It’s time to terminate the PA’s terrorist payment program

The following is an op-ed that I wrote, which appeared in The Jerusalem Post on April 18, 2021, regarding the Palestinian Authority’s ‘pay to slay’ program in light of the news that the United States intends to restore aid to the PA:

It’s time to terminate the PA’s terrorist payment program

It was around 10 p.m. on March 11, 2011 when Hakim Maazan Niad Awad and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad jumped a fence and infiltrated the Israeli community of Itamar. After stealing an M-16 rifle and ammunition from an empty house, the two Palestinian terrorists entered the Fogel home, where they stabbed to death Udi, 36, and Ruth, 35, Fogel, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months. Two other children – Ro’ie, 8, and Yishai, 2 – were spared because the terrorists did not notice them sleeping in another room.

The brutal murder of five members of the Fogel family by terrorists who set out to kill Jews was a heinous crime that shocked the conscience of the world and earned global condemnation. Regrettably, the Palestinian Authority (PA) viewed the terrorists not as assassins, but as heroes.

It is difficult not to recall these barbaric murders after learning that the United States is restoring over a quarter of a billion dollars to the Palestinians. Instead of willingly providing the Palestinians with a financial windfall, the US should have demanded the cessation of the PA’s reprehensible practice of paying terrorists before releasing any funds.

Ten years after the horrific attack on the Fogel family, the killers are enjoying a pay raise courtesy of the PA, which has increased the payments it makes to them by 50%. According to Palestinian Media Watch, the Awads, who are serving life sentences in an Israeli prison, have received $1,203 monthly. With the raise, they will now get $1,806 per month. In the ten years since they murdered the Fogels, the terrorists have each received over $100,000.

The PA’s practice of rewarding terrorists who attack Israelis by remunerating their families through its infamous ‘pay to slay’ system is abhorrent and unconscionable. Irrespective of whether the PA compensates families of incarcerated terrorists based on the length of their prison sentence or on their financial well-being, the underlying structure of these repugnant payments is predicated on venerating terrorists and espousing further violence. The PA’s program not only condones terrorism; it unabashedly incentivizes it, and that incitement plays a deadly role in the tragic tale of terror in the Middle East.

An inordinate amount of money has been squandered over the years on terror-related expenditures through this outrageous terrorist compensation program. The PA may have paid as much as $181 million in 2020, as was recently acknowledged by Qadri Abu Bakr, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Commissioner for Prisoners’ Affairs, to The Times of Israel. Approximately 7,500 Palestinian terrorists released from prison receive these payments, as well as 4,500 others who are still incarcerated. Over seven percent of the PA’s budget goes toward the ‘pay to slay’ system.

A 2018 law that requires Israel to deduct the cost of the terrorists’ salaries from the tax revenues it collects monthly for the PA has not deterred the PA from continuing its despicable program, thereby signaling that Mahmoud Abbas and his government would rather pay terrorists than accept much-needed funds that they could theoretically use to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

Furthermore, the Taylor Force Act, named for an American military veteran murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 2016, explicitly prohibits the US from providing monetary assistance that directly benefits the PA unless it revokes its ‘pay to slay’ system, among other measures intended to curb terrorism. Despite the restrictions on foreign aid that result from compensating terrorists, the PA has steadfastly refused to end its contemptible practice.

The announcement that the United States is restoring approximately a quarter of a billion dollars to the Palestinians raises serious questions. Why would the US send such a substantial amount of money when the PA continues paying terrorists? Why would they send $150 million through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has a long and troubling history of engaging in antisemitic and anti-Israel behavior? Why would the US not insist on a commitment from the PA to end its incitement of terrorism, and demand that Palestinian schools stop indoctrinating students with antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments?

Moreover, how is the US sending money to the Palestinians in light of the Taylor Force Act? Even if the funds are not sent directly to the PA, the money is going to Palestinian entities and organizations that have direct ties to, and may very well operate as an extension of, the PA.

Until such time as the PA stops glorifying martyrdom and lionizing terrorists, it must be taken to task by the international community. The termination of the PA’s government-sanctioned sponsorship of terrorism must be a prerequisite before any more foreign aid dollars can flow to the Palestinians. Inaction in the face of this shameful practice is moral malpractice and a dereliction of diplomatic duty.

The writer is the principal of Red Apple Strategies, LLC, a public relations and strategic communications firm, and has extensive experience in the Jewish nonprofit world. Follow him on Twitter: @troodler