Knesset Members Seek to Block Payments to Terrorists and Their Families

(Ynet News) Amihai Attali - A bipartisan proposal in the Knesset would deduct payments to terrorists and their families from the funds transferred from Israel to the Palestinian Authority. A number of Knesset members with a security background, led by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), recently drafted a bill to cut funds to the Palestinian Authority for its support of terrorism, which was submitted to the Knesset a week ago. The bill states that as funding terrorists is a violation of the Oslo Accords, Israel will deduct from the tax payments it transfers annually to the PA the NIS 1.1 billion the PA transfers to the terrorists. Israel's tax payments to the PA are based on the Paris Agreement - the economic annex to the Oslo Accords - and therefore the two can be linked. "Payments made by the PA to terrorists are not only inciting but also an incentive for terrorist activities," said Stern. "It's a real temptation to murder Jews, and it is our duty to stop this madness immediately." The initiative is also sponsored by former Israel Security Agency head Yaakov Perry (Yesh Atid), Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven (Zionist Union), Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avi Dichter (Likud - a former head of the Israel Security Agency), MK Roy Folkman (Kulanu) and Coalition Chairperson David Bitan (Likud). A document compiled by the Head of the Research Division of the Israel Defense Forces, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, reveals that PA payments to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and to the families of terrorists killed by security forces have increased tens of millions of shekels in recent years. The average monthly salary that an imprisoned terrorist receives is five times the average monthly salary in the PA. Even if the terrorists themselves die, the families of the terrorists receive a grant.


2017-04-05 00:00:00

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