The report describes the P.A. as lacking legitimacy among Palestinians and failing to maintain control over its territories, with parts falling under Hamas’s influence.

By JNS

The Palestinian Authority is unfit to govern the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a new report by the Kohelet Policy Forum.

The 112-page report, authored by attorneys Yishai Rivlin, Yigal Ram, Boaz Ha’etzni and Noga Arbel, presents a critical analysis of the P.A.’s ideology and actions. It concludes that the P.A. promotes a culture of terror and jihad rather than fostering peaceful coexistence.

The report, titled, “Why the Palestinian Authority Must Not Rule Gaza,” highlights that the P.A.’s education system indoctrinates children with hatred toward Israel and Jews, using textbooks and educational programs to portray Israel as an enemy.

Furthermore, the P.A. consistently refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, omitting it from official maps and labeling Israeli cities as Palestinian. This refusal is seen as a fundamental barrier to peace efforts.

The report, which can be read in its full Hebrew version here, also accuses the P.A. of actively encouraging terrorism by praising terrorists, hosting commemorative events in their honor and providing financial incentives through salaries to imprisoned terrorists and their families. These payments are viewed as significant motivators for continued violence and antithetical to peace.

Additionally, the report describes the P.A. as lacking legitimacy among Palestinians and failing to maintain control over its territories, with parts falling under Hamas’s influence.

Systemic human rights violations and corruption further undermine its credibility as a governing body.

The authors warn that allowing the P.A. to govern Gaza without significant ideological changes could result in another terrorist entity on Israel’s southern border, echoing concerns from post-2005 when Israel withdrew from Gaza, leading to increased Hamas control.

From a human rights perspective, the report argues that P.A. governance would not improve conditions for Gazans but rather perpetuate existing abuses.

The report, which was written in September but first made public by Israel National News on Tuesday, includes findings that have been echoed by some Israeli Knesset members who have likewise come out against proposals involving the P.A. in governing Gaza.

Among the reasons given by the MKs were doubts regarding the feasibility of armed P.A. officers working alongside the Israeli military.

Despite U.S. assertions made in September regarding the P.A.’s commitment to peace, ongoing terror attacks claimed by Fatah militias cast doubt on these commitments’ sincerity.

Talks between the P.A. and Hamas that took place in Cairo toward the end of September regarding a unity government for Gaza further complicate the situation, as such a government would result in Hamas still being in control of the Strip in some fashion or another after the war.

The Kohelet Policy Forum’s report becomes even more relevant amid the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and continued efforts by the U.S. government to bring about an end to the conflict in Gaza as well.

The report’s findings underscore the need for substantial reforms within the P.A. before it can be considered a viable governing body in the Gaza Strip.

The post Israeli experts deem the PA unfit to govern in Gaza appeared first on World Israel News.

In Judea and Samaria unemployment is 10%, in Gaza, however, the figure stands at 46%.

By Troy O. Fritzhand, The Algemeiner

The economy of the Gaza Strip has been ravaged by the Hamas terror group, whose years-long rule over the Palestinian enclave has devastated the lives of the local population independent of Israeli military operations, according to a new study.

The Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli think tank, released a new report showing the detrimental impact that Hamas has had on the livelihoods of Palestinians in Gaza.

According to the study — titled “The Palestinian Economy and Palestinian Workers on the Eve of the Iron Swords War” — gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Gaza was roughly the same as that in the West Bank in 2005 at $17,700, right before Israel fully withdrew all its soldiers and civilian settlers from Gaza.

Once the withdrawal occurred, however, GDP per capita dropped drastically, falling to $5,500, or only about 30 percent of GDP in the West Bank.

The numbers since then have only gotten worse in Gaza, where the unemployment rate has skyrocketed, reaching well above even the high rate in the West Bank.

For the 25-34 age range, for example, the unemployment rate for Palestinians in the West Bank is 10 percent. In Gaza, the figure stands at 46 percent.

In the 35-44 and 45-54 age ranges, according to the study, Palestinians in the West Bank have an unemployment rate at around 6 percent, while in Gaza it is more than 20 percent.

For women in Gaza, unemployment across age groups sits around 25 percent on average.

The study also pointed out the massive impact that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which the terrorist group launched with its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, has had on both Gaza and the West Bank.

Economic activity in Gaza is down 87 percent, while in the West Bank it has decreased by 24 percent, which the study said is “a result of the cancellation of work permits for over 90 percent of the Palestinian workers employed in Israel.”

