Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a past UN General Assembly address. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – The former director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday the Palestinian Authority (PA) has paid $1.12 billion to Palestinian terrorists and their families during the past four years.

Kuperwasser said the longer a Palestinian terrorist prisoner remains in an Israeli jail, “the higher the salary…Anyone who has sat in prison for more than 30 years gets NIS 12,000 ($3,378) per month.”

He added, “When they’re released, they get a grant and are promised a job at the Palestinian Authority. They get a military rank that’s determined according to the number of years they’ve served in jail.”

Kuperwasser’s briefing of Israeli lawmakers follows US President Donald Trump’s recent rebuke of Palestinian leaders in a joint press conference with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. Trump said, “Peace can never take root in an environment where violence is tolerated, funded and even rewarded.”

During the leaders’ closed-door meeting in Bethlehem, Trump reportedly yelled at Abbas, “You tricked me in D.C.! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement.”