More than 100 bereaved Israeli families signed a letter calling on President Trump, ahead of his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, to pressure Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to halt payments to terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis, Almagor – Terror Victims Association said in a press release.
In the letter, the families dubbed the payments “incitement that motivates Palestinian youth to murder Israelis,” and urged the visiting President to stop the PA’s “immoral policy… before any talks can commence.”
Among the signatories are families of terror victims spanning several decades, including the widows of Yossef Romana and Andre Spitzer who were murdered in the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics; Sherri Mandell, whose 13-year-old son Koby was murdered in 2001; Adva Biton, mother of four-year-old Adele who was critically wounded in a rock-throwing attack in 2013 and later succumbed to her wounds; and Amichai Ariel, whose 13-year-old daughter Hallel was stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2016.
The families also requested a meeting with President Trump, so he can hear the stories of “victims of decades-long Palestinian terror and violence.”
Two weeks ago, a senior foreign policy adviser to Abbas said the idea of halting the payments was “mad.”
“It is inconceivable that the PA continues to fund the terrorists who murdered our loved ones,” said Devorah Gonen, whose son Danny was murdered in 2015 while on a hike near Dolev, 17 miles north-west of Jerusalem. “President Trump needs to put an end to this perverse policy led by the PA and its leader, the terrorist Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas’ nom de guerre).”
Yossi Tzur, father of Asaf Tzur who was killed in a 2003 suicide bombing in Haifa, added that “as long as the PA continues to fund convicted terrorists and their families, it is not a partner for talks and certainly not for peace. Our message to President Trump is clear: demand from the PA to stop funding terrorists.”
The letter comes days after convicted terrorist Abu Sneineh was elected as Hebron mayor and a square in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem was named after a terrorist.