JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar criticized the (PA) for encouraging terrorism through its well-known “Pay-for-Slay” scheme following a Palestinian attack on Friday that killed two Israelis.
On Friday in northern Israel, Palestinian terrorists killed 19-year-old Aviv Maor of Kibbutz Ein Harod and 68-year-old Mordechai Shimshon of Beit She’an.
The PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy drew widespread public notice when Taylor Force—a West Point alumnus who served in Afghanistan and Iraq—was brutally stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist on March 8, 2016, during a visit to Israel. President signed the Taylor Force Act into law in October 2018, following a robust campaign led by Force’s parents, .
Before Friday’s attacks, Sa’ar warned the international community about what he called deception by Palestinian leadership. He posted on X: “Don’t trust Mahmoud Abbas’ falsehoods. The PA’s payments to terrorists and their families have not ceased. The PA has chosen to keep its ‘. This covers payments to the families of ‘martyrs,’ injured terrorists, imprisoned terrorists, and those released from jail. The PA is also hiding payments to freed murderers by labeling them as pensions for Palestinian Security Services members! This is twisted. Stop ‘Pay-for-Slay’ immediately!”
Abbas, 90, is a chain-smoker and serves as president of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank (a region Israel refers to by its biblical names Judea and Samaria.)
Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, told Digital that despite the PA’s claims of ending the “Pay-for-Slay” program, “there has been no significant shift in the PA’s policy regarding payments to terrorists.”
He added: “They’re pretending to adjust their policies.” But he described this as a “façade”—no actual policy change has occurred.
Michael stated: “Pay-for-Slay will persist in a different form. Donors and the international community (which fund the PA) will face greater difficulty in tracking these payments.”
The , Michael—who is also a fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy—said the PA “frames terrorists as recipients of social welfare. They keep supporting incitement against Israel. They remain dysfunctional.”
A December 19 report in the Times of Israel noted that a PA-affiliated group—the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (also called Tamkeen)—denied the Israeli government’s assertion that “Pay-for-Slay” is still in place.
In its statement, Tamkeen said it “confirms that the payment system tied to the length of imprisonment has been fully and permanently eliminated and is no longer active in any capacity.” It added that “Claims about its continuation are deliberate misinformation and factually false.”
Digital attempted to contact multiple times for comment and sent press inquiries to the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (Tamkeen.)
When asked by Digital what donor countries can do to end “Pay-for-Slay,” Michael responded: “Be firm with financial donations,” adding that there are “numerous ways to put pressure on the PA.”
He harshly criticized Western European leaders who recognized an independent Palestinian state in 2025 without verifying that the state would not support terrorism. “Western leaders—including the British prime minister, French president, and Spanish prime minister—are hurrying to recognize a Palestinian state and don’t care about what happens under the PA’s rule in the territories,” he said. He added that their recognition is “an incentive to keep practicing ‘Pay-for-Slay.'”
Michael stated that is the sole entity “exerting pressure on the PA.”
He emphasized that if Hamas—the U.S.-designated terrorist group—is not dismantled and disarmed in Gaza, “it will be another victory for Hamas and the PA.”
The U.S. State Department and American Embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately reply to Digital’s press inquiries.