Israel recently offered the nearly bankrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) a financial lifeline. The PA turned it down. The reason? Israel wants the PA to end the pay-for-slay policy by which terrorists and their families are compensated for carrying out terror attacks against Israelis.
Israel’s offer of help is motivated by the instability that could result in Judea and Samaria if the PA collapses. And the PA knows it will lose its power soon if nothing changes. Yet it has turned down support because it refuses to stop paying hundreds of millions of dollars annually to terrorists, which indicates terrorism is a cornerstone of its operations. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that even if the PA has “only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs [terrorists], the prisoners, and their families.”
The PA’s refusal to end its terrorist payments, which it knows could spell the end of its authority, shows how bloodthirsty and senseless Israel’s enemies are. They choose terrorism at their own expense. Nothing, not even self-preservation, is more important than financing terrorists. The PA would rather crumble than voluntarily end its support of violent criminals. If it doesn’t stop and accept help soon, maybe that wish will be granted after all.
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