PM praises advancement of bill to slash PA funds over terror payments

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at his weekly Likud faction meeting, praises the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee for authorizing a bill to slash funds to the Palestinian Authority by the amount Ramallah pays out to convicted terrorists.

Specifically, Netanyahu thanks the committee for supporting “my proposal to also deduct funds from the Palestinian Authority for damages caused by fires on the Gaza border. Justice needs to be done. Those who burn fields will pay the price.”

On Sunday, the prime minister instructed National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat to work on a process that would withhold payments to the PA to offset compensation for communities living on the Gaza border that have seen tens of thousands of acres of fields and nature reserves destroyed in blazes over the past month and a half.

That proposal, however, was not included in the bill voted on during Monday’s committee meeting. Instead, the committee accepted a request made by a representative of the Prime Minister’s Office for the terror victim fund to also go toward compensation for property damage as a result of terror attacks.

— Raoul Wootliff