Politically and Diplomatically Speaking

Israel Pays Terrorist Salaries from Citizens' Taxes

August 3, 2020
Israel Pays Terrorist Salaries from Citizens' Taxes
We criticize the Palestinian Authority (PA) for giving life-time salaries to terrorists, the amount determined by how many Jews they killed. And if the terrorist was killed in action, then his or her family gets the pension. We protest to foreigners to stop what has come to be called pay-for-slay. Our government even legislated against it in 2018 and since then has withheld transfer to PA banks of tax payments collected by Israel on behalf of the PA equal to the amount the PA pays terrorists. However, when the Corona pandemic seriously affected the general economy of the PA, payment transfers resumed, much to the dissatisfaction of a number of members of the Knesset who claim the law does not allow for freedom of choice in this matter. Mohammad Massad, former Palestinian terrorist and current Israeli citizen who saved the life of an IDF soldier even petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court requesting a stop-payment order. But who among our elected representatives is fighting against the pay-for-supporting-the-slay that we see in some of those sitting alongside them in the very same Knesset hall? Something horrifying (but not surprising, unfortunately) just happened in Shfaram this past Saturday (1 August 2020). Shfaram held an event awarding the released terrorist Israeli Arab Anis Saffouri with a certificate of appreciation. If you did not see the Hebrew social media posts below, you likely do not even know about it because only three (rightwing oriented) news sites saw fit to publish the event in Hebrew (Arutz 7, 0404 News, Israel Jewish News) and this joins an article published in 2019 reporting on a similar event in Shfaram in support of a number of Israeli Arabs sitting in jail after having been convicted of terrorism against their fellow Israelis. To date, I can find only two news reports in English: a news brief in Arutz 7 and a slightly longer piece in News 1 that gave a bit of background but has since been taken down. Today, a more substantial piece came out in Hebrew on the site, Mida. I don't know how much traffic they get and I wonder why they did not publish a report on their English language site. The lack of coverage, I think, is newsworthy in itself. How many Israelis who only read sites such as Haaretz, Maariv, Ynetnews, Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel are aware of this event? How can Israelis on all sides of the political spectrum make informed decisions about who they want to vote for, why they are protesting in the streets, and more, if they are not informed about current events that may affect their decisions but apparently do not fit the narrative the mainstream media wants to present? How many readers will demand more balanced reporting after being made aware of being kept in the dark about such an important event as what happened in Shfaram last Saturday? It was journalist Ishai Fridman who brought the story to the public eye. I will translate his Tweet and below show you some of the few Facebook posts on the topic, so that you, at least, will be informed:
MK Sami Shehada and former Balad Chairperson Zahalka at an event honouring the released security prisoner Anis Saffouri. Saffouri was convicted for planning to carry out a terror attack. In his judgement, the judges wrote: "Unfortunately, we are often repeatedly required to judge the actions of citizens of the State of Israel who join terrorist organization and the worst of Israel's enemies."
Another Tweet by Fridman that same day:
An additional appreciation event brought to you by Balad, this time in honour of the released prisoner Zaher Ali from the Galilee village of Kochav el-Hajia. Zaher Ali was connected with Hamas in order to carry out a suicide terror attack in Israel. Ali, a graduate of the Hebrew University, was in prison for 16 years. Senior members of Balad gave him a certificate of appreciation. (In the photo: The Secretary-General of Balad hugs Ali at an event that took place two weeks ago.)
Samer Berany, member of Daliyat el-Carmel municipal council, who has recently began a Facebook page to bring items from the Arabic press to the Hebrew reader, posted this announcement:
Simply unbelievable. "Israeli citizen", Chairman of Balad Mustafa Taha, at a party for released prisoner Anis Saffouri in Shfaram today, said that Balad's political activities in Israel's Knesset is just another tool for freeing the country. It is more important now to work toward unifying the Palestinian factions and strengthening the people's resistance and fight. Inciteful speeches at the event in Shfaram are shocking. It is unbelievable that this is a party in the Knesset. ***Whoever thinks that the Joint List voted in favour of the amendment to the Nation State Law, you just have no idea who these people are, especially in the Balad party....they do not want the State of Israel to exist, they are after a totally different country. For all practical purposes, the Nation State Law protects Israel as a Jewish state.
And activist Yoseph Haddad had this to say:
Last week security prison Anis Saffouri was released after 11 years in prison for planning to execute a terror attack against Israelis and trying to kill IDF soldiers. Anis, an Israeli Arab from Shfaram, is a man who chose terror against our state over cooperation, and everyone in the Arab sector has to reject him from among us. And yet here is a photo from last weekend in which Balad held an appreciation event along with MK Sami Abu Shehada, Chairman of the party, and former MK Jamal Zahalka. Holding an event in honour of a convicted terrorist who sat in prison for attempted murder of Israelis is a celebration of terror! The conclusion is simple -- Balad openly embraces and supports terrorism against Israel! How do they allow MK Abu Shehada to continue to sit in the Knesset? How do they continue to pay him a salary? Why does nobody stop this insanity?
Omri Nissim posted this on his Facebook page:
Balad, a party in the Joint List, gives a certificate of appreciation to terrorist Anis Saffouri who was released from prison after 16 years because of assisting in the planning of a terror attack against Israeli soldiers and scientists. With the same Joint List there were those (Shelach and Nissenkorn in the lower photo) who were quick to close a coalition deal (or as Lapid explained to us: "A single vote") for the sole purpose of bringing down the government. And with these same terror supporters, the media is still counting its supposed "majority of 61" against the government in elections, called the Left-Center-Liberman-Arab bloc. I admit that without regard to right or left, if someone honouring terrorists was considered part of my political camp -- I would be quite embarrassed. By the way, do not look for this report on Channel 12 News or Ynet...it is surely not there, or perhaps it appears as a small item in the gossip section. You already know why.
So there we have it!  First, Israeli taxpayers have to, against our will, participate in pay-for-supporting-the-slay. Even when the Knesset election committee disqualified such terror supporters from running for office, our very own Supreme Court put them back on the ballots. And we will be paying their retirement as well. Second, our mainstream media refrain from informing us about what is going on under our noses in our own country. Angry yet? Feature Image Credit: screenshot from Facebook post uploaded by Samer Berany.

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