Murder can be an all-too profitable endeavor for Palestinian terrorists. Despite pretensions to being a normal governmental organization, the Palestinian Authority doles out hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorists and their families. As Israel stares down another wave of terrorist violence, we cannot lose sight of the factors that fuel this escalation. The PA’s continued incentives to commit heinous crimes should not be ignored.
Ramallah keeps its prisoners and “martyrs” highly satisfied. The PA grants an allowance of as much as $3,500 a month to those held in Israel’s prisons for having murdered Jews. The allocation becomes a lifetime entitlement if the prison sentence runs more than five years. The PA celebrates the work of its “martyrs” by paying an allowance of around $500 a month to the family of a deceased terrorist. This comes on top of an initial lump-sum payment of $1,700. These are eye-popping amounts on the West Bank, where the annual GDP per capita sits at around $3,000. Terrorism can be a more lucrative profession than being a doctor or the head of a small business!
Notwithstanding the criticism the “pay-for-slay” program has drawn—and regular Palestinian promises of reform—the PA continues to cut hefty checks to those responsible for the most recent massacres of Jews. Khairi Alqam, who last week shot seven dead at a Jerusalem synagogue before he was neutralized, has secured his passage to heaven and his family’s ascent into the Palestinian upper class. He carried out his attack on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and took the lives of several children. The adolescent who opened fire on two random passersby the next day near Jerusalem’s City of David was taken alive—he will draw a monthly salary for the duration of his prison term. Those payments can add up: just ask Karim and Maher Younes, the murderers of Avraham Bromberg. The cousins, who were recently released, have received $1.2 million since the beginning of their incarceration in 1983. Surely, they will live out their golden years in great comfort.
The PA’s subsidies for terror are a moral outrage, spurring further violence and rewarding fanatics. The PA has attempted to defend the indefensible, claiming that Hamas would step in to provide the funds were the PA to ever turn off the tap. But this excuse is weak tea; funding murder is always wrong, no matter the reason. Nothing could do more to showcase the PA’s moral degeneracy and inaptitude as a partner for peace.
Recently, the international community has started to catch wise to the PA’s misdeeds. In 2018, the U.S. Congress passed the Taylor Force Act—named after an American veteran slain by a Palestinian terrorist—to compel the Palestinian Authority to stop funding this carnage. The law prevents direct U.S. foreign aid from going to the PA so long as the “pay-for-slay” program continues. The PA has lost out on hundreds of millions in funds from the American government.
America cannot lose its nerve on this issue. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited both Jerusalem and Ramallah on his trip to Israel this week. We can only pray that he raised the matter of the terrorist slush fund with PA President Mahmoud Abbas. We also hope that the Biden administration will not backslide on enforcement of the Taylor Force Act, which some falsely criticize as unduly hamstringing the PA. Since 2018, the PA has spent over $1 billion on payments to terrorists and their families. In parallel, as a direct result of its “pay-for-slay” policy, the PA has lost billions in foreign aid. The lives of millions of Palestinians would have been greatly improved had those monies been used for better purposes. Not a dime of American money—nor for that matter, those of our Western allies—should go to the PA until it discontinues this obscene program.
William Daroff is Chief Executive Officer of the Conference of Presidents.
This piece was published in Newsweek on February 9, 2003. To view the original or listen to it online, click here.
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