NGO to Israeli gov't: Withhold NIS 241m. more in terror money from PA
In February, the government deducted NIS 502m., the amount the PA paid to terrorist prisoners in 2018. However, no announcement has been made since then regarding the sum paid to the families.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANWorshippers at Kehillat Bnei Torah Synagogue in Har Nof(photo credit: REUTERS)Palestinian Media Watch is calling on the government to deduct an additional NIS 241 million from the tax money it transfers to the Palestinian Authority each month.On Monday, the NGO released a report documenting the minimum amount of money the PA is paying to families of dead terrorists. The numbers, which PMW’s head of legal strategies, Maurice Hirsch, described as “complex to calculate,” show that the families of at least 14,300 dead terrorists are receiving monthly stipends of a minimum of NIS 1,400. When added to one-time grants, the total payments in 2018 were at least NIS 241 million.The government, before heading to elections in December 2018, passed what is known as the Pay-for-Slay law and committed to deduct from its customs and tax transfer to the PA the amount of its payments to terrorist prisoners and families of dead or wounded terrorists.In February 2019, the government deducted NIS 502 m., the amount the PA paid to terrorist prisoners. However, no announcement has been made since then regarding the sum paid to the families.PMW’s report was disseminated on the five-year anniversary of the Har Nof massacre, when two Palestinians dressed as Orthodox Jews entered a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood (now renamed “Neot Yosef”) during morning prayers and attacked worshipers. The terrorists used a meat cleaver, ax and gun to slaughter four worshipers and a police officer before police killed the attackers.Hirsch said that since the Har Nof massacre, the PA has paid the families of these terrorists at least NIS 204,000.“We call on the government to implement the second half of the ‘pay-for-slay’ legislation … as required by law,” Marcus said.
