PM undecided on PA tax payments

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office would not say whether the premier supports Israeli legislation in the Knesset to block funding to the Palestinian Authority that goes toward paying terrorists and their families, just hours after he condemned the payments on Monday.

The prime minister called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to stop the payments, two days before the PA president is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington. The issue of funding is expected to come up in the meeting.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan also brought up the issue of payments to terrorists in an op-ed in The New York Times on Monday: “The Palestinian Authority must also stop the most insidious form of encouragement to violence: payments to convicted terrorists and their families. The authority has enacted official legislation guaranteeing monthly stipends to every incarcerated terrorist and their families. The worse the attack and the longer the sentence, the higher the payout. Because the Palestinian Authority’s budget depends heavily on foreign aid, these payments are, for all intents and purposes, paid by the taxpayers in the countries of foreign funders... Both politicians and ordinary citizens must demand an end to this gross abuse of international funds.”

Despite these comments, Netanyahu and his cabinet have yet to decide whether or not to support an Israeli bill that would curb tax payments to the PA as long as terrorists are being paid. The Prime Minister’s Office said they are unable to provide answers yet, and the office of MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), who drafted the bill, said the cabinet has not committed to supporting his proposal.