Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday ordered the confiscation of NIS 3.2 million from taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, to be transferred to the families of terror victims, Kipa News reported.
Smotrich said he instructed Tax Authority director Eran Ya’akov to make the transfer “as compensation to the families of victims of terrorism, in accordance with the ruling of the court in the Litvak case.
The ruling authorizes withholding in an amount equal to that which Ramallah pays its terrorists and their families as part of its “pay-for-slay” policy.
“The State of Israel is stopping the financing of terrorism by the Palestinian Authority,” Smotrich declared. “We will not allow this absurd situation to continue.”
Smotrich Doubles the Amount of Revenue Withheld from PA Over ‘Pay for Slay’
The finance minister made a similar move at the start of February this year, when he announced the signing of an order doubling the amount of tax and tariff revenue Israel withholds from the Palestinian Authority because of its “par for slay” policy.
“The PA finances terrorists and the State of Israel is saying ‘Enough.’ Israeli citizens will not be a part of this farce,” he said when announcing the move.
At the start of January 2023, NIS 138.8 million in Palestinian Authority funds were frozen after Smotrich issued similar instructions.
Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the measure in January, in response to what it described as the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing “political and legal war” against the Jewish State.
“The Israeli government is changing its policy,” he said at that point. “Today we are starting to make amends. There is no comfort here for the families of the murdered,” he acknowledged, “but there is justice here.”
