|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://jcfa.org/is-the-plo-pa-using-international-donor-funds-to-finance-pay-for-slay/
Is the PA Using International Donor Funds to Finance "Pay-For-Slay"?
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - In 2025, the PA continued terror reward payments to terrorist prisoners and families of "martyrs." Where did they get the money to pay the terror rewards? A 1995 report of the U.S. General Accounting Office examined the PLO's ability to support the PA, the Palestinian governance body created by the Oslo Accords. The report questioned why the PLO-PA mechanisms required the employment of 9,000 civil servants to replace the 1,600 employees of the Israeli civil administration. The report also questioned why the PA police force, which at the time was capped at 9,000 people, had already grown to over 18,000. The report referenced one international mechanism established to help the PA cover expenses. The largest trust fund set up for this purpose is the World Bank's Holst Fund, which served as a central repository for donors wishing to disburse pledges through the Bank. The report notes that the PA spent $2 million of Holst funds on martyr payments. The use of international donations through World Bank mechanisms to fund "Pay-for-Slay" occurred repeatedly. The EU restricts most of its direct aid to the PA for payment of teachers', civil servants', and healthcare workers' salaries. However, since funding is fungible, by shouldering the burden of paying the PA's ostensibly legitimate employees, the EU allows the PA to use its remaining funds to pay the terror rewards. Moreover, the EU is funding the people who have indoctrinated generations of Palestinian to hate Israelis and seek their murder. The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.