John Spencer is a West Point professor who, after 25 years in the American military, become a leader in the field of urban warfare. His own study of the IDF in Gaza has led him to conclude that “Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires.”
Now he has published a piece on the “Pay-For-Slay” program that is still supported by the Palestinian Authority. This program provides large monthly stipends both to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of terrorists who died while carrying out their attacks. The American government passed the Taylor Force Act in 2018, declaring that American aid to the PA would be suspended as long as “Pay-For-Slay” remained in force. The program continues, but the Biden administration managed to find various excuses, and imaginative misinterpretations of the law, for not enforcing Taylor Force and cutting off all aid to the PA.
John Spencer’s piece on the need for the Trump administration to end “Pay-For-Slay” can be found here: “Peace in Israel isn’t possible until Palestinians stop paying terrorists to kill | Opinion,” by John Spencer, USA Today, January 10, 2025:
An 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, Ludmila Lipovsky, was brutally murdered last month in Israel while waiting for her daughter to take her to a doctor’s appointment. A 28-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank is accused of stabbing her to death.
This horrific act is yet another example of the violence incentivized by a multimillion dollar program known as “pay to slay,” which is written into Palestinian law and governed by the Palestinian Authority.
Some view it as simply a system that rewards Palestinians for committing acts of terrorism against Jewish Israelis. In reality, it is a deeply ingrained economic structure and societal program in the West Bank and Gaza that incentivizes violence, thus undermining any chance of a sustainable peace deal.
The amounts provided by the PA to imprisoned terrorists and the families of terrorists who died as “martyrs” in the commission of their terror attacks are substantial, much higher than the average monthly wage in either Gaza or in the Palestinian-populated parts of Judea and Samaria. These large sums both reward past terrorist acts and incentivize the commission of future terror attacks.
The program provides monthly payments to Palestinians convicted of violent acts against Israelis and imprisoned for their crimes. Crucially, these payments are not extended to those convicted of non-terror-related crimes. The payments increase with the length of the prison sentence, which perversely rewards perpetrators of the worse crimes.
For example, as of 2017, a prisoner sentenced to up to three years receives $400 monthly, while someone sentenced to 10 to 15 years earns more than $1,500 monthly. During incarceration, the Palestinian Authority also pays the individual’s social security and pension fees. The payments to prisoners are adjusted to account for increases in the cost of living.
Upon release, the benefits continue. Released prisoners receive a lump-sum grant ranging from $1,500 to $25,000, depending on the duration of their imprisonment. Employment in government institutions is guaranteed, with job placements prioritized based on years spent in prison. Those who cannot secure jobs receive unemployment stipends − provided they served at least five years for men or two years for women.
Moreover, released prisoners enjoy free college education and lifelong health care. A male prisoner who has spent at least one year in an Israeli prison is exempt from tuition fees at Palestinian universities and professional training programs, as well as from health insurance payments.
If a terrorist is killed during an attack or by Israeli forces, their family is supported through the “martyrs” fund. Families receive monthly payments − spouses for life and children until they reach adulthood − ranging from $100 to $1,200.
Does “Pay-For-Slay” really incentivize terror attacks? The data certainly suggests so. In 2024, there were 18,000 terror attacks on Israelis. Many were rockets and drones launched by Hamas from Gaza and by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. But close to 2,000 were committed inside Israel by Palestinians living in the West Bank, or by Israeli Arabs.
Clearly “Pay-For-Slay” is having the desired effect: huge numbers of terror attacks on Israelis, by every conceivable means — arson, Molotov cocktails, shootings, use of explosives, stabbings, car rammings, bombings, and abductions. “Pay-For-Slay” works — it rewards and massively incentivizes terrorism, and that is why it is essential that the Trump administration return to the policy of the first Trump term, which was to assiduously enforce Taylor Force after it was passed in 2018, by cutting off all aid to the PA. Unfortunately, just a few months into his first and only term, in April 2021, Joe Biden reversed Trump’s course and renewed aid to the Palestinian Authority, with a lot of Jesuitical casuistry about how these PA payments were not really “pay-for-slay” rewards, but should be thought of as welfare payments, being given to Palestinian prisoners and families who most “needed” the money. This claim might have been more plausible if the payments were made to all the poorest Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including those who had been sentenced for non-terrorist-related crimes. But this is not the case: only those who committed acts of terrorism, and no matter how well off they might be, are eligible for the PA’s stipends. And the families of those Palestinian Arabs who died in the course of committing not terrorist attacks but common crimes (robbery, burglary, arson, rape, and so on) are similarly not eligible for monthly stipends from “Pay-For-Slay.”
