Islamic Jihad condemned Abbas’s decision to stop payments to the families of martyrs and prisoners

On Monday, December 22, the Islamic Jihad terrorist group issued a statement condemning the Palestinian Authority’s decision to “cut” payments to the families of martyrs, prisoners and wounded.

The group calls the decision unjust, politically motivated and criminal, as well as “a stab in the back of the history of jihad of the Palestinian people.”

The terrorist group accused Ramallah of capitulating under Israeli pressure and of reducing the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom to “social and administrative aspects.”

It should be noted that on December 18, the Palestinian National Fund for Economic Development confirmed that in accordance with the decision of the Palestinian Authority to create a unified system of social protection and welfare, payments will be made only to needy families.

Under the new scheme, payments will be provided only to poor families based on family size. The maximum grant will be NIS 1,880 for a family without a breadwinner, while families with a breadwinner will not be included in the program at all.

The decision came after years of pressure from Israel and the United States to stop payments that actually encourage terror. Let us recall that Israel currently deducts more than 52 million shekels per month from tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority – an amount that reflects the payment of benefits to prisoners and families of terrorists. In the United States, the Taylor Force Act of 2018 established that American aid to the PNA will be transferred only after the Palestinian Authority stops these payments.