'Pay for Slay' - When Will It End?
Back in 1982, when Israel was fighting the First Lebanon War and was close to wiping out the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), US President Ronald Reagan sent several requests to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to not destroy the PLO. Reagan wanted to make a deal for peace between the PLO, who had terrorized Israel for years, and the State of Israel, whom the PLO had sworn in their Charter to wipe off the face of the earth.
Eleven years later, in September 1993, Israel entered into the 'Oslo Peace Accords' with the PLO (which turned the operations over to the newly established Palestinian Authority [PA/PLO]), with the US acting as broker. The PA'PLO has not moved a bit since the beginning of the Oslo process (except to take land and money). They have violated almost every aspect of the agreement, continued their terrorism -- now from inside of Israel, and misused billions of dollars given to them by other nations. They even pay salaries to jailed terrorists and their families ... for life.
Incredibly, an international terrorist organization, which was once a bunch of ragtag terrorists blowing up planes and kidnapping Jews, has become an international power, recognized as a "people" and a "state" yet its terrorist ways have never changed. In fact, its terrorist operations, which are now done in plain sight, are financed by many nations of the world, including the United States and Britain. The PA/PLO has been given legitimacy by powerful international organizations, such as the United Nations and the European Union. They are directly financing the terrorist attacks in Israel made against Jews, Israeli citizens, and foreigners.1
When will the madness end? When will nations stop financing the terrorism of the PLO, Fatah, and others? When will the Israeli government wake up and take control of its destiny? It has been said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result". This is the very definition of what the United States, United Nations, European Union, Israel, and the PA/PLO have done for the past 25 years and they have accomplished nothing! If anything, it has led to more terrorist attacks and murders by the PA, the PLO, Fatah, and its supporters.
Financing Terrorism
As I mentioned before, the PA/PLO provides a monthly salary for terrorists (from its so-called "Martyrs Fund") in Israeli prisons, which continues till their death, inside or outside of prison. The more time they serve the more money they receive each month. In addition, each member of the terrorist's family receive a small amount each month. For those terrorists killed during the attack, the PA/PLO provides a monthly stipend to each member of the terrorist's family for life.
"The PA salaries ["Pay for Slay"] to terrorist prisoners rose by 13% from $135 million in 2016 to $158 million in 2017, and the expenditure for payments to families went up by 4% from $183 million to $197 million. In 2017, the PA’s total expenditure for directly funding terror is $355 million."2 The PA announced in March 2018 it had increased its payments to terrorists and their families by nearly $56 million, to $403 million. There were 6,300 prisoners as of July 2017. The total number of families receiving the "Pay for Slay" payments in 2017 was 26,700.
The PA/PLO argues that withholding these payments would cause great suffering for the citizens under PA/PLO rule. However, the majority of the citizens under PA/PLO rule do not receive these payments. And of course there is the usual consortium of humanitarian organizations protesting these laws. But what is so astonishing about this is the lackadaisical way it is all being accepted by the nations of the world.
Is anyone really able to actually comprehend that? Think about it for a moment ... let it sink in. Several nations of the world, including the United States and members of the European Union, are actually paying millions of dollars to terrorists to kill Israeli citizens and others. Though it's indirect, they are, nevertheless, providing the funding. (The US tries to get around this by paying another organization that, in turn, pays the PA/PLO.)
There is an eerie resemblance of another time in history. The world didn't care much back then either. While not (as of yet) as bad as the time before, this time it is not being hidden. And this time the terrorists are murdering Jews on the streets of their own country. Unfortunately, it was the Israeli government who invited their sworn enemies to join them in the Land. And antisemitism is once again on the rise around the world. And, once again, most of the world turns its back on Israel and the Jewish people. Most people can't even see the rising antisemitism in the world today.
David Feith, writing for the Wall Street Journal, has a bone to pick with the US government’s "willful blindness" towards American taxpayer money being used for 'Palestinian' terror stipends.
"No U.S. official can plead ignorance. 'Palestinian' law has sanctioned these payments since at least 2004, specifying how much money is earned depending on the circumstances of the attacker and the body count. A 'Palestinian' from Israel with a wife and children who kills many people and dies in the act, or is captured and sentenced to more than 30 years in prison, earns the most. Single, childless attackers from the "West Bank" [Judea and Samaria] or Gaza earn less. The intentions are clear.
'Palestinian' leaders once tried to obscure their payments by characterizing them as "assistance" rather than "salaries." They also shifted nominal responsibility from the Palestinian Authority (PA/PLO), which takes donations from foreign governments, to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which doesn't. But this was a sham, as bath bodies are run by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party."
At the present time Israel and the United States are in the process of passing laws against giving money to the PA/PLO for its "Slay for Pay" program. In 2016 the US introduced the Taylor Force Act3. The bill has cleared the House and the Senate is next. President Trump promises his signature. Israel's version of the law would withhold a billion shekels in tax payments to the PA/PLO, equal to the sum paid by Ramallah to terrorists and their families. The bill was originally submitted on March 2017 but, as of March 11, 2018, it has yet to pass all the committees. "In the current situation, there is an incentive for terrorism, which only pushes away peace," Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern said. "Palestinians have said when they were interrogated that they continued terrorism in order to go to jail and get more money."4
The proposed laws have been in discussion for two years in the US and one year in Israel. So what is the holdup? What can possibly be more important than stopping the financing of killing Jews and others? Appeasing world political leaders? Being "politically correct"? These are human lives we are talking about. But then again, for the most part, they are just Jews.
UPDATE: On Friday, March 23, 2018, "US President Donald Trump signed into law ... legislation that cuts some aid to the 'Palestinians' until they end stipends to terrorists and the families of slain attackers" (Times of Israel). The real question is will the US really cut the amount of funding the PA/PLO gives to terrorists and their families? I guess time will tell.
Footnotes
- Casualties from Terrorism in Israel, 1948-2017
- "Palestinian Authority “Pay for Slay” Fact Sheet" (Endowment for Middle East Truth)
- H.R.1164 - Taylor Force Act
- "Palestinians increase payments to terrorists to $403 million", Jerusalem Post, March 6, 2018
[ Lee Underwood | Published: March 22, 2018 ]