Israeli Gov’t Seizes Terrorists’ Bank Accounts

Israeli Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett announced that the government will seize the bank accounts of Arab-Israeli terrorists who receive salaries from the Palestinian Authority for committing heinous crimes.

By Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch

Two days ago, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported that the salaries that Israeli-Arab terrorist prisoners receive from the Palestinian Authority are illegal under Israeli law. In addition, PMW noted that as Israeli citizens, the terrorists should also have been paying income tax on their monthly salaries.

PMW concluded: “The money has been paid and is paid to the terrorists must be seized relying on the rules regarding tax evasion and anti-terror financing laws.”

This morning, Israel’s Minister of Defense, Naftali Bennett, announced that he was doing just that.

So far the Israeli government action was limited to the bank accounts of a limited number of terrorists. But with the information available to the Israeli authorities, additional seizing of terror reward money from Israeli Arab terrorists can be expected.

Earlier this year, the Israeli government likewise acted soon after a PMW report. On January 24, 2019, PMW announced our calculations that the PA had paid 502 million shekels as salaries to terrorist prisoners in 2018, and that under the new Israeli law, Israel had to deduct this amount from the tax transfers Israel makes the Palestinian Authority in 2019.

Less than a month later, on February 17, 2019, Israel’s Security Cabinet announced that it would be deducting exactly that amount during the course of 2019 from the funds designated for transfer to the Palestinian Authority.

PMW continues to be the world leader exposing ethical, moral, and criminal violations by the Palestinian Authority which are the true impediments to peace. These PMW disclosures have led to international condemnations and financial measures against the PA, not only by Israel, but by many governments around the world, causing significant political and financial consequences to the PA.