MKs call for Palestinian prisoners’ board to be designated as terrorist
The Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs holds a "central role" in disseminating the salaries to the families of terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons.
By ZACHARY KEYSERPrison cell block(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Members of Knesset are calling for the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs to be designated a terrorist organization by the Israeli government.The Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs holds a "central role" in disseminating the salaries to the families of terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons.“I call on you to add the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs to the List of Declared Prohibited and Terror Organizations. It is an organization whose very nature is to support terror, to which we should show zero tolerance,” MK Elazar Stern wrote to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, whose office holds the power to designate organizations as terrorist. “The Palestinian Authority uses different ways to circumvent the laws against supporting the families of terrorists, this step will be a meaningful way to stop it completely.”Stern's efforts are complimented by MK Avi Dichter, who in July 2018 passed the "Pay for Slay" legislation into law, stating that the State of Israel will deduct the amount of money that the Palestinian Authority gives to terrorists and their families from the taxes and tariffs Israel collects for the authority.The law mandates that the government deduct, on a monthly basis, one-twelfth of the sum given to support terrorists and their families from the taxes and tariffs Israel collects and transfers to the Palestinian Authority.This came into effect in February 2019, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the security cabinet and made the necessary decision to offset the funds. The money has since started to be deducted.“The outlawing of the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs would demonstrate the reality that it is not about rehabilitation but about bringing more and more Palestinians into the circle of terrorism,” said MK Oded Forer. “The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense must act immediately to stop the transfer of benefits to the families of the terrorists and then ensure that the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs be declared an illegal terrorist organization.”MK Matan Kahana also joined in on the call.“The next necessary step, as recently recommended to US President Trump by Congressman Doug Lamborn, is to impose personal sanctions on public figures in the Palestinian Authority and the PLO involved in terrorist payments, as also stipulated in Israeli law,” Kahana said. “It should not be, that while other nations around the world, especially our friend the United States, are making efforts to eradicate this phenomenon of terror payments, Israel will continue to keep quiet.”Kahana is referring to a letter sent to US President Donald Trump by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), demanding that the US impose personal sanctions on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior PA officials - including the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr - and designate them as terrorists. The letter was denounced by PA, PLO, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, DFLP and Fatah officials alike.“Since the passing of the Taylor Force Act, and a similar law in Israel’s Knesset passed by my friends MKs Elazar Stern and Avi Dichter in July 2018, the Palestinian leadership has spent over NIS 1.2 billion, or $350 million, continuing to reward terror,” Lamborn wrote. “Since the Palestinian leadership have publicly attacked the passage of the Taylor Force Act, rejected its terms, and continue rewarding terrorists and their families, the appropriate next step in the US war on terror is to personally sanction those PA/PLO officials involved in this incentivizing of terror, as defined by the law. While there are many senior Palestinian officials involved in the ‘pay for slay’ program, the institution and the person most responsible are the PA/PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr.”Lamborn was involved in initiating the Taylor Force Act, which was signed into law by Trump in 2018. It conditions US direct aid to the PA on the abolition of the PA’s payment of cash rewards to terrorists and their families."I thank the Members of Knesset from various parties for joining this initiative seeking to impose sanctions on PA institutions involved in transferring salaries to terrorists," said Director of the Middle East Forum Israel Office Nave Dromi. "This is an important step that will work to correct this injustice and save lives. These payments are the economic incentivization of Palestinian violent rejectionism and terror and until this is defeated, and Israel achieves victory, the conflict will not end."Dromi led an initiative to send letters to the 120 MKs, calling on them to take the next step in designating the commission a terrorist entity.“I welcome this important initiative by MKs. One of the great oversights in Israel's war on terror has been to ignore the involvement of the PA leaders and infrastructures they control," said the director of Palestinian Media Watch Itamar Marcus, whose report on the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs prompted Lamborn's request to Trump."The immunity from political consequences has been interpreted by the PA leaders as a green light to launch terror waves whenever they deem it politically expedient," Marcus added. "Targeting the PA institution that finances and rewards PA terror will send an important message to the international community and especially to the PA that no one involved in terror will have immunity."Alon Einhorn and Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.
