The Foreign Ministry statement, posted on X, included a picture of a Palestinian Authority court ruling, which PMW claimed ruled in favor of a terrorist prisoner whose pay-for-slay salary had been suspended. This, PMW explained, created a legal precedent for restoring the salaries of 1,600 more prisoners.
“The terrorist’s lawyer told Hebron’s Radio Alam that the PA’s lawyers didn’t contest his entitlement to a salary, instead citing a technical rationale for the suspension,” Palestinian Media Watch wrote on X. “The lawyer countered that Pay-for-Slay is guaranteed under PA law, which was accepted by the court.”
A total of $156 million was paid out to the terrorists and their families, the report said. $126m. was paid to Palestinian terrorists, including those released from Israeli custody, and $30m. was paid to the families of Palestinian terrorists who died committing their acts of terrorism. The PA had promised to give the families a total of $214m.
“The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a different name,” the State Department reported. The report cited information provided by the Israeli government, open-source information, and NGOs.
Payments continued despite PA President Mahmoud Abbas legislating changes to the West Bank’s welfare system last year, shifting payments to a needs-based model rather than stipends scaled to the length of a terrorist’s sentence.
“Despite changing the mechanisms, the PA continued payments and benefits to Palestinian terrorists and their families,” the State Department reported.
Under the Taylor Force Act (2018), Washington is unable to offer economic aid to Ramallah until it ends pay-for-slay payments and its statements of public support for terrorism.
Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.