Bipartisan group of 50 to administration: Negotiate end to martyr payments to terrorists

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of 50 Members of Congress, 30 Democrats and 20 Republicans — led by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) — wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday asking the State Department to update Congress on the status of negotiating an end to the “Pay for Slay” program.

They also urged the Administration to continue to raise this issue with Palestinian officials.

For years, the Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs’ Fund has rewarded deadly acts of terrorism with monetary payments. This depraved practice incentivizes terror — the deadlier the attack, the more money families of terrorists receive.

These payments cost the Palestinian Authority more than $300 million annually, at 8% of its budget. Palestinian officials have made it clear that the Palestinian Authority will not stop funding martyr payments to the families of terrorists.

This letter comes ahead of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress.

“For some Palestinians, terrorism literally pays. As you know, the Palestinian Authority has for decades provided financial compensation and other benefits to families of terrorists jailed in Israeli prisons and ‘martyrs’ killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis,” the Members of Congress wrote in a letter to Secretary Blinken. “The Palestinian Authority has clearly continued down the path of more hatred, violence, and terror, without regard for the damage inflicted, or for their role in diminishing the prospects for peace. But, so long as they pay citizens to murder civilians, they will do so without benefiting from the support of United States taxpayers. We know that the Administration shares the view that support for terrorism and the Palestinians’ characterization of the martyr payment system as a form of social welfare is unacceptable.”