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Israel to deduct Palestinians’ payments to Ari Fuld’s killer from PA funds

Israel will withhold the amount paid to Ari Fuld’s murderer from funds earmarked for transfer to the Palestinian Authority.

By: The Algemeiner and World Israel News Staff

Ari Fuld, a dual Israeli-US citizen, was stabbed in the back in the parking lot of a shopping center in the area of Gush Etzion near Jerusalem last week.

He survived long enough to pursue his attacker and shoot him, preventing further casualties.

At the end of the week, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced it would pay a salary to Fuld’s murderer, Youssef Ali Jabarin.

To that end, a PA official told Times of Israel, “We are not bashful or secretive about our support for our prisoners. The [Jabarin] family [will] be eligible to receive a monthly salary of NIS 1,400 ($390), if their son is not freed by Israel and it completes all the necessary documents.”

The Palestinian Authority regularly pays salaries to imprisoned terrorists and their families, as well as the families of terrorists killed while committing attacks. In its 2018 budget, the PA earmarked $355 million for such “pay to slay” payments.

According to Israel’s Channel Two, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon responded on Friday to the PA’s statement regarding compensating Fuld’s killer by confirming that Israel would withhold funds from the PA.

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The US Congress passed a bill in early 2018 that cut American funding to the PA in the amount spent on payments to terrorists. The law was named the Taylor Force Act in memory of the former US Army officer who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv in 2016.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the time that the PA’s 2018 budget was “exactly why we passed the Taylor Force Act.”

In July 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed a similar law, which its sponsor said would force the PA to “gradually understand that terrorism doesn’t pay off.”