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In Debt Because of Pay-for-Slay, Palestinian Authority Welcomes New Round of EU Funding
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in Ramallah, in the West Bank March 14, 2024 in this handout image. Photo: Palestinian president office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
In July, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported on a new grant of 400 million euros that the EU would be giving the Palestinian Authority (PA) in three installments in 2024.
The official PA news agency, WAFA, has now revealed that the EU had already transferred 150 million euros to it upon making the announcement, and that it has now received the second installment — a sum of 122.5 million euros.
These transfers are being made even as the PA openly admits to spending over 150 million euros a year on salaries to imprisoned terrorists and the families of so-called Martyrs.
The WAFA article explained:
The Palestinian government welcomed the European Union’s decision to transfer 122.5 million euros, which is the second installment of the special monetary aid package at a sum of 400 million euros. The second installment includes 38.5 million euros in the form of a grant through the PEGASE mechanism in order to pay the [PA public] employees’ salaries, and 84 million euros as credit easements for the Palestine Monetary Authority, which are being provided by the European Investment Bank.
[WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 5, 2024]
122.5 million euros is a sum equivalent to about $135 million dollars, and 400 million euros is a sum equivalent to about $440 million dollars.
The article describes the grant as being “part of a strategy that was agreed upon between the EU and Palestine to take care of the difficult monetary and economic situation of the PA and the Palestinian economy.”
WAFA also continued to tow the PA’s line, saying that the aid is significant “in the shadow of the deterioration in the financial situation as a result of the occupation’s aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and as a result of the financial siege that Israel is imposing through the continued illegal deductions from the [PA] tax money and the seizure of the sums that were deducted.”
As PMW has documented, the only reason that there is any “deterioration in the financial situation” of the PA is because the PA continues to prioritize the payment of salaries to terrorists.
Instead of encouraging the PA to take responsibility for its financial decisions and to end its Pay-for-Slay program, the EU pays certain employee salaries, thus enabling the PA to have other money to pay the terrorists. The EU can delude itself into thinking that it is only paying legitimate PA public employees, but the truth is that the EU’s money contributes to terrorism.
It is no wonder that the WAFA article’s headline is “The [PA] government welcomes the transfer of the second installment of European aid at a sum of 122.5 million euros.”
Of course it welcomes it, because the funds allow PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to make good on his constant refrain that even if the PA had only one penny left, it would use that money to pay the prisoners convicted of terrorist offense, and the “Martyrs.”
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post In Debt Because of Pay-for-Slay, Palestinian Authority Welcomes New Round of EU Funding first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7
Michelle Shalmiev was born in a village in the Caucasian mountains and immigrated to Israel and settled on a kibbutz when she was 14. Her series “Putting Your Stamp on History” […]
The post Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7 appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News
Printable obituaries of eight Canadian victims and more of our original coverage.
The post Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – This Oct. 7 will not only be an anniversary of tears, of pure contrition, even if the memory is burning as the people of Israel live. As to how, it wasn’t at all obvious. Our whole history is made of miracles—from the splitting of the sea to escape from the Egyptians to the Inquisition to the pogroms to the thousand other genocidal attacks to which the Jews have been subjected. In every case, the results are always incredible and surprising, especially for how we have emerged active, faithful to our Torah tradition and committed to the return to Jerusalem until we made it happen.
The War of Independence in 1948 was fought by concentration-camp veterans, yet we defeated all the Arab armies, united in hatred, who marched against us. Later, in 1967, 1973 wars were won by a hair’s breadth with miraculous strokes of imagination and leaders who gave birth to ideas that people would have expected. No one would have ever bet a euro, penny or shekel on the idea that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his entire hierarchy could be eliminated, petrifying Iran, especially since we have already reduced its other favorite proxy, Hamas, to pieces. And now we have bombed Iran’s other proxy, the Houthis, some 2,000 kilometers away, destroying the airport from which they receive their weapons and aid from the ayatollahs. The Islamic Republic’s leader, Ali Khamenei, is reportedly hiding underground, the Iraqi and Syrian Shi’ites are waiting to see if they are next, and cities controlled by Tehran are shaking.
As President Joe Biden said, it is a measure of justice, but one that Israel has undertaken in an impossible fashion, defending its citizens amid a thousand prohibitions with determination and without fear. Only in this way can a 76-year-old young state, which has been attacked from all sides, defend itself. The country’s existence is the latest chapter in the history of a people born many millennia ago in the Land of Israel, who are finally back home and defending their state.
The war is certainly not over, as Hezbollah reportedly had 100,000 fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that he must see this fight through to the end, despite the international pressure to which Israel has been subjected for nearly a year. Israel’s leadership understands that its very existence is at definitive risk if there is no “new Middle East” in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
While previous generations and Israeli leaders hoped that peace agreements would establish peace in the region, today’s leaders know that there is also a need for battle to stop those who, dominated by absurd fanatical and religious beliefs, wish to kill you. (After all, what do the Houthi rebels in Yemen have to do with the Jews and Israel?)
This is the lesson of our time—not just for Israel and the Jewish people but for everyone. The Jewish people are writing a new page in history, one in which the free world must write and fight alongside them, as it is a battle for the survival of Western ideals. Israel has eliminated the two most dangerous terrorist groups in the world—Hamas and Hezbollah—with operations that will set a precedent for decades. And it challenges Iran. I would like to hear the applause, please.
The post The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle first appeared on Algemeiner.com.