One theory why fugitives didn’t resist arrest – their salaries

PMW: The money the four terrorists are making in the Pay for Slay program while sitting in prison makes it worthwhile staying alive.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

There are 3,728,600 reasons why the four fugitives who were recaptured over the weekend after they broke out of Gilboa Prison last week did not resist arrest, an Israeli NGO that reports on the Palestinian Authority’s glorification of terror speculated Monday.

Palestinian Media Watch calculated that this is the minimum sum in shekels (over a million dollars) that the terrorists have been paid while sitting in Israeli jails for their crimes, according to the sliding scale in the PA’s official Pay for Slay program.

The most veteran prisoner of the four, Mahmoud Ardah, has been in prison for almost 25 years while serving a life sentence plus 15 years for his attacks on and murder of Israeli soldiers.  In eight days, when he reaches the quarter-century mark in jail, his “salary” will automatically jump 25%, from NIS8,000 to NIS10,000 per month. He has already received NIS1,156,000 for his crimes.

The second-highest paid is his brother, Muhammad, who will hit the 20-year incarceration mark next May after having been involved in a suicide bombing on a bus that killed three and wounded nine Israelis in November 2001. At that point he will get a raise from his current NIS7,000/month. All together he has been awarded just over NIS900,000 to date.

Two of the others have completed 19 and 15 years in prison after having murdered a Jewish civilian apiece and have been paid nearly NIS832,000 and NIS687,000 respectively for their efforts.

These high monthly wages for murderers are codified in Palestinian law, when the average salary of a Palestinian working for the PA is NIS2,587. The monthly wage is even lower in the private sector, standing at NIS2,171, the PMW report said.

The conclusion is inescapable, according to report author Adv. Maurice Hirsch.

“If you are a Palestinian who has to choose between actually working for a living or participating in terrorist activities and receiving a huge PA-funded salary, the sound financial choice would be clear,” he wrote.

Of course, room and board are free, there are televisions to watch for entertainment, and prisoners may take correspondence courses and graduate college, all courtesy of the Israeli taxpayer.

The Israeli government passed a law in 2018 deducting the amount of money that the PA gives to jailed terrorists and the families of those killed in the commission of terror offenses, from the taxes it collects on the PA’s behalf. The law has not been followed to the letter, but even when money has been deducted, much of it is eventually given back in various ways. Last month, for example, Defense Minister Benny Gantz offered to give the PA a so-called NIS500 million loan after meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Gilboa PrisonPalestinian Authoritypay-for-slaySecurity prisoners