EU probe into Palestinian Authority shows violations of 'pay-for-slay' ban - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

The pay-for-slay program by the PA was said to have ended in February earlier this year, after President Mahmoud Abbas had signed a decree canceling it.

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (not pictured) meet at Chigi Palace, in Rome, Italy, November 7, 2025.

(photo credit: REUTERS/REMO CASILLI)

 

The Palestinian Authority may still be carrying out its 'pay-for-slay' policy of Palestinian terrorists by means of "bypass channels," according to a Tuesday exclusive by Euronews.

The "pay-for-slay" program, also known as the "Martyrs' Fund," was reportedly ended in February after PA President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree canceling it. The announcement was met with much European approval.

The Euronews report cites Brussels as saying that no EU funding has any part in the PA program, and that the EU, alongside the US and Israel, has criticized the "pay-for-slay" program for rewarding Palestinian terrorists financially who've committed attacks against Israelis. 

The PA has denied that its program financially aided any members of terrorist organizations, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Pay-for-slay kept afloat due to 'bypass channels'

The suspicion that the EU was continuing to help fund the program started when Israel claimed that the system was operating through "bypass channels." These channels reportedly operate outside a new program called the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI), which was instituted as a new centralized body that "would manage social aid to Palestinians," in the form of welfare, employment, and housing aid, the social organization claimed.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, September 8, 2025; illustrative. (credit: JONATHAN BRADY/POOL VIA REUTERS)

Suspected bypass channels do not report or audit additional payments given to PNEEI applicants, according to information obtained by Euronews. Bypass channel payments may also be given to individuals who have not applied to PNEEI.

A European Commission executive told the outlet that pay-for-slay payments were still being made, adding that “We understand that a recent payment has been made to the families of prisoners, based on a previous scheme. We profoundly regret this decision, as this seems to go against prior announcements."

Brussels has now also demanded clarity from the PA on the status of the program, the report added.

The pay-for-slay program ban was also a prerequisite for the United Kingdom to recognize a Palestinian state, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in late September.

It was also reported by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) late last month that the PA had also paid stipends to security prisoners and to families of “martyrs” at PA post offices, despite publicly claiming to have ended the practice.

PMW Director Itamar Marcus said that, "the PA Post Offices paid terrorists’ salaries and stipends to families of terrorist ‘Martyrs.’”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-874771

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