Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the seizure of 130 million shekels from Palestinian Authority tax revenues and donated them to 28 families of terror victims. Thus, the Minister of Finance created a precedent that will help implement dozens of court verdicts on the payment of compensation to victims of terrorist activities from PA tax funds: these verdicts were accepted by the courts, but until now “hanged like a dead weight” and were not implemented – in some cases, for 20 years.
As Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday, June 11, the Minister of Finance ordered the Tax Administration on Monday to withdraw 130 million from the Palestinian Authority’s tax account and transfer it to 28 families of terror victims. Compensations, some of which reach tens of millions of shekels per family, will be transferred in the coming days.
This is the first large-scale transfer of funds to plaintiffs who, in court, demanded compensation from the Palestinian Authority for supporting and financing terrorism. Despite the fact that the verdicts of various courts obligated the PA to pay compensation, the autonomy has never complied with these decisions. The Israeli authorities also did not help the families of victims of terror and did not confiscate the assets of the Palestinian Authority.
As a result of this ambiguous situation, court decisions remained only on paper, the families of the victims did not receive financial compensation, although the PA’s responsibility in organizing and carrying out terrorist attacks, as a result of which the plaintiffs’ relatives were killed or injured, was legally proven.
The money will be confiscated from Israel’s tax collections for the Palestinian Authority, part of which is taken as a “fine” for continuing to pay Palestinian terrorists salaries from PA coffers. The High Court previously recognized the salaries of terrorists as one of the tools that the Palestinian Authority uses to encourage terrorist activities against Israel.
Bezalel Smotrich’s decision will pave the way for compensation to dozens of families of terror victims. In addition to the court decisions already rendered, there are hundreds of lawsuits and appeals against the Palestinian Authority that have not yet been completed. In addition, the start of payments opens the door for victims to file compensation claims against the PA, even if they have not yet done so.