PMW demands Italy rescind ‘Star of Italy’ award granted to PA terror supporter
Italian President Sergio Mattarella awarded the “Star of Italy” to Palestinian terror supporter Sabri Saidam
Did the Italian president know that former PA minister of education Saidam has praised murderers of hundreds of Israeli civilians when he awarded him the “Order of the Star of Italy”?
As soon as he received the award, Sabri Saidam dedicated it to imprisoned and dead terrorists: “I dedicate this worthy prize… to the Martyrs of Palestine… the Martyrs who are living above ground and the Martyrs who are under the ground”
PMW is calling on President Mattarella to rescind the order, which Saidam dishonored the moment he received it, and which continues to be dishonored if it remains in the hands of this terror supporter
The former PA minister of education has a history of glorifying terrorist murderers
Saidam promoted naming a square after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi who led killing of 37
Former minister promoted the PA’s antisemitic narrative, posting a PA TV video that explained the Balfour Declaration as the solution to the fact that Europe “was sick of the behavior of the Jews at the time, and therefore it planned to get rid of them”
Ironically, Saidam received the award “in appreciation of his role in the education sector,” just a few months after an EU report condemned the PA schoolbooks written when he was minister of education
President Sergio Mattarella of Italy recently awarded Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy to Sabri Saidam, Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary and former PA Minister of Education. This civilian honor is awarded by the President of the Italian Republic and given to people who have worked for and promoted friendly relations with Italy.
Upon receiving the presidential honor from Italian Consul General Giuseppe Fedele “in appreciation of his role in the education sector and in strengthening Palestinian-Italian cooperation,” Saidam wasted no time and dedicated the award to all Palestinian terrorists – be they “Martyrs who are the living above ground” or “Martyrs who are under the ground” - i.e., imprisoned terrorists or terrorists who were killed while attacking Israelis:
Official PA TV newsreader: “The Italian Republic made Fatah Movement Central Committee Deputy Secretary and former [PA] Minister of Education Sabri Saidam Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, in appreciation of his role in the education sector and in strengthening Palestinian-Italian cooperation. In the presence of a number of Fatah Central Committee members and official and popular figures, Italian Consul General Giuseppe Fedele presented the order on behalf of the Italian president ...”
Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam: “On behalf of everyone I dedicate this worthy order to the members of the Palestinian people wherever they are and to all the Martyrs of Palestine, the Martyrs who are living above ground and the Martyrs who are under the ground, and to this noble homeland that is worthy of this order.”
[Official PA TV News, Oct. 12, 2021]
While the Italians possibly did not know that Saidam would immediately dedicate the order to murderers, they should have known that the former PA minister of education is a terror supporter with a rich history of glorifying and praising terrorist murderers, disseminates Antisemitism and rejects Israel's right to exist.
The following are selected examples from PMW’s reporting on Sabri Saidam, who now serves as Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary, Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for communications and information technology
Honoring terrorists
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that while serving as minister, Saidam held a ceremony at the Ministry of Education as “a gesture of loyalty” for murderer Karim Younes.
Recently, Saidam glorified and blessed arch-terrorist Abu Jihad who was responsible for the murder of at least 125, and specifically mentioned that Abu Jihad “reminds us… of the school of armed struggle, which the Fatah Movement was proud of and affiliated with for a long time”:
Saidam: "Let us begin with a blessing for the Martyrs' souls… a blessing to our prisoners… and a blessing to our land… that has given birth for us to [Khalil Al-Wazir] 'Abu Jihad' (i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of 125) and people similar to Abu Jihad who have carried the flag and the torch. The First Bullet and the First Stone, all of the blessings to the soul of the Prince of Martyrs Abu Jihad… We have learned from him perseverance, affiliation, modesty, continuity, determination, resolve, refusing frustration and shaking off despair, emphasizing the role of the many in igniting the fire of revolution, and emphasizing our unity with the land and people. Therefore, Abu Jihad reminds [us] that the path of struggle lives in all of our public, reminds [us] of the heritage of the modern Palestinian revolution, and also reminds [us] of the school of armed struggle, which the Fatah Movement was proud of and affiliated with for a long time."
[Official PA TV, Personal Meeting, April 16, 2020]
When 6 terrorists including murderers escaped from an Israeli prison earlier this year, Saidam posted a cartoon glorifying the escape:
The cartoon shows a spoon with the number “6” on the handle sticking out of a hole in the ground indicating the six terrorist prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison using a spoon (see note below.) [Facebook page of Sabri Saidam, Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary, Sept. 16, 2021]
When 3 terrorists who had planned a large attack and were armed with guns and knives, were killed after stabbing a 23-year-old Israeli policewoman to death near the Old City of Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, Saidam immediately posted the following glorification of them:
Saidam: "May Allah have mercy on the Martyrs of Jerusalem and all of Palestine."
