Ambassador Friedman slammed the Palestinian Authority’s incitement to terror, saying it’s the reason there is no peace in the Middle East.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman criticized the Palestinians for the terror attack on Tuesday in which a terror cell shot and killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach, saying, “look no further to why there is no peace.”
“An Israeli father of six was killed last night in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists. Hamas praises the killers and PA laws will provide them financial rewards. Look no further to why there is no peace,” Friedman tweeted Wednesday.
He added that he was “praying for the bereaved Shevach family.”
Palestinian terrorists killed Shevach, a resident of Havat Gilad in northern Samaria, in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday night. Raziel, a father of six, was 35.
The Hamas terror group praised the attack, welcoming the “heroic act which serves as a response to Israel’s crimes against our people in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque. All plans to weaken our resistance will fail. Israel’s government bears responsibility for the ramifications and outcome of its racist and extreme policies.”
Hamas spokesman Hussam Badaran said the terror attack “was a slap in Israel’s face after [President Donald] Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, stated after the attack that “there is no justification for terror and those who condone it, praise it or glorify it. This is not the path to peace! The perpetrators of yesterday’s attack must be brought to justice.”
Friedman was referring to a report released by Israel’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday, which detailed the Palestinian payment system to Palestinian terrorists and their families.
According to Palestinian law, the more heinous the act of terror committed, the greater the reward. Specifically, terrorists sentenced to three to five years in prison receive from the Palestinian government $580 per month, which equals the average Palestinian income. The PA pays terrorists sentenced to 20 years or more in prison over $2,800 per month.
The report shows that in 2017 alone, the Palestinian Authority (PA) compensated terrorists and their next of kin to the tune of more than $347 million.
Israel is currently discussing a bill that calls for sanctioning the PA for its funding of terror, which gives an incentive to murder.