The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Finance announced that Israel offset an "unprecedented amount" of cash flow this month as part of an Israeli law to offset terrorist salaries. According to the spokesman of the Palestinian ministry, Abdel Rahman Bayatna, Israel offset 276 million shekels from the Palestinian tax money.
The spokesman for the ministry said in a statement to the pool of Arab reporters that the deduction for this month was unprecedented, as a result of "the doubling of the deduction on the funds that the authority pays for the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners." The spokesman emphasized that "this is an illegal move that will lead to a situation in which the Palestinian Authority will not be able to pay its workers' wages in full for more than a year."
You know who still hasn't said a word about the #Jerusalem massacre? Mahmoud Abbas.
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 30, 2023
You're shocked, right? He's probably too busy instead already writing out the EU-funded pension for life for the family of the terrorist who just slaughtered 7 Jews at a Synagogue on Shabbat. pic.twitter.com/Qrm2eZBD0l
Bayatna was referring to Israel's decision to withhold two times the amount of money the PA admits they spend paying the salaries of terrorists in Israeli prisons and supporting the families of those terrorists who died from the tax revenue it collects for the Palestinian Authority. The move was in response to the PA's campaign to refer Israel to the United Nations' Court of Justice last month over what they call 'the occupation of Palestine.' The fact the PA is funding terror with international funds has been widely known, the policy dubbed 'pay-to-slay' has led to some countries withholding aid from the Palestinian government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the offset a few days earlier and said that "for the first time, I signed a double offset of the terrorist funds that the Palestinian Authority transfers to the families of terrorists. We reduced the Palestinian Authority by 100 million NIS instead of 50 until now and another 200 thousand NIS will be given as compensation to the families of victims of terrorism, according to a court ruling. The PA funds terrorists and the State of Israel say as much. The citizens of Israel will not be part of the farce."
According to Israeli law, the government is supposed to withhold an amount equal to the financial support the Palestinian Authority gives jailed terrorists and their families.https://t.co/WLY4zgWqQo
— World Israel News (@worldisraelnews) February 2, 2023
The Palestinian media noted that this is the first time that an Israeli finance minister has signed a double deduction of 100 million NIS, and not 50 million NIS, as was customary until now. They also mentioned that on January 8, Smotrich announced the confiscation of 139 million NIS from the Palestinian Authority's funds.
The decision to offset the PA's funds managed by Israel and transfer them to the families of victims of terrorism is in fact the implementation of a ruling given over nine months ago by the vice president of the Jerusalem District Court, Moshe Sobel, regarding terrorist cases, with the flagship case being the victims of the lynching in Ramallah from 2000; when two Israeli reservist soldiers who mistakingly entered Ramallah were disemboweled and then brutally killed.
50,000,000 USD for Pay to Slay https://t.co/f13sBrUOcG
— Bertilak #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@Bertilak3) January 31, 2023
The ruling stated the Palestinian Authority is responsible for these terrorist incidents and therefore should pay compensation to the families of the victims of terrorism. The PA funds are a combination of money allocated to them from international donors, and Israeli treasury funds.
