Israel is not fully implementing its "Pay to Slay" law, Israel Hayom reported.
The law, approved last year by the Knesset, includes two parts: The first part, which has been implemented, is the deduction of living terrorists' salaries from the funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The second part, which has not been implemented, includes the deduction of the living stipends paid to families of suicide terrorists and terrorists who were killed.
The first part affects 700 million NIS ($197,631,000) per year, in accordance with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's (Kulanu) decision.
Sources told Israel Hayom that the second part of the law, which deals with dead terrorists, has not been implemented and has been delayed for several months. According to the law, Israel's defense system must submit a report to the Cabinet which includes precise details about the amount of money received by the families of dead terrorists. However, those responsible for gathering the details claim it is difficult to precisely define "terror stipends" and therefore the report was not submitted to the Cabinet and the decision was not made to deduct the money. According to estimates, the amount of money transferred to the families of dead terrorists is similar to the amount given to jailed terrorists, and comes to approximately 700 million shekels each year.
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which approved the law, recently turned to the Defense Ministry asking them to clarify why the second part of the law is delayed. MK Avi Dichter (Likud) told Israel Hayom that "we can overcome the obstacles and monitor the amount of money received by terrorists' families. We expect that this will be done."
Meanwhile, talks are being held to see what can be done to lessen the financial pressure on the Palestinian Authority, which spends 8% of its budget on terror salaries. These talks, conducted with the approval of the political echelon, include offers from the Finance Ministry not to collect taxes on gas purchased from Israeli gas companies. Such a move would cost Israel 200 million NIS per year (56,459,000) in lost taxes, while indirectly granting the sum to the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority also purchases electricity and water from Israel, neither of which it has paid for for several years. Earlier this month, Israel arrested 29 PA Arab "water thieves," who illegally connected pipes to transfer water away from Jewish towns, leaving residents without access to water, for hours or days, until the situation is fixed. Often the Arabs in question sell the water to other Arabs at a profit.