Israeli FM Sa’ar Says PA Trying To ‘Fool the World’ on Pay-for-Slay Despite Finance Minister Dismissal
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Monday that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s dismissal of his finance minister over illicit prisoner payments does not clear the PA of responsibility for continuing its policy of paying imprisoned terrorists, in a practice termed as “pay-for-slay.” His remarks followed revelations that senior PA officials had quietly preserved payment mechanisms tied to prisoners’ sentences, despite repeated assurances to international partners that the payments were need-based.
In a post on X, Sa’ar wrote: “Dismissing the Palestinian Authority’s Finance Minister will not absolve the dismisser, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA, of their complicity in Pay-for-Slay and responsibility for the ongoing payments to terrorists and their families. The Palestinian Authority is trying to fool the world. It won’t work. The truth is stronger.”
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The statement came hours after Abbas replaced Finance Minister Omar Bitar with Estephan Salameh, the PA’s minister of planning and international cooperation. No official explanation accompanied the personnel change. Palestinian officials, however, acknowledged privately that the dismissal followed an internal probe indicating that Bitar had approved payments to certain prisoners outside the PA’s newly adopted welfare criteria.
According to two individuals familiar with the findings, Bitar authorized stipends that were still tied to sentence length — the hallmark of the old system that provided more funds to those who committed serious crimes, including murder. The PA had pledged earlier this year to replace that structure with need-based assessments following US pressure and threats of reduced international financial support.
Sa’ar has repeatedly warned that the PA was circumventing its own reforms. Speaking at a press conference in Budapest several weeks ago, he accused Ramallah of rebranding the policy rather than ending it. At the time, he said the PA had “changed the method” but continued transferring benefits to terrorists through post offices and other channels. European governments, he charged, were ignoring what he described as ongoing violations.
Documents presented in September to international interlocutors showed that some families previously receiving payments were deemed ineligible under the new guidelines, while others continued receiving funds because of financial-need criteria. Israeli officials said the discrepancies raised immediate concerns that the PA was running a dual track — one public, one concealed.
