Mohammad Fateh Ali, Tehran’s ambassador to Lebanon, has pledged that his country will pay thousands of dollars to families of Palestinian terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Tehran will give $7000 to families of “martyrs of the intifada in occupied Jerusalem” and a further “$30000 to every family whose home the occupation has demolished for the participation of one of its sons, Lebanese media reported. The financial benefits to be reaped by the families of female assailants whose homes are destroyed were not separately discussed.
Thirty-three Israelis have been killed in an amorphous wave of Palestinian stabbing, ramming and shooting attacks and violence since early October. One hundred and seventy Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, the rest in clashes with Israeli forces, according to official Israeli figures.
The Israeli foreign ministry issued a statement saying the new Iranian measure “is further proof of Iran’s deep involvement in support for anti-Israeli terrorism. After the [nuclear] agreement with world powers,” the statement continued, “Iran has allowed itself to continue as a major player in international terrorism.”
Since the adoption of the nuclear deal between Iran and the West, the Israeli government has warned that lifting of financial constraints and sanctions against Iran would free up billions of dollars that Tehran could funnel into funding international terror.