On January 20 or soon after, among his very first acts, President Trump should declare his intention to enforce the Taylor Force Act, denounce the PA’s “continued reward to terrorists and their families with generous monthly stipends,” and cut off all the aid to the Palestinian Authority that the Biden administration had reinstated in April 2021. I suspect that once that happens, the PA — facing four years of Trump enforcing Taylor Force — will suddenly discover that it really can do without its “Pay-For-Slay” program after all.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
The Ramallah regime ain’t gonna end the “Pay for Slay” program. It needs to be cut off immediately come Monday. In fact, since Israel is doing the hostage swap, Jerusalem should be giiven the go-ahead to start annexing Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and re-building Jewish settlements in Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho and Nablus. Raise the price that the Palis will pay to get their prisoners released, so that it doesn’t look like a prisoner-for-hostage swap, but rather a prisoner-for-land swap
Any Arabs living there who’s willing to peacefully live side-by-side w/ Jews, like Israeli muslims seemingly do, can remain, but all the rest should be expelled to a country that does not border Israel. Not Jordan or Egypt, but something like Qatar or Turkey
Bily says
Muslims celebrate and reward their slaughter of Non-Muslims thinking they are doing a service to their murderous god, Allah, and gaining an eternal Paradise. So, Islam is a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Specifically, Islam is a Muslim Terrorist Ideology and Criminal Organization of discrimination, segregation, supremacy, genocide, polygamy, deceit, hatred, incitement, sedition, rape, terrorism, and violence against all Non-Muslims as taught in the Quran. Basically, Islam is a Terrorist Criminal Enterprise. Thus, the Truth about Islam and its terrorism, its WAR, its discrimination, and its violence against all Non-Muslims must be taught and broadcast to the general public to prohibit Islam, its Mosques, and its Schools. Furthermore, there is NO EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW in Islam or in Islamic Law.
Non-Muslims CANNOT have peace with Islam and its Muslims because Islam and its murderous god, Allah, demand a continuous, Muslim war against unbelievers where Non-Muslims are CRIMINALS under Islam as Allah in Qur’an 8:39 says, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…” HENCE, NON-MUSLIMS MUST MAKE ISLAM, ITS MOSQUES, ITS SCHOOLS, ITS ORGANIZATIONS, ETC. ILLEGAL UNDER THE LAW. Similarly, Islam and its many Organizations must be identified and declared to be a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION for their funding, teaching, and support of terrorism, violence, and discrimination against Non-Muslims.
Allah in Islam demands SURRENDER which means ‘to Surrender, whether voluntarily or not, by becoming a Muslim’ while Submission, ‘to Submit’, is a voluntary act to follow the authority or control of another. Allah in Quran 49:14 says, “’The Bedouins said, ‘We believed.’ Say,’You did not believe. But say, ‘We surrender (became Muslim as a result of fear).’ And the faith has not entered your hearts. And if you obey Allah and his messenger, he will not decrease anything from your works. Surely Allah is forgiving, merciful.’”
Islam promotes a terroristic, Muslim war against unbelievers when Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed JIHAD with THEIR MONEY AND THEIR LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.”
Allah promises Heavenly Paradise to Muslims for acts of Muslim killing in a terrorist war when Quran 9:111 says, “Surely Allah has purchased from the believers[Muslims] their souls and their money so that they may have the garden[Heavenly Paradise]. They engage in war for the sake of Allah, so they kill and are killed…”
Islam champions Muslim acts of slaughter against Non-Muslims for not becoming Muslims as Allah in Qur’an 8:12 says, “When your lord revealed to the angels: ‘I am with you so make firm those who believed[Muslims]. I will cast a terror into the hearts of those who became infidels[Non-Muslims]. So strike above their necks(decapitation), and strike off(chop off) every finger from them.’”
Allah instructs Muslims to attack Non-Muslims when Quran 9:29 says, “Engage in war with those who do not believe in Allah nor in the last day. Nor forbid what Allah and his messenger forbid[via Islam’s Law, Sharia], nor believe in the religion of the truth[Islam] among those who have been given the book[Christians and Jews] until they pay the jizyah[extortion payment] out of hand and they are subdued[disgraced].”
gravenimage says
The Palestinian Authority and its ‘Pay-For-Slay’ Program
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Good for John Spencer–importat stuff. How can you make peace with a bunch which has programs for paying those murdering your people?
Infidel says
Of course an Islamic government will encourage jihad “holy war” however it can. What else would we expect. Sadly, the US government is so controlled and infiltrated by Muslims that we can’t recognize or admit that Islam is a problem and incompatible with the US.
Lenny Leaps In says
Where does the millions of $$ come from for the Palestinian authorities to pay their terrorist operatives for the murder of Jews? Yep – from foreign aid.