The Palestinian Authority is funding and incentivizing the murder of Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which has crafted an image for itself as a bureaucratic, moderate, pragmatic and civilian-led Palestinian government, certainly when compared to its rival Palestinian organization, Hamas, plays an active role in the armed struggle against Israel in multiple ways, including the administration of a well-oiled and well budgeted economic apparatus designed to incentivize organized as well as random acts of terror perpetrated by Palestinians against innocent Israelis. This is the “Pay for Slay” apparatus.

➢ According to Palestinian law, which designates the terrorists as “the Palestinian people’s combat wing”, imprisoned terrorists are rewarded on a sliding scale, based on the number of years they are serving in prison. Upon their 30th year in prison, their salaries reach $3,750 USD per month, equivalent to the salary of the President of the Palestinian Supreme Court, and eight times the average minimum salary in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria (“the West Bank”). It is also 4 times the per capita average monthly salary earned by Palestinians. This annual per capita salary is surpassed by only 17 countries.

➢ Incarcerated terrorists who were released after having served more than 5 years in prison continue receiving a salary, even after their release, as well as a one-time release payout ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.

➢ PA law mandates employing released terrorists in government agencies in order to provide them with permanent financial security, including fully subsidized healthcare and education. It also confers to them priority employment placements across government ministries.

➢ Furthermore, the PA provides compensation, in the form of monthly allowances, through the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to the families of the “martyrs” (terrorists, who were killed during terror operations).

➢ On average, the PA spends about $300 million USD every year on this, an amount equivalent to about 7% of its annual budget during most of the surveyed years, and almost half of the foreign financial aid it receives from donor countries and other contributors.

➢ Approximately 5,000 prisoners, 7,200 released prisoners, as well as 37,500 families of the
“martyrs” and wounded terrorists, benefit from the cash allowances and employment opportunities provided through this policy.

➢ To appreciate the gross incongruity in priorities, in 2018, the budget of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is budgeted for 5 million inhabitants, stood at $530 million USD ($112 USD per capita per year), while the terror apparatus budget, which serves 12,200 5 Terrorists in the Civil Service incarcerated and released prisoners, and 37,500 family members of “martyrs” and wounded terrorists, that constitute a fraction of the population, stands at $370 million USD ($8,820 USD per capita per year).

➢ Among the terrorists receiving these benefits are Omar Abu Jalal, who murdered three members of the Solomon family and is expected to receive about $2.04 million USD throughout his lifetime; Abdel Hakim Asi, who murdered Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal, and is expected to receive a similar amount; and Amjad and Hakim Awad who murdered the five members of the Fogel family and sentenced to 5 life sentences and another 7 years in prison, and each is expected to receive a combined $4.26 million USD over the course of their lives.

➢ Terrorism is considered a legitimate and primary tool in fulfilling the PLO’s and PA’s ultimate goal of establishing a Palestinian state while eliminating the State of Israel. In this context, the PA views the cash incentives and employment preferences as constituting an important element in institutionalizing its terror apparatus.

➢ This is the Palestinian Authority’s explicitly, defined policy as expressed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who called the “martyrs” “stars in the sky of the Palestinian nation’s struggle,” who are the “top Palestinian priority,” and who stressed, on several occasions including to the UN General Assembly, that “even if we were left with just one penny, we would pay it to the families of the martyrs and prisoners.”