Following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, when Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, killed over 1,200 people, and took 253 others as hostages, Israel for security reasons canceled the permits of more than 130,000 workers, including many in the construction industry — a move that has also hurt Israel.

In sum, the new report painted a bleak picture of what Hamas’ brutal rule has inflicted upon Gazans, as well as the intense work that will be needed to rebuild Gaza once the war ends. Israel has made clear that any post-war arrangement in Gaza must not include Hamas in power.

The post How Hamas destroyed Gaza’s economy appeared first on World Israel News.

Arthur Dantchik announces he will no longer fund Kohelet Forum, saying it’s “time for Israel to focus on healing and national unity.”

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

After intense protests and backlash from left-wing activists, an American-Jewish philanthropist will no longer fund an organization that helped develop the framework for the ongoing judicial reform legislation.

Arthur Dantchik, who is worth some $7.5 billion, came under fire from opponents of the judicial reform due to his financial support for the Kohelet Forum, a right-wing think tank that is ideologically aligned with the Likud and Religious Zionist parties.

“Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people,” Dantchik said in a statement to Calcalist, after announcing that he would cease funding to the group.

“Nevertheless, when a society becomes dangerously fragmented, people must come together to preserve democracy. I stopped donating to think tanks in Israel, including the Kohelet Policy Forum. I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity.”

Dantchik, who is notoriously protective of his privacy and has never given a media interview, was subject to months of public protests due to his financial contributions to the group.

היי קהלת
הפרצוף של ארתור דנצ’יק, התורם שלכם, פורסם היום בעיתון היהודי הגדול בפילדלפיה.
הקהילה היהודית המומה לגלות מי עומד מאחורי ההפיכה המשטרית בישראל שהם כל כך אוהבים.
Good morning, Arthur Dantchik – the man who promotes the judicial coup in Israel by funding Kohelet. pic.twitter.com/3FI1y3kHmb

— Shany Granot-Lubaton (שני גרנות-לובטון) (@ShanyGranot) March 30, 2023

Left-wing activists held noisy protests outside of his offices in the Philadelphia area as well as at his home and synagogue in an attempt to pressure him to cease funding to the Kohelet Forum.

One protest at Dantchik’s office was so disruptive that police were called to the scene. Officers threatened to arrest demonstrators in the building’s lobby unless they left the premises.

In March 2023, an umbrella group of anti-judicial reform activists took out a full page ad in a Philadelphia-area newspaper. The ad featured Dantchik’s face under the word “Shame!” and a caption that read, “Neither you nor your children will bear the consequences for the disastrous agenda you’re promoting in our country. Get your hands off our democracy!”

Notably, the group that paid for the ad, UnXeptable, is composed of Israeli expats, all of whom live abroad and many of whom have not lived in the Jewish state for years.

The post After ongoing harassment, American billionaire cuts funding to right-wing Israeli group appeared first on World Israel News.

Left-wing teacher plays victim after writing condescending letter to graduating student, framing his support for judicial reform as troubling and claiming that he doesn’t support Israeli democracy.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A high school civics teacher opposed to potential reforms to Israel’s judicial system wrote a letter to a student upon his graduation, revealing her deep biases against the legislation and expressing her “concern” for the pupil due to his support for the measure.

Muscat Mendelson, who graduated from Leo Baeck High School in Haifa earlier in June, is in favor of reforms to the Israeli legal system, and has made his views clear during discussions and debates in his civics class.

But his former teacher, Orly Picker, framed Mendelson’s support for the reforms, along with his admiration for the right-wing think-tank Kohelet Forum, as “radical and intolerant.”

‘I have had some question marks about you’

“In the last few months, I have had some question marks about you,” Picker wrote to Mendelson in a letter, which he distributed to Hebrew-language media.

Mendelson’s “adherence to the policies of the Kohelet Forum, the serious consideration of the false propaganda on [right-wing news station] Channel 14, the extreme positions you began to voice, the completely unfounded criticism of the Supreme Court and of the retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Prof. Aharon Barak, deeply disappoint me,” Picker wrote.

“I find it difficult to accept your adoption of radical and intolerant positions. I so hope that you will delve into the facts and that you will distance yourself from the intolerant positions you have recently adopted,” she added.

After receiving the letter in the mail alongside his high school diploma, Mendelson contacted his high school principal. The principal spoke with Picker, and she sent him a revised letter “that was even worse,” in Mendelson’s view.