[Facebook page of PA Minister of Education and Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, June 16, 2017]
Similarly, the year before, Saidam held a visit to a school “in honor of the souls of three of its students who died as Martyrs” – i.e., terrorists who had attended the school. One had murdered a 19-year-old Israeli police woman a few months earlier. He and two accomplices were killed at the scene by Israeli police as they were carrying machine guns, knives, and pipe bombs, possibly planning a mass attack against civilians. At the school ceremony, Saidam “emphasized the loyalty to the path of the Martyrs and the deceased, to their sacrifice.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 2016] In other words, Saidam publicly endorsed the path of violence and terror and killing of Israelis.
Commenting on an internal controversy over the change of the name of a school in Gaza named after Ghassan Kanafani - a leader and spokesman of the terror organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – then Minister of Education Saidam "emphasized that national symbols must not be denigrated in any way." [Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 26, 2015] In the same interview, Saidam proclaimed that Fatah would protest against a change of the name of a street named after Ahmed Yassin - the founder and former head of the terrorist organization Hamas, which was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings, "as our ethics and principles do not allow us [to do this], for how can a Palestinian harm national figures of prominence and Martyr leaders?'"
Saidam has also “expressed pride” in terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi who led the killing of 37 Israeli civilians, among them 12 children, and specifically advocated for naming a square after her.
Emphasizing his standpoint that terrorists who attack Israelis are heroic, Saidam has stated “the [PA] education system's standing by the side of the heroic prisoners and its support for them in the battle that they are waging against the occupation." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 18, 2017] On the occasion of the Palestinian “Prisoner’s Day” the same year, Saidam had a letter by terrorist Marwan Barghouti read aloud in all PA schools. [Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, April 13, 2017] Barghouti is serving 5 life sentences for planning three shooting attacks in which 5 Israelis were murdered.
In the same spirit, Saidam honored as “illustrious” the mother of 6 imprisoned terrorists who in total have murdered at least 10 Israelis, and expressed his support for the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” reward program according to which the PA pays salaries to terrorists:
Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam: “We always need to repeat to the people on the street, so that our children will hear it and everyone will hear that the man whom we have respected and known since we were children – His Honor President Mahmoud Abbas – is the one who made the famous statement before the nations and not just in the presence of the Palestinians: ‘If one penny is left in my pocket I will give it to the families of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded.’”
[Official PA TV News, July 29, 2021]
Promoting Antisemitism
Furthermore, Saidam has promoted the PA’s anti-Semitic narrative that the Jews of Europe were so evil that Europe plotted to get rid of them and send them to Palestine. Saidam posted a video produced by official PA TV, which explained that Europe came up with the Balfour Declaration because it was “sick of the behavior of the Jews... and therefore it planned to get rid of them":
Narrator: "The nightmare was created by Britain and was realized on the land of Palestine. Britain gave a right which it did not have to one not entitled to it: [A right] to our land in the form of a state, which is now known as 'Israel' ...
It was said that the old continent [Europe] was sick of the behavior of the Jews at the time, and therefore it planned to get rid of them... British Foreign Secretary at the time Arthur James Balfour stabbed a dagger into the soft belly of Palestine. He took upon himself a promise from one without ownership to one not entitled, as if he was the owner of the land and not a colonialist."
[Facebook page of PA Minister of Education Sabri Saidam, Nov. 2, 2018]
Rejection of Israel's right to exist
On this year’s anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which promised a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, Saidam called for its cancellation by posting an ad from 1929, protesting the declaration, naming it “a stain of shame” on history:
The image shows the front page of the paper La Palestine dated Nov. 2, 1929.
Text: “November 2
The anniversary of the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration)The Balfour Promise
A shocking injustice and exaggerated oppression
A stain of shame on the history of the 20th centuryGreat Britain must erase this shame that harms its interests and stains its honor
And the residents of Palestine must work to cancel it”[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, Nov. 2, 2021]
Saidam’s opinion is clear: Israel has no right to exist. The image of the PA’s map of “Palestine” below that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas was promoted by Saidam in a Facebook post:
Posted text: “A capital in a homeland for a homeland in a capital”
Text on image: “#Jerusalem_capital_of_Palestine”
The image shows the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas. Saidam posted the map in response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. (See note below.)
