PA mufti emphasizes Abbas’ promise to pay terror salaries at all costs, "even if I’m left with one penny"

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: "Clearly the prisoners’ salaries need to be guaranteed for them. This is their right. I think that what we are hearing from the PA officials, and from the top of the pyramid His Honor President Abbas – He has said clearly: ’Even if I’m left with one penny, I’ll pay it to the prisoners, the prisoners’ families, and the families of the Martyrs.’”

Muhammad Hussein also serves as Deputy Secretary-General and acting Secretary-General of the PLO Popular National Conference of Jerusalem.

The mention of salaries to prisoners refers to 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.