In the new letter, Picker wrote that Mendelson was “critical of Israeli democracy,” implying that he does not support it, and that he supports “a legal revolution.”

Speaking to Hebrew-language media, Picker presented herself as a victim and said she had apologized to Mendelson.

In her statement, she did not acknowledge that framing a student’s views on the legal reform – which are shared by a substantial portion of voters in the country – as “intolerant and radical” was inherently inappropriate.

“The rest of the letter is full of compliments that the student certainly deserves,” Picker told Ynet. “It is not clear to me why, after a week, he chose to contact the media…Unfortunately, I understand that he wanted to hurt me.”

Picker claimed that she had received support from “hundreds of my past and present students, who [praise] my respectful and tolerant approach. I will continue to adhere to my all-important educational mission.”

‘Fascist spirit’

Communications Minister Galit Distel-Atbaryan (Likud) said she does not believe that Picker should be allowed to continue in her current position.

“She should have received a dismissal letter from the Education Ministry today,” Distel-Atbaryan said in a media statement.

“She insulted the student in order to break his spirit…implying in her ‘abuse letter’ that his ‘mental state is worrying.’ She is a bully.

“Anyone who exhibits a fascist spirit cannot be a teacher for citizenship in democratic Israel. She is shallower than her student,” Distel-Atbaryan added.

The Ministry of Education shirked responsibility for the incident, saying that Picker had written the letter outside of school hours and not within her role as a teacher, nor on behalf of a school. Picker was given a stern talking-to by the principal, the Ministry claimed, and did not elaborate on any further disciplinary action.

The post Haifa teacher slams student as ‘radical, intolerant’ for judicial reform support appeared first on World Israel News.

“If this necessary reform doesn’t happen this time, it’ll happen in two years, four years or five years,” says Moshe Koppel, Chair of the Kohelet Forum.

By World Israel News Staff

The head of a right-wing think tank that helped draft the push to reform Israel’s judicial system said that while he is pessimistic the overhaul will be passed in the next session of the Knesset, he believes Israel’s rightward shift in terms of younger voters will ensure that the changes occur eventually.

Moshe Koppel, chairman of the Kohelet Forum, said in a recent interview with JNS published on Twitter that he believes there is a significant possibility that the legislation will fail to be passed in the coming months.

“We surely are going to have to have some kind of judicial reform. [But] I’m a little bit skeptical that we’re going to be able to push judicial reform through in the next session of the Knesset,” Koppel said.

“But, the demographics are obvious. The Right is getting stronger, the religious people who are part of this coalition are having more kids than others, and from a demographic point of view, it looks like the Right is probably only going to get stronger.

“So if this necessary reform doesn’t happen this time, it’ll happen in two years, four years or five years. I don’t know how much damage will be done until then, but it’s going to get done.”

According to the 2022 Israeli Democracy Index, a majority of Israeli Jews (62 percent) identify as politically right-wing. But those numbers spike when looking at Gen Z and Millennial voters.

Seventy-three percent of Israeli Jews between the ages of 18 and 24 and 75 percent of those between 25 and 34 identify with the Right.

Koppel added during the interview that the Kohelet Forum had been in talks with former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who was “interested in their ideas” regarding judicial reform.

She tried to “move the [concept] forward” but was unable “to make much progress” due to political obstacles.

However, new Justice Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman, the head of the Constitution and Law committee, presented a “great opportunity” to advance judicial reform legislation.

“These are two guys who have been interested in judicial reform for years,” Koppel said. “So we had a very receptive audience there, and we brought them our ideas.”

The post Judicial reform may be postponed, but demographics are on the Right’s side: Kohelet Forum head appeared first on World Israel News.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has repeatedly said he will roll back everything on the day he returns to power.

By David Isaac, JNS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a “timeout” on judicial reform to give dialogue a chance. He also promised his supporters that reform will get done. If negotiations fail, and the coalition pushes through reform anyway, the opposition has promised to reverse it once it’s at the helm.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party has repeatedly said, as he did in February at the Knesset, “On the day we return to power, all these changes will be canceled.… We will fight against all this insanity with all our strength.”

Two analysts JNS spoke with, despite holding opposite views about the reform, said that’s unlikely. Russell Shalev of the Kohelet Policy Forum, who supports the reform, and Amichai Cohen of the Israel Democracy Institute, who opposes it, agree that the opposition will not want to give up the reform’s benefits because the reform takes power away from judges and gives it to elected officials. Politicians would, therefore, have an incentive to uphold the new system.