More than once, Saidam has awarded or posed with plaques that show the PA’s map of “Palestine” that erases the entire State of Israel:
Posted text: “Sidra Al-Shawamreh, the promising poet, honored me with her visit as a guest of [the TV program] In the Minister’s Seat”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, March 6, 2019]
When Saidam participated in the inauguration of the Jinsafut School for Boys in Qalqilya on Nov. 29, 2017 he posed with an honorary plaque featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas. [Facebook page of PA Ministry of Education, Nov. 19, 2017]
Moreover, when Israel and several Arab states entered peace agreements in 2020 – the Abraham Accords - Saidam was among those PA leaders who rejected the “normalization” with Israel, calling the peace deals “agreements of disgrace”:
“Fatah Movement Central Committee [Deputy Secretary and] member Sabri Saidam said that our people wherever they are, are united against the agreements of disgrace that [Arab] rulers signed in submission to a tyrant (i.e., US President Trump)”
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 16, 2020]
Responsible for hate, terror promotion and Antisemitism in PA schoolbooks
Numerous reports by PMW, and the report by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research commissioned by the EU and released in June this year, critique the hate incitement, terror promotion, Antisemitism, and denial of Israel's right to exist in the PA schoolbooks that were published when Sabri Saidam was PA Minister of Education. Surprisingly, this was all overlooked by the Italian president, who gave Saidam this award “in appreciation of his role in the education sector.” Furthermore, Saidam has categorically dismissed all the documentation of incitement in the PA schoolbooks. Rather he has maintained that “there is no incitement” in PA schoolbooks, and falsely stated that there is no promotion of violence and terror, but that the books promote “life and love”:
"[PA] Minister of Education and Higher Education [and Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary] Sabri Saidam again emphasized that the ministry objects to the accusations and claims that the occupation is making against the national schoolbooks, to the attempts to defame them as if they incite… Saidam said that the national schoolbooks strengthen the students’ awareness and ideal human values.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, March 3, 2019]
“Minister Saidam said... that the Israelis are accusing the Palestinian curriculum of incitement to murder, but we call for life and love.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 19, 2018]
Saidam has also falsely accused “Zionist websites” of fabricating quotes to him regarding PA schoolbooks. He has stated that Israel tries to “assassinate the Palestinian identity by accusing our curricula of incitement.” Yet he has defended the PA practice of naming educational institutions “after Martyrs” – i.e., terrorists. PMW’s special report: “75 Palestinian Authority schools named after terrorists and Nazi collaborators and honoring Martyrs and Martyrdom” has documented that the PA has named at least 31 schools after terrorists
It seems likely that the Italian President was presented with false information about Sabri Saidam, which led to him erroneously grant this lofty honor to a terror supporter, who is also directly responsible for the educational material that is bringing up another Palestinian generation to follow the path of terror. PMW calls on President Sergio Mattarella to ask that Saidam returns the Order of the Star of Italy.
The following are longer excerpts of some of the reports cited above:
Headline: “Sabri Saidam was made Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy”
“The Italian Republic made Fatah Movement Central Committee Deputy Secretary and former [PA] Minister of Education Sabri Saidam Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, in appreciation of his role in the education sector and in strengthening Palestinian-Italian cooperation.
The order was presented on behalf of Italian President [Sergio Mattarella] by Italian Consul General Giuseppe Fedele, who emphasized that his country makes sure to honor figures who contribute to strengthening friendly ties.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 13, 2021]
Sabri Saidam also serves as Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary and is the former PA Minister of Education and Higher Education.
The Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy is a civilian honor awarded by the President of the Italian Republic to people who have worked for and promoted friendly relations with Italy.
Fatah Central Committee member and former Minister of Education Sabri Saidam: "If you will, let us begin with a blessing for the Martyrs' souls in the month of the Martyrs, a blessing to our prisoners in the month of the prisoners, and a blessing to our land that always gives to us, that has given birth for us to [Khalil Al-Wazir] 'Abu Jihad' (i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of 125) and people similar to Abu Jihad who have carried the flag and the torch. The First Bullet and the First Stone, all of the blessings to the soul of the Prince of Martyrs Abu Jihad, who we have learned much from for a long time. We have learned from him perseverance, affiliation, modesty, continuity, determination, resolve, refusing frustration and shaking off despair, emphasizing the role of the many in igniting the fire of revolution, and emphasizing our unity with the land and people. Therefore, Abu Jihad reminds [us] that the path of struggle lives in all of our public, reminds [us] of the heritage of the modern Palestinian revolution, and also reminds [us] of the school of armed struggle, which the Fatah Movement was proud of and affiliated with for a long time. He also reminds [us] of the path of all of the Martyrs who preceded and succeeded him, who completed the message and carried the flag for the freedom of our people, the freedom of our land, and our finishing with the occupation."
