PA TV: “Our Martyrs and prisoners are the source of our glory and pride”

Official PA TV newsreader: "Our Martyrs and prisoners are the source of our glory and pride. They are more honorable than all of us… This was said by… President Mahmoud Abbas: 'If we have only one penny left, we will give it to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners.'"

The PA TV newsreader responded to a decision by the Israeli Parliament on Feb. 17, 2019 to implement the deduction law:

Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.