High Court Justice Yosef Elron ordered the state to respond by Thursday morning to the urgent petition seeking to halt the expected transfer of NIS 500 million to the Palestinian Authority following the coronavirus crisis.
The petition was submitted by the 'Forum for Choosing Life,' an organization for bereaved families and terror victims, along with the Organization for Good Governance in Israel, against the Finance Minister, the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee.
In the petition filed several days ago by Attorney Yitzhak Bam, the petitioners argued that besides the real concern that the funds would not be returned to the State of Israel, the Palestinian Authority was expected to transfer a large portion of the funds to the families of terrorists and terrorists themselves as a reward for carrying out terrorist attacks and acts against Israeli citizens.
"Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority, contrary to its commitments to cease terrorism, is wasting money on it and paying salaries and grants to terrorists serving their sentences in Israeli prisons and to those who have been released from prison sentences," Bam said.
The petitioners asked the court to order the halting of the transfer of funds, pending a hearing on the petition. Meirav and Herzl Hajaj whose daughter was murdered in a terror attack and who are active in the forum to protest the intention to transfer the money to the PA. "It cannot be that, while the coronavirus crisis continues and the PA continues to incite and pay a salary to terrorists and their families who murdered our child, the State of Israel will provide them NIS 3 billion of Israeli residents' tax money."
"In effect, we are financing our children's murderers. We suggest to the prime minister and the ministers, instead of giving the money to the PA, which will have to pass it on to the terrorists' families, they should just transfer the funds directly to their terrorists and their families," the parents added bitterly.