Smotrich says NIS 100 million meant for PA to be given to families of terror victims

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich orders the seizure of around NIS 100 million ($26 million) of tax funds meant to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, saying that the money will be given to the families of terror victims.

Smotrich writes in a post on X that the move is aimed at punishing the PA for payments made to the families of Palestinian terrorists.

“The struggle against terror is not just a military struggle, but also a fight that includes a war against the wild incitement of the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist funds which it directs from its budget to the families of terrorists,” he says.

During the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Israel has withheld from the PA funds earmarked for Gaza from the tax revenue Jerusalem collects on behalf of the PA under the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich halted the transfer in light of what he said was the PA’s support for Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and its actions against Israel on the international stage, worsening the authority’s already harsh financial crisis.

המאבק בטרור איננו רק מאבק צבאי אלא מאבק משולב הכולל מלחמה בהסתה הפרועה של הרשות הפלסטינית ובכספי הטרור אותם היא מפנה מתקציבה למשפחות מחבלים.

כפי שנהגתי מאז כניסתי לתפקיד, פסקי דין כנגד הרשות הפלסטינית מועברים לעיקול מיידי מהכספים המועברים לרשות הפלסטינית ומועברים לפיצוי משפחות… pic.twitter.com/5NuekdS3vG

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) August 4, 2024

Reuters contributed to this report.