The generous monthly salary that Palestinian terrorist Omar al-Abed will receive from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for his murder of the Salomon family could be a powerful incentive to a pending U.S. legislative bill that would cut aid to the PA for sponsoring terrorism.
Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told Ben Cohen at The Algemeiner on Tuesday that “This is definitely going to put wind in the sails of the Taylor Force Act.”
The bill, named after a former U.S. Army officer who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Israel last year, requires the State Department to cut funds to the PA until it stops paying salaries to Palestinian terrorists and their families.
“Supporters of the Taylor Force Act have been looking for additional momentum, in terms of cutting funds to the PA over terrorism,” Schanzer explained, adding, “This only reinforces what they’ve been saying for months.”
Al-Abed—who murdered three members of the Salomon family at Shabbat dinner in the West Bank community of Halamish in a knife attack last Friday—is currently in Israeli custody awaiting trial. If he is imprisoned for 30 years or more, he can expect a substantial monthly salary from the PA that can climb as high as $3,120.
The PA uses a sliding scale to determine the amount each perpetrator receives, with the most severe acts of terrorism being the most lucrative. The “martyr” monthly payments, totaling at least $300 million annually, far exceed the average monthly salary of Palestinians—a policy that is “wildly popular in the West Bank,” according to Schanzer.
Tensions are still simmering in Jerusalem after the controversy over the installation of metal detectors at Temple Mount, following a terrorist attack that killed two Israeli policy officers on July 14. The violence that erupted has placed Palestinian incitement under increased international scrutiny.
Itamar Marcus, executive director of the monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch, told The Algemeiner that there has been a sharp increase in the volume of Palestinian posts, speeches, and videos preaching incitement since the Temple Mount controversy began.
The volume is “definitely much, much higher,” Marcus said. “We find it difficult to even decide which posts to translate, there are so many,” he concluded.
After meeting with U.S. officials last month, Abbas refused their request to stop paying salaries to terrorists. A meeting between U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt and Palestinian officials in June reportedly resulted in heightened friction due to the PA’s refusal to stop paying salaries to convicted terrorists and their families. In May, an adviser to Abbas called the U.S. request to end payments to terrorists “insane.”
[Photo: epSos .de / Flickr ]