By Yona Schnitzer
A law compelling the Cabinet to deduct tax monies that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority from payments made to the PA in order to offset salaries paid by the Authority to the families of terrorists, has passed in a second and third reading on the Knesset floor Monday night.
After the law passed in its first reading in May, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pushed for it to contain more flexible language, pinning the offsets to a Cabinet vote, rather than deducting the sums automatically. However, the version of the law which passed the floor vote compels the Cabinet to offset the funds.
In May, the Defense Ministry said the PA pays over a NIS 1 billion annually as rewards for terror attacks. Recent beneficiaries include Omar Abu Jalal, who was sentenced to four life sentences for stabbing to death three members of the Salomon family in their home in Neve Tzuf last July. Abul Jalal receives NIS 1,400 from the PA every month and has so far accumulated NIS 12,200.
Another convicted murderer, Abed Alhakis Aasi, who stabbed Itamar Ben Gal to death at a junction outside of Ariel in February, also receives a NIS 1,400 from the PA monthly, for his first three years in prison, after which his stipend is set to grow according to the PA pay scale. Should any prisoner die in an Israeli prison, his family will continue to receive funding.