Israel: Peace with Palestinians depends on PA ending ‘pay-for-slay’

Prospects for peace and reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians hinge on the Palestinian Authority ending its “pay-for-slay” program, which provides monthly stipends for life to convicted terrorists and the families of attackers, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“If you want reconciliation, peace, partnership, pay-for-slay must stop,” a ministry spokesperson said in a video posted to X, arguing that the payments “reward terror and incentivize future terror.

“It’s the opposite of educating for peace,” the spokesman continued, noting that “hundreds of millions of dollars are paid to terrorists,” including from international aid provided by European nations.

The ministry accused Ramallah of merely changing “how payments are transferred” in an attempt “to hide it from donor governments.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar last week thanked the Trump administration for its “moral clarity” after a State Department report confirmed that the P.A. continues to pay “salaries” to jailed terrorists and relatives of slain terrorists.

Ramallah “continues to pay Palestinian terrorists and their families, in violation of the Taylor Force Act” passed by Congress in 2018, Sa’ar tweeted.

The report to Congress states that, “according to information publicly released by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar during the reporting period, during calendar year 2025 the P.A. provided $156 million (NIS 488.5 million) in payments and benefits to Palestinian terrorists and their families.”

The latest “reform” of the “pay-for-slay” policy announced by P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas in February “fails to end specific payments and benefits for Palestinian terrorists and their families [and] is not compliant with the provisions of the Taylor Force Act,” it adds.