Palestinian leaders distributed more than $150 million encouraging assassination
The continuity of these payments also has diplomatic and economic consequences. Under the Taylor Force Act, passed in 2018 after the murder of a U.S. citizen in Israel, the United States is prohibited from providing direct economic aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as it continues to encourage terrorism
The report also notes that the Palestinian Authority maintains a public discourse of terrorist glorification. Recent research documented anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist content in the Palestinian education system, in addition to official tributes to freed
terrorists.Even in the midst of a severe economic crisis in Judea and Samaria, where hospitals face strikes and public employees suffer severe wage cuts, Ramallah continues to prioritize transfers to terrorists. The Palestinian Finance Minister, Estephan Salameh, declared in February that the Palestinian Authority “will not abandon” prisoners or the families of so-called “martyrs
”.Researchers from Palestinian Media Watch also revealed that the payments reach terrorists resident not only in the Palestinian Authority, but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, further expanding the regional reach of this controversial policy.
While the Palestinian Authority tries to present itself to the West as a moderate and reformist partner, a recent report by the United States State Department exposed a very different reality: Ramallah continues to finance terrorists and their families through mechanisms barely disguised under new bureaucratic names.
According to the report sent to the U.S. Congress, the Palestinian Authority distributed 156 million dollars in payments linked to the so-called “pay-for-slay” system, a policy that financially rewards Palestinian terrorists imprisoned, released or killed while committing attacks. Of that number, 126 million went directly to terrorists, including prisoners released from Israeli jails, and another 30 million to relatives of deceased attackers
.“The compensation system in support of terrorism continues to operate under new mechanisms and under a different name,” the State Department said. The report was based on information provided by Israel, non-governmental organizations and open sources
.
The revelations contradict the promises made by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who had announced alleged reforms to replace these payments with a model of social assistance “based on economic needs”. Washington concluded that the change was merely cosmetic
