Tomorrow the order that defines the banks in which salaries are deposited for terrorists and their families as criminals as well is due to take effect. This, after the order by Defense Minister Benny Gantz was postponed three times.
Lt. Col. (Res.) Maurice Hirsch, a former senior member of the Military Prosecution Service in the Civil Administration, is doubtful whether Minister Gantz will muster the courage to enforce the order without delaying it on some pretext.
On the essence of the order, he explains: "As early as February, the adoption of the Law against Terrorism was signed in Judea and Samaria. The law came into force on May 9 and, among other things, stipulated that any dealings with property that involved reward for an act of terror was prohibited. "In simple terms, anyone who pays money to a terrorist in exchange for committing an act of terrorism commits an offense, and so do all banks commit an offense if they cooperate with these payments."
Attorney Hirsch goes on to say that as head of the legal department of Palestinian Media Watch, his organization contacted the PA banks and clarified to them that by May 9, the law will come into force "and if they continue to cooperate with transferring salaries, they will be subject to criminal proceedings, perhaps also personal proceedings against the bank managers and also prosecution proceedings by victims of terrorism for aiding and abetting terrorism.
"The response of the banks was fantastic. They immediately wrote a letter to the PA Finance Minister stating that they don't want to take risks, don't want to receive these salaries. The Authority responded and forced the banks to continue to receive the funds. The banks stood their ground. The intervening factor was actually Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who decided to freeze this legislation, for the third time.
"The first time he froze it for 45 days to study the issue, then another 43 days because he didn't yet understand the issue, and then another month that will expire tomorrow, probably because the difficulties in understanding are very great ..."
And perhaps Gantz fears the collapse of the PA economy following the expected damage to Palestinian banks? "There's no blow to the banks," Hirsch states. "They can function, they just cannot receive money for terrorists. There are tens of thousands of bank accounts and they are kosher and can function. Banks understood the idea and said they didn't want these accounts. The claim of a bank collapse has nothing to support it. The same goes for the claim about the collapse of the PA that was made in the past about the Offsetting Law; the law came into force and was implemented at least once and nothing happened."
In Hirsch's opinion, it's quite possible that it will be heard that Minister Gantz will reject the move again: "In my opinion, Gantz doesn't have the courage to extend the order that came in during the time of his predecessor, Naftali Bennett. Unfortunately, Minister Gantz will again freeze the order and let the terrorists celebrate instead of letting the victims of terror and the citizens of Israel be proud of the action by the Defense Minister. This isn't forceful action, but neutralizing the factor in the middle of transferring funds."