“The basic idea behind all these reform proposals is democratic accountability—increasing the public’s ability to decide on the policies that influence our faith, our politics, our country,” Shalev told JNS. He noted that the most important proposal advanced so far, up until Netanyahu froze the legislative process on Monday, was a bill to change how judges are selected by nullifying judges’ control over the Judicial Selection Committee.

“The reform gives the public [through its elected officials] the ability to appoint judges. So I have a hard time believing that should this be passed in the future, a left-wing government will give up its newfound power to decide who will be the judges,” he said.

Once they receive more power…

Cohen, despite having an unfavorable view of the reforms, believing “they would significantly undermine the identity of Israel as a democratic state,” nevertheless seconded Shalev’s assessment. “Once they receive more power, will politicians be willing to give it up? I don’t think so. They believe that they should be in control and they won’t want to hand it back,” he said, adding that he opposes politicians from either side having “unbalanced, unchecked power.”

Shalev disagreed that politicians will gain unchecked power, noting that elections act as a check. “There is a lot of misinformation about the proposals—how the coalition will have no checks and balances and can do whatever it wants; how giving it the power to choose judges is such a terrible thing. But in a democracy, the coalition today is the opposition tomorrow and the opposition in four years will be the majority. It’ll be the other side that chooses the judges and will be able to promote its policies. There’s nothing here that warrants the apocalyptic rhetoric that we’re hearing.”

Jerome Marcus, an American lawyer who has written extensively on Israel’s legal reform, took a more pessimistic view about the chances reform will stick, even assuming the legislative freeze thaws and the government resumes it. In his scenario, the opposition won’t get a chance to reverse it because the Supreme Court will strike the reform down.

“I don’t know what happens then. There’s no road map here. It’s the very definition of a constitutional crisis,” Marcus told JNS. “But I think the likelihood is very strong that the government would fall and it’s certainly good odds that the next government would not be a government that supported these proposals.

“They probably would be delighted to reverse whatever was enacted, but again I think they won’t have to reverse anything because the Supreme Court will already have struck it down.”

Marcus said he thought the government, and not the court, would fall because cracks had already appeared within the Likud Party before Netanyahu made his announcement calling for a timeout.

While Justice Minister Yair Levin warned the Supreme Court on March 20 that he wouldn’t accept a court decision overturning judicial reform, and was echoed by another architect of the reform, Knesset member Simcha Rothman, Economy Minister Nir Barkat of Likud said a day later he would accept the court’s decision. Other Likud MKs called for a temporary halt to the legislation.

The coalition has a five-vote margin in the Knesset and it won’t hold on to enough MKs to see the battle between the branches through, Marcus predicted. The court, on the other hand, will be of one mind, “which is the problem this reform attempts to address in the first place. They all think alike.”

The post What’s to stop the next government from reversing judicial reform? appeared first on World Israel News.

Russell Shalev, a researcher at the Kohelet Policy Forum which helped draft the judicial reform package being passed by the Netanyahu government, explains what the reforms are and the motivation to have better representation in the judicial system.

The post WATCH: Israel’s judicial reforms explained by think tank behind the plan appeared first on World Israel News.

HonestReporting Executive Director Gil Hoffman says the Kohelet Policy Forum was under pressure to come out in favor of compromise, paving the way for the government to back down from the legislative process.

The post WATCH: Think tank behind Israel’s judicial overhaul calls for compromise appeared first on World Israel News.

“If this isn’t crossing a red line, I don’t know what is.” Six people were arrested.

By World Israel News Staff

Brothers in Arms, a protest group representing reservist soldiers and officers, blocked the entrance of the Kohelet Policy Forum offices in Jerusalem with bags of mortar and barbed wire on Thursday morning.

“The Kohelet Forum is a far-right, nationalist, and messianic organization. They push for a Jewish state that discriminates against women and shrinks democracy to realize their vision of a messianic dictatorship, a dark religious state with apartheid and annexation of the territories,” the protesters claim, as reported by Israel National News.

They shouted ‘Traitor” when Forum director Meir Rubin arrived at the scene.

According to journalist Sara Haetzni-Cohen, My Israel charity organization chairperson, blocking the Kohelet Forum’s offices crosses a red line, Israel National News reported.

“These violent barbarians came to Kohelet’s offices with their faces covered so that no one would recognize them, of course.

“At the Kohelet Forum this morning, there was a young woman working on a research project and as they yelled at her to leave (what were you thinking of doing to her, you bunch of anarchists?); they blocked the entrance with sacks of mortar and barbed wire.

