The Palestinian Authority’s “Martyrs Fund,” often referred to as “pay-to-slay” for its provision of stipends to convicted terrorists and to the families of those killed while carrying out terrorist attacks, remains active. This persists even as the P.A. adopts increasingly creative methods to continue the payments while attempting to evade international scrutiny.
That was the central message delivered by officials, pro-Israel activists and those directed impacted by terrorism, at an event held in Jerusalem on Monday night titled “The Price of Terror: Confronting Pay for Slay and the Fight for Accountability.”
The gathering was organized by the advocacy group StandWithUs, the watchdog organization NGO Monitor, and Strength to Strength, an organization that supports victims of terrorism. The event was moderated by JNS TV podcast host Fleur Hassan-Nahoum.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told JNS that international donors who fund the P.A. under the guise of humanitarian aid must realize that by providing blind cash infusions to Ramallah without rigid, independent oversight, they are fueling a “dual economy” where foreign aid simply frees up internal P.A. resources to fund terrorism.
“The time has come for the global community to enforce strict, performance-based preconditions, because Israel will no longer tolerate a reality where hundreds of millions of shekels are funneled into rewarding the murder of its citizens,” she said.
Haskel went on to say that while there is international backing for reforming the P.A., entrenched corruption continues to divert funds. According to Haskel, evidence indicates that payments to Arab prisoners in Israeli jails have in fact increased.
She added that, taken together, the pay-to-slay program and the P.A.’s education system—which she said incites terrorism and violence—underscore the need for Israel to remain firm and insist on meaningful reforms.
Haskel warned that Israel “cannot once again pay the price of another [Oct. 7, 2023] slaughter before we wake up, and before we wake up the international community, to the fact that [the P.A.] is still paying terrorists even now.”
Anne Herzberg, legal adviser at NGO Monitor, said that the P.A. is playing “a shell game,” claiming it is reforming while “moving the little shells around,” and continuing to pay salaries to terrorists.
She told JNS that even though the P.A. claimed to have discontinued the pay to slay program, it is using U.N. mechanisms or other government funding mechanisms like the European Union to bankroll the terrorists.
“Donor countries, particularly in Europe, but even in the United States, don’t have the will to end these loopholes,” she said.
Herzberg went on to explain that NGO Monitor has documented how international donors provide direct financial support to the P.A. general budget. According to the organization, these subsidies can effectively free up other funds that may be diverted to the pay-to-slay program—without international aid directly financing payments to terrorists.
At the same time, she outlined the risks of U.S. support for U.N. bodies such as OCHA (the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), citing a reported U.S. earmarking of approximately $3.8 billion. She argued that such funding can, in some cases, serve as a vehicle for anti-Israel demonization and indirect support for terrorism.
“Under the Trump administration’s 20-point plan, a significant amount of humanitarian aid is being earmarked for the Palestinians, and they just want things to continue smoothly without any obstacles,” she said.
She said she was not sure whether the Israeli government would be strong enough to stand up to the United States and clearly explain the reality of the situation, even as she argued that “humanitarian aid is a big reason Oct. 7 happened in the first place,” as aid to Gaza helped sustain Hamas-run infrastructure.
The Israeli government needs to do a better job of holding donor countries accountable, because Israel is ultimately the entity that allows funding into the P.A., she added.
That being said, the system is persistent and the Israeli government is also partly to blame, according to Herzberg, noting that the prevailing logic is that Israel must prop up the P.A. because the alternative is Hamas.
Sarri Singer, who founded Strength to Strength after surviving a 2003 Jerusalem bus bombing, told the audience that the sense of family she received from complete strangers at the scene of the attack, as she was being treated, inspired her to dedicate herself to helping other victims of terrorism around the world.
She told JNS that accountability is crucial for victims of terrorism, and that the best path to justice for survivors is through the court system.
“In the United States, the Anti-Terrorism Act has allowed Americans to sue foreign entities and actors that are helping to support and finance terrorism,” she said. “Being able to go after these places and institutions across the board, anybody that is helping to incentivize terrorism—is a way to try to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Singer successfully pursued legal action in U.S. courts connected to Iran’s alleged support for the Hamas cell responsible for the bus attack. A U.S. federal court found Iran liable for providing material support to Hamas, which orchestrated the bombing.
Referring to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran a day earlier, she noted that just because something was signed doesn’t mean it will stick.
“And until the regime and other terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and others—Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, ISIS—are dismantled, there is no way we can feel completely safe in this world. While agreements may be signed, we will see whether the other side actually upholds them,” she added.
Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs Israel, told JNS that his organization has been campaigning for the past 25 years, since its founding, against what it describes as Palestinian Authority promotion of incitement and hatred, as well as financial support for attacks against Jews.
He said pressure should be placed on countries that support the Palestinian Authority, including Qatar, to end funding for the pay-to-slay system.
“We should not be transferring funds to the P.A. as long as they are paying people to murder Jews. That goes for the State of Israel, the European Union, the United States and other powers,” said Dickson.
Speaking about the impact of financial support for the P.A. and its policies on Israeli families, Dickson asked the audience: “What impact does it have on the victims and the survivors? Behind every statistic, of course, is a human story. And behind every policy debate is a family living with the consequences. So, we must not accept that terrorism is ever normalized, glorified, or incentivized, and victims should never be forgotten.”
