The opening of a hall that the Palestinian Authority named for a terrorist who killed 125 people. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.

With great fanfare, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas declared to the world that he had stopped the PA’s terror rewards program known as Pay-for-Slay, and that families of terrorists would receive welfare benefits like everyone else in need.

However, speaking to the Fatah Revolutionary Council last week, he contradicted that statement — saying that he would not deduct even one penny from what the PA has been giving to the prisoners and Martyrs.

According to Abbas, “They must receive everything, as it was in the past.”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “We again emphasize that we are proud of the sacrifices made by the Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded … I told you once and I stand by my word: Even if we have [only] one penny left, it is for the prisoners and Martyrs. I will not agree, and you will not agree, to reduce any obligation, any interest, or any penny given to them. They must receive everything, as it was in the past, and they are more precious than all of us! … [emphasis added]

[Mahmoud Abbas, YouTube channel, Feb. 21, 2025]

Palestinian Media Watch had already reported last week that the PA had not stopped the terror rewards payments, and that it was merely paying them from a different account. Since this account also includes welfare recipients, the real amounts paid to terrorists will be harder to determine.

A statement by the head of the Board of Trustees of the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI), the mechanism that will be making the payments, noted that the program is “identical,” which seems to confirm what Abbas declared to his Fatah members, namely that the salaries will remain the same.

PNEEI Board of Trustees Director Ahmed Majdalani: “It’s not true and not accurate that the financial, ethical, and moral obligations towards all the families who received aid are being abandoned.

On the contrary, the new law also attempts to concentrate and institutionalize this aid in the framework of an identical and unified program on the Palestinian lands without discrimination and in accordance with the accepted international standards.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2025]

It is clear that Mahmoud Abbas is lying to someone — either to the Western donor countries (as he continues to pay high salaries as terror rewards), or to his own PLO/Fatah leaders by saying he will not cut the funds.

Palestinian Media Watch will be following and will continue updating.

Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), where a version of this article originally appeared.