“If this isn’t crossing a red line, I don’t know what is,” Haetzni-Cohen said.

Six people were arrested.

Thursday marked the second weekly “Day of Disruption” in Israel, with tens of thousands of protesters against the government’s planned reforms to Israel’s judicial system blocking major highways, thoroughfares and junctions. They also intended to block Ben-Gurion Airport to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from flying out on a state visit to Italy, but the premier managed to reach the airport via helicopter.

Prof. Moshe Koppel, chairman of Kohelet, is one of the architects of the judicial reform program. In conversation with JNS last week, he explained that contrary to the claims of its opponents, who say that it will strip Israel of its checks and balances, judicial reform would restore the checks and balances that have been stripped away by a court system that has arrogated powers beyond its purview.

יום השיבוש: אנשי מחאת ׳אחים לנשק׳ חסמו את דלת הכניסה למשרדי פורום קהלת בירושלים בשקי מלט pic.twitter.com/3ZtsgI31RF

— חיים גולדברג (@haim_goldberg) March 9, 2023

In New York City, a group of protesters demonstrated in front of the offices of the conservative Tikvah Fund, yelling “Shame” because of its support for Kohelet.

Breaking! Today Israelis and American Jews protested outside the offices of the Tikvah Fund in NY for funding through the anti democracy lobby Kohelet Policy Forum the ongoing coup efforts in Israel. The crowd shouted “Shame! Shame! shame!” In Hebrew and English. pic.twitter.com/IXfmbQqp3P

— Gili Getz #SaveMasaferYatta (@giligetz) March 9, 2023

The post Israeli protesters block entrance to think tank offices with sandbags, barbed wire appeared first on World Israel News.

“There is no legal basis for this disqualification, and it can only be described as a bureaucratic coup designed to cement the court’s authoritarian control of Israel,” says Prof. Eugene Kontorovich.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, a director at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, which has advocated judicial reform in Israel for a decade, sided with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the controversial judicial reforms initiated by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud).

On Wednesday, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara told the prime minister that he cannot be involved in an overhaul of the judicial system, saying it would present a conflict of interests due to his own legal battles.

Netanyahu rejected Baharav-Miara’s decision, arguing that an “independent judiciary doesn’t mean an unbridled judiciary.”

Kontorovich released a statement Thursday, calling the attorney general’s statement “simply absurd.”

“She herself has a massive conflict of interest, as much of the judicial reform restricts the authoritarian power of her office,” he said.

“Unlike the prime minister, she did not just win a decisive election with the public fully informed of all possible conflicts. There is no legal basis for this disqualification, and it can only be described as a bureaucratic coup designed to cement the court’s authoritarian control of Israel.

“If the elected PM can’t reform the Court, it means no one can,” he concluded.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that “in order to secure freedom and democracy, you need the balance between three branches of government. In Israel, that balance has been thrown askew and you have one branch, a huge branch, a tree trunk—the judiciary—basically overcoming, arrogating to itself, the powers of the legislative and the government.”

The prime minister explained that Israel’s Supreme Court justices “self-select,” referring to the fact that judges hold veto power in Israel’s Judicial Selection Committee.

“This is a system we have in Israel. And if I say to you, this is democracy, you’d say that’s ridiculous. It’s unacceptable,” he stated.

He requested two weeks to respond fully to the attorney-general’s decision, which, according to a joint statement by the heads of all the coalition members, flew in the face of the “unambiguous mandate” received by the government in the elections.

Over the past several Saturday nights, an estimated 100,000 left-wing activists, including many waving Palestinian flags, protested against the judicial reforms, claiming they would destroy democracy in Israel.

The post ‘Bureaucratic coup’: Legal expert slams A-G’s ruling against judicial reform, sides with Netanyahu appeared first on World Israel News.

State official says the government is prepared to present existing financial agreements with Ramallah to the High Court of Justice, but only “behind closed doors.”

By Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom via JNS

The Israeli defense establishment and Finance Ministry are operating a secret, extra-budgetary fund, through which money is transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

The fund’s existence was revealed in the state’s response to a petition filed with the High Court of Justice by the Kohelet Policy Forum.

State’s attorney Yael Morag Yako-El wrote that Israel had committed to transferring the Palestinians a “loan” of NIS 100 million (approximately $29 million). “The source of this amount is an extra-budgetary fund managed by the Civil Administration and Finance Ministry’s Budgets Department,” she wrote.

