorist prisoners whom the PA added to its pension recipients to hide them from the donor countries. So, an ordinary PA employee must surrender his salary to become a candidate. A terrorist imprisoned for attacking Israelis, or a terrorist wounded while carrying out an attack, may continue receiving PA payments and still run for office.

Taamallah's statement also provides yet another admission that the PA continues its notorious Pay-for-Slay program. Despite PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' claims of reform, and despite his promises to France, the UK, and other donor countries that he has stopped paying salaries to Palestinian terrorists, this official PA announcement confirms once again that Pay-for-Slay continues. 

In fact, terrorists still have priority: Palestinians who earn their salaries through public service must give them up to seek elected office; terrorists rewarded for murdering or attempting to murder Israelis can continue to accumulate their wealth in prison.