On the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay-for-Slay Law”

The Palestinian Authority has communicated with the Trump administration and stated that it will abandon its so-called “Martyrs’ Fund,” which rewards terrorists for carrying out attacks against Israelis. The Palestinian Authority said it would change its payment system for Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorist attacks so that the money is no longer based on the acts they committed but on their socioeconomic status.

For years, ACOM has been denouncing that hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated to a perverse program that rewards the murderers of Jews and their families. Nearly 15% of the entire Palestinian Authority budget—entirely funded by the international community—is allocated to the “pay-for-slay” program. Under this system, the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorists who have committed crimes against Israelis and Jews; the worse and bloodier the massacre, the higher the salary the Palestinian Authority transfers to the terrorist and their families.

Back in 2013, $355 million was allocated to this, representing 8% of the total budget of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The budget increased by 12% between 2016 and 2017; if this growth rate had continued, by 2020, it would have approached $500 million. This budget allocation comes primarily from international aid: the European Union’s contribution—through a joint strategy for 2021-2024 valued at nearly 1.2 billion euros—and Spain’s, which is considered a historical donor. For years, Spain has evaded its grave responsibility by continuing to fund the Palestinian Authority while it subsidized terrorists and their families, thus inciting the murder of Israelis and promoting terrorism.

When the EU attempted to freeze these transactions after the October 7 attacks until their use and recipients were “clarified,” Sánchez blocked the measure. In fact, as if this disgusting misuse of our taxes were not enough, he approved an additional allocation of 25 million euros to be used in Gaza. These millions ended up, as always, in Hamas’ pockets, which used them to promise their terrorists $10,000—and even an apartment—if they managed to capture and drag a kidnapped person into Gaza. The reward was even higher when it involved “elderly people and children.”

However, the “pay-for-slay” program is not about Hamas but about the PNA, which the Spanish government recognizes as the government of a “Palestinian state”—a state that Prime Minister Sanchez has unilaterally and unconditionally recognized, bypassing the Oslo Accords. Its president, Mahmoud Abbas, met with Sánchez at his infamous “peace conference” organized at La Moncloa last September.

“The martyrs and their families are sacred, as are the wounded and the prisoners. We must pay them all. If there is only one penny left in our hands, it is for them and not for the living.”
This is what Sánchez’s “statesman friend” Mahmoud Abbas (also known by his terrorist alias, Abu Mazen) has declared.

Despite such clear and bloody statements, Spain has never conditioned its aid to the Palestinian Authority. The money of Spanish citizens and their taxes has been used to reward the murderers of Jews, and no Spanish government—least of all Sánchez’s—has demanded an immediate end to these payments. Only the pressure from President Trump would force these criminals of the Palestinian Authority to stop rewarding their own terrorists, both from Hamas and Fatah.

Financing, glorifying, and encouraging terrorism is repugnant. Doing so from the government and with our money is something the Spanish government should have immediately prevented. Now, it seems that Trump is making it happen.

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