Just one month ago, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee discussed payments to the Palestinians.

The fund was not mentioned despite the attendance of dozens of government representatives, including the Finance Ministry’s Adviser to the Director-General Arava Elfassy, Col. Elad Goren, the head of the Civil Department of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and legal advisers from various ministries.

They answered questions posed to them by parliamentarians concerned that the government was not being entirely forthright regarding certain expenditures. None of the lawmakers and other participants were told about the existence of such a fund, or that it was used to transfer money to the PA.

It should be noted that an extra-budgetary fund is not a common tool used by the government and that creating and managing one requires special approval from the Finance Ministry’s Accountant General.

‘A gross violation of the law’

Although aid agreements between Israel and the PA are supposedly strictly economic in nature, the state insists on not revealing them to the public.

Attorney Yako-El further wrote in her response to the Kohelet Policy Forum’s petition that the state was prepared to present the agreements to the High Court of Justice, but only “behind closed doors, and only to the court.” According to the state, this information, “if revealed, could harm the country’s national security and its foreign relations.”

Attorney Ariel Erlich, who submitted the petition on behalf of the Kohelet Policy Forum, said in response: “We petitioned the High Court of Justice against the transfer of funds because the Finance Ministry refused to reveal the agreements and affirm that all transfers were in accordance with the law.”

“As for the existence of this fund,” Erlich continued, “the Finance Ministry never bothered to inform anyone. Theoretically, this is a gross violation of the law. After all, if the law stipulates what and how you are permitted to transfer to the PA, the state cannot create extra-budgetary funds to bypass this prohibition.”

Erlich believes that this entire episode “reeks of a cover-up,” and insisted that Israelis are entitled to know whether public funds are transferred to “fund [Palestinian] terror through the circumvention of the Knesset’s laws.”

For its part, the Finance Ministry said that the fund in question “is sourced from payments pertaining to the use of lands, including quarries, along with media bodies as well. The sums that are deposited in the fund are earmarked for such matters. It should be noted we have answered questions posed by various Knesset members before, within the relevant contexts, about the loan.”

The post Israel transferring millions to Palestinians via secret ‘extra-budgetary’ fund appeared first on World Israel News.

Jerusalem-based think tank notes unusual Israeli government “loans” and “advance payments” to the PA may have violated Israeli law.

By World Israel News Staff

A Jerusalem-based think tank revealed Monday that the Israeli government may be indirectly funding terror by transferring funds to the Palestinian Authority and that Defense Minister Benny Gantz may have acted outside of the boundaries of the law by providing the PA with “advance payments” and “loans.”

The Kohelet Policy Forum (KPF), a nonprofit organization focused on security and strengthening Israel’s democracy, approached the Israeli government to ask if it deducted PA payments to terrorists and their families before transferring funds to the entity, which is required by Israeli law.

The PA maintains a notorious “pay for slay” policy according to which Palestinians who attempt or commit violent terror attacks against Israelis receive a salary — which the KPF says oftentimes amounts to five times the average monthly wage in PA-controlled areas.

As Gantz has repeatedly engaged in appeasement efforts towards the PA, including reportedly telling PA president Mahmoud Abbas that he strives to be the “next Rabin” and transferring large sums of money to the Authority, some of which occurred ahead of schedule, the KPF’s Litigation Department raised concerns about the non-transparency of these transactions.

It took the Israeli government more than two months to offer a laconic response to KPF’s inquiry. the think tank said.

According to a statement from the KPF, the Finance Ministry simply responded that all the transfers were “done according to the law.”

The Ministry did not attempt to explain the legality of the advancement payments and loans, nor did it offer a legal justification for those transfers.

“As Israel faces another wave of terror, it is preposterous to see our own government appearing to skirt Israeli law to send hush money to the Palestinian Authority,” said Ariel Erlich, director of the Litigation Department at KPF, in a statement.

“We call upon the government to explain how Gantz could transfer funds to the Palestinians while they continue pay for slay.”

“One of Israel’s greatest diplomatic achievements was the United States passing of the Taylor Force Act, which bans U.S. money from going to the Palestinian Authority while they maintain pay for slay,” said Professor Eugene Kontorovich, director of the International Law Department at KPF.

“When Israel breaks its own law to the same effect, it undermines this pillar of American support for Israel,” he added.

The post ‘Hush money’ – Does Gantz indirectly support Palestinian terror funding? appeared first on World Israel News.