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Israel halts PA payments to 8 Israeli-Arab terrorists: ‘Jewish blood will no longer be profitable’

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“We are acting to ensure that Jewish blood will no longer be financially profitable,” said Defense Minister Bennett. 

By David Jablinowitz, World Israel News

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett signed an order of seizure on Wednesday to collect hundreds of thousands of shekels received by eight Israeli-Arab terrorists and their families from the Palestinian Authority (PA) as monthly stipends for their terror activity, the minister’s office said in a statement.

“It relates to Israeli citizens convicted of terror offenses, five of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment,” said the statement.

The minister’s office says the “direct” action against terrorists is unprecedented, as opposed to punishing the self-rule Palestinian Authority.

In July 2018, the Knesset passed a law requiring the government to deduct the amount that the PA pays out to convicted terrorists from the taxes and tariffs that Israel collects for the Authority.

The U.S. Congress also acted against the PA’s “pay for slay” handouts.

The Palestinian payments “give an economic incentive to carry out terror attacks,” said the defense minister’s statement.

“This is another step in the campaign against the terrorists,” said Bennett. “We are acting to ensure that Jewish blood will no longer be financially profitable,” he added, vowing to take additional moves.

The defense minister’s statement said that the order was signed following preparatory work conducted by his ministry in tandem with the Shin Bet security agency, Israel Police, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, and other bodies.

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The attacks in which the terrorists affected by the defense minister’s order were involved include a bombing in Tel Aviv in which 23 people were killed, a bus bombing which claimed the lives of nine people, and deadly attacks against IDF soldiers. They were carried out as far back as 1984 and into the early 2000s, according to the statement

One of the terrorists was sentenced to life for operating as one of the leaders of an Israeli Arab terror cell and carrying out a string of serious attacks against Israelis, says the defense ministry.