Israeli campaign to end enabling of Palestinian terror funding gains steam

“Stop Being Suckers” campaign backs bill that would end a NIS 1.15 billion Palestinian terror incentive scheme.

A broad coalition of Israeli organizations announced the launch of the “Stop Being Suckers” campaign in support of a pending bill in the Knesset that will stop transfers of taxes and customs that the Israeli government collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and which are used to pay salaries and other benefits to terrorist and their families.

The campaign is led by the Koby Mandell Foundation, the Forum of Bereaved Families, the Choosing Life Forum, the Forum of American Victims of Palestinian Terror, and individual terror victims and their families.

The bill enjoys the support of Members of Knesset (MKs) from nearly every party in the Knesset.

“It is unconscionable that Israel supports terror through the collection and transfer of more than NIS 1 billion each year to the PA that is being used as a reward and incentive for the murder of Israeli citizens,” stated Shai Maimon, one of the initiators of the campaign.

“The very weapon used to murder my friend Malachi Rosenfeld and to injure me was paid for with PA money given each month as a stipend to a terrorist that was released from prison – all under Israel’s auspices,” he added.

The Knesset bill is similar to the Taylor Force Act, which is on its way to becoming law in the US after a nearly-two-year effort.  The Act was inspired by the murder of Taylor Force, a West Point Graduate and United States Army veteran, in Tel Aviv in March of 2016.

The Israeli bill is set to be brought forward next Monday at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and it could be up for a vote in the Knesset plenum by midweek.

“Support for this critical bill crosses party and coalition lines, and for good reason – it is just, necessary and well overdue,” said MK Elazar Stern.  “The blood of the innocent cries out to us – we must change this disgraceful and dangerous policy.  Now is the time to end it and stop being suckers.”

“The moment a terrorist commits an act of terror and is arrested or killed, at that moment exactly, he becomes a public servant of the Palestinian Authority and starts collecting a salary – and that is what makes this whole story so absurd,” explained MK Avi Dichter of Likud, who also is sponsoring the bill. “Seven percent of the money that we transfer to the PA goes to terrorists. We cannot allow this.”

The bill was initiated by MK Elazar Stern of the Yesh Atid party and is sponsored by MKs Avi Dichter and David Bitan of Likud, Bezalel Smotrich of Jewish Home, Moshe Gafni of United Torah, Omer Bar-Lev and Eyal Ben Reuven of the Zionist Union, Roy Folkman of Kulanu, Robert Ilatov of Yisrael Beiteinu, and Ya’akov Margi of Shas.

Courtesy: Stop Being Suckers campaign