[Official PA TV, Personal Meeting, April 16, 2020]
Headline: "Saidam: There is no incitement in our schoolbooks, and the occupation is attempting to Israelize them"
"[PA] Minister of Education and Higher Education [and Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary] Sabri Saidam again emphasized that the ministry objects to the accusations and claims that the occupation is making against the national schoolbooks, to the attempts to defame them as if they incite, and to the attempt to Israelize them and erase the Palestinian identity. He said this on Sunday [March 3, 2019] during his meeting with a delegation from the European Union, led by [European] Union Representative in Palestine Ralph Tarraf. Present at the meeting were [PA] Deputy Minister [of Education] Basri Saleh [and] Director of the Schoolbook Center Tharwat Zaid…
Saidam emphasized that Israel's claims, according to which the Palestinian schoolbooks incite, are false, as the occupation is leading a poisonous attack in order to harm these schoolbooks. He emphasized that the fact that the ministry lets the European Union carry out a study on the Palestinian schoolbooks proves that the ministry is committed to its established position, according to which its schoolbooks are open to all. This is while Israel objects to any study being made of its schoolbooks, which are filled with incitement.
He pointed out the occupation's recurring violations and attacks against the Palestinian people, [and] the education sector and education community in particular, including the murder and arrest of students and attacks against educational institutions. He also emphasized that these violations stem from the incitement rooted in the occupation's schoolbooks…
Saidam said that the national schoolbooks strengthen the students’ awareness and ideal human values, in contradiction of the accusations that the occupation attempts to falsely accuse them of…
He responded to many questions regarding the national schoolbooks… and called to examine the occupation's schoolbooks in order to understand the scope of the incitement in them."
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, March 3, 2019]
The cartoon of a spoon honoring the escaped terrorists in 2021, Saidam posted with the following text: “The incredible work of artist Bassel Abd Al-Karim Al-Aklouk” [Facebook page of Sabri Saidam, Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary, Sept. 16, 2021]
Karim Younes - Israeli Arab terrorist who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980 together with his cousin Maher Younes. Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012. Younes is serving a 40-year sentence. In May 2017 Younes was appointed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Fatah Central Committee. Younes was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2023.
2021 Gilboa Prison escape – 6 Palestinian terrorist prisoners escaped from Israel's Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, by widening the hole of the shower drainpipe in the floor of their cell. One terrorist is from Fatah - Zakariya Zubeidi, and the other five are from Islamic Jihad - Ayham Kamamji, Muhammad Ardah, Mahmoud Ardah, Yaqub Qaderi, and Munadil Nafiyat. Four of the terrorists were recaptured after five days: Zubeidi, Ardah, Ardah, and Qaderi. Kamamji and Nafiyat were arrested in Jenin on Sept. 18, 2021 along with two accomplices. Zubeidi was head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks, and he also carried out shooting attacks in 2018-2019. Kamamji participated in the murder of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri on June 25, 2006, and planned to blow up a bus using an exploding car. Muhammad Ardah participated in initiating and executing a suicide bombing on bus no. 823 on Nov. 29, 2001, in which 3 people were murdered and many others were wounded. Mahmoud Ardah was involved in numerous attacks; the website of Islamic Jihad’s military wing defined him as the "commander" of the prison escape. Qaderi committed a shooting attack on Sept. 18, 2002 with an accomplice in which Israeli Yosef Ajami was murdered and a foreign worker was wounded. Nafiyat was being held in administrative detention.
Bara Saleh, Adel Ankoush, Osama Ata – three Palestinian terrorists who carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem on June 16, 2017. Two of the terrorists, one armed with an automatic weapon and the other with a knife, attacked Israeli police officers north of the Old City of Jerusalem. Seconds later a third terrorist stabbed and murdered Israeli border policewoman Hadas Malka, 23, at the Old City’s Damascus Gate as she and other officers were responding to the first attack. All three terrorists were shot and killed by the Israeli officers. Aside from Malka, four Israelis were wounded in the attack. ISIS initially claimed responsibility for the attack but Hamas rejected the claim, saying the terrorists were members of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Ahmad Najah Abu Al-Rub, Ahmad Zakarneh and Muhammad Kmeil - three Palestinian terrorists in their early 20's who shot and stabbed two Israeli police officers at the Damascus gate in Jerusalem on Feb. 3, 2016. One of the officers, 19-year-old Hadar Cohen, was fatally wounded and died of her wounds. The second officer was seriously wounded. The terrorists, who attacked the policewomen after they were asked for identification, were carrying machine guns, knives, and pipe bombs, leading the police to suspect they were planning a mass attack against civilians. The terrorists were shot and killed at the scene by Israeli police.
