Finance Committee Head: ‘Israel Funds PA Terrorism’

Slomiansky reveals how Israeli funds continue to reach terrorists despite staggering PA debt, and what he intends to do about it.

By Shimon Cohen, Ari Yashar, INN

Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) told Arutz Sheva he is looking for legislative and parliamentary means to block the transfer of funds from Israel to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“We must recognize there’s a crazy absurdness here that I don’t understand,” Slomiansky said. “A terrorist who murdered and attacked and goes into jail has his finances covered during the years in jail, for him and his family.”

The MK described how money finds its way from the PA to the families of the terrorists and into their personal accounts – all while Israel passes on to the PA taxes it collects for it as per the Paris Protocol and the Oslo Accords, even as the PA fails to stand by its agreements, and owes Israel staggering sums, including over 1.4 billion shekels (over $360 million) in unpaid electric bills.

Speaking about the massive electric bill debts, Slomiansky noted the PA collects electric bills from its residents even as it doesn’t pay Israel for the electric usage, instead transferring the money for such nefarious purposes as funding the families of terrorists.

Israel’s policy in this regards is “idiotic” according to Slomiansky, who notes “when they destroy the homes of terrorists the PA and Qatar pay the families allowing them to rebuild. The state of Israel pays the PA which builds with this money the homes we destroy.”

The MK noted that Israel is essentially propping up the PA, which is staggering in at least $4.8 billion in debt.

Cutting the Israeli purse-strings

As Finance Committee chairman, Slomiansky said he is looking for opportunities to prevent the transfer of funds to the PA, such as in cases when the PA needs Israeli guarantees that require the approval of his committee.

In the past he gave such guarantees approval, but the MK noted that now he has reached agreements so that next time he will be able to block such requests from even being discussed.

“We have to defend ourselves. It’s not just a game of money anymore. We are indirectly encouraging terror against ourselves and the murder of our citizens. We must stop this,” said Slomiansky. “In the next discussion in my (committee) on the topic of the electric company we will find ways by which the state of Israel will deduct these funds.”

The expected international outcry over such a move is likely to come more from the political left which encourages global action against the Jewish state, according to the MK.

“The left is more radical than the world. It causes the world to act. The heads of the universities that boycott us are Jews,” notes Slomiansky.

Aside from paying jailed terrorists and their families, the PA has also been directly inciting terror in recent weeks, as well as justifying terrorist attacks.

While PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas made a perfunctory denunciation of the recent synagogue attack in Jerusalem last Tuesday, an MP with his Fatah faction clarified that it was a diplomatic move he was forced to make, and in fact he used the same denunciation to attack Israel over the Temple Mount, where Jews are banned from prayer and Arab rioters cause near daily violence.