Will Israel cut Palestinian budget for terror payouts?
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and other Israeli politicians claim that the stipends paid to Palestinian prisoners in Israel and their families constitute incitement to terror.
On Jan. 9, the Israeli Defense Ministry published the total cash stipends in 2017 that the Palestinian Authority (PA) dispensed to the families of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel and to the families of Palestinian assailants either wounded or killed in the course of terror acts against Israel. The information was published as part of a legislative bill proposed by Knesset member Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid. The bill is aimed to prevent the PA from extending cash stipends to terrorists and their families. The government supports the bill.
According to the proposed law, at the end of every year, the defense minister will bring a report to the security Cabinet summarizing the cash stipends that the PA gives to terrorists and their families. This sum will then be deducted from the funds that the PA receives from Israel.