Ghassan Kanafani – a writer and a leader of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Ahmed Yassin - Founder and former head of the terror organization Hamas. The Hamas movement is responsible for numerous terror attacks and the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Yassin was killed by Israel in 2004.
Dalal Mughrabi – female Palestinian terrorist who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.
Marwan Barghouti – Palestinian terrorist and member of the Palestinian Authority parliament who is serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks in which 5 people were murdered: one attack on the Jerusalem-Maale Adumim road (June 12, 2001) in which Greek Orthodox monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered by terrorists Ismail Radaida and Yasser Ah'Rabai, another attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem (Jan. 15, 2002) in which Yoela Hen was murdered by terrorists led by Mohammed Matla, and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002) in which Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Police Officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat, were murdered by terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna. When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction). After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected as a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament. On Dec. 4, 2016, he was elected to Fatah's Central Committee.
Um Nasser Abu Hmeid (Um Yusuf Abu Hmeid/Latifa Abu Hmeid) – Palestinian woman famous and admired in the PA for being the mother of 5 terrorist prisoners serving life sentences (4 of them serving multiple life sentences), and another whom the PA refers to as a "Martyr." Abu Hmeid is also called Khansa of Palestine, which refers to Al-Khansa from the earliest period of Islam who sent her four sons to battle and rejoiced when they all died as Martyrs. Abu Hmeid was honored by the PA in 2010 and 2015, and was chosen in 2011 to launch the PA’s statehood campaign with the UN. Her terrorist sons: Islam Yusuf Abu Hmeid, murdered 1 on May 24, 2018, and is serving life in prison and an additional 8 months; Muhammad Abu Hmeid, serving 2 life sentences and 30 years for involvement in terror attacks; Nasser Abu Hmeid, serving 7 life sentences and 50 years for murdering 7 Israeli civilians and 12 attempted murders; Nasr Abu Hmeid, serving 5 life sentences for involvement in two terror attacks in which 4 were murdered, and arms dealing; Sharif Abu Hmeid, serving 4 life sentences for involvement in terror attacks in which 4 were murdered; Abd Al-Mun'im Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hmeid, murdered 1 on Feb. 13, 1994, and was killed by Israel on May 31, 1994.
PA terror salaries - Under Palestinian Authority law, the PA pays thousands of terrorist prisoners monthly salaries from the day of their arrest. The PA also provides salaries and various grants and benefits to released terrorists. Moreover, the PA pays wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorist "Martyrs" monthly allowances. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed and documented this PA practice for over a decade, and in doing so has brought about change in and cancellation of Western funding to the PA.
The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that "His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this and made the British Mandate "responsible for putting into effect the declaration," which led to the UN vote in favor of partitioning Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state in 1947. In response, Britain ended its mandate on May 15, 1948, and the Palestinian Jews, who accepted the Partition Plan, declared the independent State of Israel. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and together with 7 Arab states attacked Israel, in what is now known as Israel's War of Independence.
Israeli peace agreements with the UAE and Bahrain (the Abraham Accords), Sudan, and Morocco – an agreement normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was announced on Aug. 13, 2020, under the mediation of US President Donald Trump. Following the UAE, Bahrain reached a similar peace agreement with Israel, as was announced on Sept. 11, 2020. The agreements were signed at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020, by Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. Pursuant to the Abraham Accords, Israel and the UAE will discuss bilateral cooperation on a number of topics. In exchange for the agreement, Israel agreed to suspend its previously announced plans to apply Israel's civilian law to parts of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley as per the Trump peace plan. The US announced that “Muslims throughout the world who wish to come in peace to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, will now be able to fly to Tel Aviv through Abu Dhabi to do so and will be welcomed.” On Oct. 23, 2020, Sudan also formally agreed to normalize relations with Israel. Israel reached a similar normalization agreement with Morocco on Dec. 10, 2020.
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.
US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations. The US embassy was transferred from Tel Aviv and opened in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 according to the Gregorian calendar.