Abbas Reinstates "Pay-for-Slay" Policy

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian Authority of formally restoring and strengthening its “pay-for-slay” policy, citing a Palestinian Media Watch report that said a PA court had ruled in favor of a terrorist prisoner whose salary had been suspended.

In a statement posted Thursday on X, the Foreign Ministry said the ruling could create a legal precedent for restoring payments to around 1,600 additional prisoners.

Palestinian Media Watch said the case involved a terrorist prisoner who challenged the suspension of his PA salary. According to the organization, the prisoner’s lawyer told Hebron’s Radio Alam that PA lawyers did not contest his basic entitlement to payment, instead arguing only that the suspension was based on a technical issue.

The lawyer reportedly argued that pay-for-slay payments are guaranteed under PA law, and the court accepted that argument.

The report comes despite repeated PA claims that it had ended the system of direct payments to terrorists and their families. Last year, PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced changes to the welfare mechanism in Judea and Samaria, presenting the new model as needs-based rather than tied to the length of a prisoner’s sentence.

Israel and watchdog groups have argued that the change was cosmetic and that payments continued through renamed or restructured channels. Because apparently changing the label on a terror stipend is supposed to make everyone forget how money works. Charming little exercise in bureaucratic laundering.

A US State Department report submitted to Congress last month reached a similar conclusion, saying the PA continued to provide compensation that supports terrorism “through new mechanisms and under a different name.”

According to that report, the PA paid $156 million to terrorists and their families. Of that amount, $126 million went to Palestinian terrorists, including those released from Israeli custody, while $30 million went to families of terrorists who died while carrying out attacks. The PA had reportedly promised families a total of $214 million.

The issue has long been a major obstacle in relations between Ramallah, Washington and Jerusalem. Under the 2018 Taylor Force Act, the United States is barred from providing certain economic aid to the Palestinian Authority until it ends payments to terrorists and their families and stops public support for terrorism.

Israel argues that the payment system incentivizes terror by rewarding attackers and their families based on imprisonment, death or involvement in attacks. The PA has defended the payments as social support for prisoners and families, but the latest court ruling appears to strengthen claims that the system remains legally embedded inside PA institutions.