While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged last week that following the murders of two Israelis at the hands of Arab terrorists Israel would no longer transfer taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in full, a report by Channel 10 Tuesday evening revealed that the government did not in fact deduct money used for terror from the transfer.
After the gruesome murders of Hallel-Yaffa Ariel in her home in Kiryat Arba and Michael “Miki’ Mark on Route 60 south of Hevron by Arab terrorists, the Prime Minister had declared on Friday that Israel would deduct from the monthly transfers the amount of money given by the PA to jailed terrorists and the families of terrorists who died while attacking Israelis.
The decision was endorsed during a cabinet meeting Saturday night, and praised by senior ministers.
“Israel needs to take new action in order to deal with this new kind of terror. I cannot be that families of terrorists will celebrate and receive financial reparations from the Palestinian Authority,” Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) told Reshet Bet on Sunday.
Yet it appears that the planned deductions have been scrapped.
According to information provided to Channel 10 Tuesday evening, Israel has transferred the full 500 million shekels ($130 million) to the Palestinian Authority.
The reversal by the Israeli government notwithstanding, both chambers of Congress in the US are working to close loopholes which have enabled the Palestinian Authority to receive large quantities of American support annually, despite their use in funding terrorism.