Site of the 2011 Sbarro terror attack in Jerusalem. (AP/Peter Dejong)
Israel has discovered documents showing that the Palestinian Authority funds and supports convicted terrorists using foreign aid from donor countries, and by doing so fans the flames of violence against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on salaries paid out to convicted and released terrorists. Many of the funds are provided by European governments and the US who support the PA financially.
The PA gives generous monthly salaries and large release grants to incarcerated terrorists. These convicted murderers, tens of whom have already been released from prison by Israel, are receiving monthly salaries of up to nearly $3,500, and grants of up to $25,000.
These terrorist salaries are actually enshrined in PA law. “The Palestinian Prisoners’ Law” stipulates that every Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison who is convicted of a terrorism-related offense receives a monthly salary from the beginning of his imprisonment. There are also a series of additional benefits offered to convicted terrorists upon their release. These salaries are calculated as a function of the number of years spent in prison. Which in effect means that the terrorists who carried out the most horrific attacks receive the highest salaries.
In addition to that salary, the PA covers the living expenses of the prisoners’ families. Those who were in Israeli prisons for criminal offenses do not receive any grants.
It should be noted that the sums bestowed upon these terrorists are large, particularly in contrast to the average monthly salaries of Palestinian workers in the PA-controlled areas.
This is a “well-known secret,” and the issue resurfaced on Tuesday when Israel Radio exposed PA documents that detail the payments and the recipients of these funds. Many of the terrorists supported by the PA are long-term convicts who are responsible for multiple Israeli deaths.
MK Tzachi Hanegbi. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
For instance, Abdallah Barghouti, a Hamas terrorist who is serving 67 life terms for plotting terror attacks and several deadly bombs including the bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in August 2001 that killed 15 Israelis and wounded some 130, has so far been paid several hundreds of thousands of Shekels by the PA.
Ibrahim Hamed, a Hamas terrorist leader serving 54 consecutive life sentences, received NIS 200,000 from the PA.
The list includes PA police officers who turned their guns against Israelis and are now incarcerated in the Israeli prison system.
Ashraf al-Ajrami, a former Palestinian minister for prisoners’ affairs, defended the payments to the murderers, saying the Palestinians view the terrorists as “heroes” and “freedom fighters.”
Responding to the report, Member of Knesset (MK) Tzachi Hanegbi, Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Relations and Security Committee, said that PA head Mahmoud Abbas was promoting terror against Israel by awarding the terrorists with vast sums of money.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel
Sign the Petition to Stop Funding the Palestinian Authority
PA head Abbas and Hamas leader Haniyeh together.
Petition to the United States and European Union
We demand that all funding of the PA be stopped immediately. The brutal murder of Israelis committed by Palestinian terrorists throughout Israel is the latest result of ongoing PA incitement against Israeli citizens. Funding the PA means funding terror.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP FUNDING THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY.