In White House, Israeli widow laments payout to family of her husband’s killer
Halamish stabbing survivor Michal Salomon ‘expresses dismay’ to US administration over expected Palestinian Authority stipend
WASHINGTON — An Israeli woman whose husband and other relatives were killed in a July terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Halamish bemoaned this week to White House officials the expected financial reward to the family of the killer.
Michal Salomon’s husband, father-in-law and sister-in-law were brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who broke into their home and stabbed members of the family as they ate Shabbat dinner.
She and her five children managed to escape, and shortly afterward the terrorist was shot dead by an off-duty soldier.
In a meeting with Trump’s Mideast peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, Salomon “expressed dismay that the [family of the] terrorist would be receiving compensation from the Palestinian Authority for his action,” a senior White House official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
Also in the meeting was National Security Council staffer Victoria Coates; Salomon’s father, Shlomo Dan Lando; her cousin Brian Zvi Lando; and her children — Avinoam, Reut, Amitay, Ariel, and Avishay.
Salomon’s comments came with the US Senate gearing up to vote on the Taylor Force Act, proposed legislation that would significantly cut US funding to the PA if it doesn’t discontinue the practice of paying monthly stipends to families of terrorists who kill Israelis.
The measure advanced through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in August and will now be included in a foreign operations bill slated for a vote by the full chamber in December.
That maneuver increases its chances it will pass the Senate vote. Trump has not yet signaled he would sign the bill into law, though a White House official told The Times of Israel in July the president supports its principal objective.
Supporters of the Taylor Force Act argue that the PA’s social welfare payments to families of terrorists glorifies and encourages terrorism.
The White House official said Salomon discussed with Greenblatt “the problem of incitement to violence, and expressed hope that this practice would end so a lasting peace arrangement can be reached.”
Greenblatt, an Orthodox Jew who is part of Trump’s small delegation tasked with trying to broker a comprehensive accord between Israelis and Palestinians, went to Salomon’s West Bank home this summer while she sat shiva with her family after the attack.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Trump’s team is drafting a Middle East peace plan that is expected to be unveiled early next year.