by Pesach Benson
PMW comment: In 2011, Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA's pay-for-slay program, by which every imprisoned Palestinian terrorist receives a salary some as high as 12,000 shekels ($3,200)/month, and all families of terrorists killed by Israel receive an immediate grant of 6000 shekels ($1,600) and monthly stipends of 1400 shekels ($373/month) for life. Many court rulings holding the PA responsible and granting financial compensation to Israeli victims of terror and their families are because of the PA's terror rewards, as in today's ruling described below
Nov. 19, 2024 (TPS) -- In a precedent-setting ruling, an Israeli court on Tuesday ordered the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to pay tens of millions of shekels in compensation to victims of a 2001 suicide bombing and their families.
The Jerusalem District Court's ruling is based on a 2022 Supreme Court judgment affirming the PA's liability for damages caused by terrorists. The court's decision is expected to set a precedent, potentially enabling compensation claims by victims of other attacks, including those from the October 7 massacre.
"The ruling is very correct and very important. The Palestinian Authority has been a driving force for terror, certainly since the intifada period. Holding them responsible is both an act of justice as well as an act of deterrence, to deter them from inciting more people to terror," Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch told The Press Service of Israel.
On August 9, 2001, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up inside a busy Sbarro's restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. The blast killed 16 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman. Another 130 people were injured. One of the fatalities, Chana Nachenberg, was comatose for 22 years before dying in 2023.
Under the ruling, victims' families may claim around 10 million shekels ($2.6 million) per fatality. Since 2018, Israel has been withholding funds earmarked for the PA, diverting them to cover debts and legal compensations. These garnished funds are now expected to finance the payouts.
The Palestinian Authority allocates seven percent of its annual budget for its so-called "Martyr's Fund," which provides the stipends. The size of the monthly payouts is primarily determined by the duration of the terrorist's incarceration, with a negligible additional factor based on family size.
Marcus told TPS-IL that the Palestinian Authority has paid around $1.5 million to eight terrorist recipients associated with the Sbarro's bombing...
(PMW Note: The following PMW chart lists the 8 terrorist recipients and the amounts they had received by 2021. As of November 2024, the total has risen to at least: $1,503,257.)
Israeli officials say the stipends provide incentives for terror and regularly offset an equivalent amount from taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the PA. The new law allows families to collect judgments against the PA from the frozen funds.
U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority resumed under the administration of President Joe Biden. In December 2022, American victims of Palestinian terror filed a lawsuit against the President and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, arguing that the payments violate the Taylor Force Act.
Despite claiming to be operating at a 172% budget deficit, [PMW reported that] the Palestinian Authority in July recognized 899 new prisoners from Gaza and tens of thousands more Gaza "martyrs" as eligible for the "pay for slay" payouts.
The attack also became a source of friction between Jordan and the US.
Israel convicted a Palestinian-Jordanian woman, Ahlam Tamimi, for scouting the location of the attack, helping smuggle the bomb into Jerusalem, and escorting the bomber, Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, to the site. She was sentenced to 16 life terms but was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange of 2011. US citizens were among the fatalities and Washington has been seeking Tamimi's extradition.
Tamimi lives freely in Jordan and Amman has refused Washington's extradition requests.
- The Sbarro pizza shop suicide bombing in Jerusalem where a Hamas suicide bomber murdered 15 civilians, 7 of them children, and wounded 130 on Aug. 9, 2001. Ahlam Tamimi, who chose the location for the bombing, explained that she chose Sbarro because knew it would be full of people.
- Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of “Martyrs” from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law’s sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018]. In accordance with the law, as of September 2021, Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) – the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
- Ahlam Tamimi - Palestinian female terrorist who led suicide bomber Izz Al-Din Al-Masri to the Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem where he murdered 15 people, 7 of them children, and wounded 130 on Aug. 9, 2001. Tamimi has explained that she chose Sbarro because she expected it to be full, and she expressed disappointment at initial reports indicating few victims: "They said...there had been a Martyrdom attack at the Sbarro restaurant, and that 3 people were killed... I was a bit disappointed, because I had hoped for a larger toll." Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences, but was released in October 2011 as part of the Shalit prisoner exchange deal between the Israeli government and Hamas. In that deal, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years.
Izz Al-Din Al-Masri
suicide bomber who carried out the Aug. 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, in which 15 civilians were murdered, including 7 children, and 130 wounded. Israel transferred the terrorist’s body to the PA on April 29, 2014.
Pesach Benson
Source: https://palwatch.org/page/35670
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