Hebrew University bomber terrorists received more than million dollars in pay-for-slay payments

This week marked the 17th anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem cafeteria bombing, in which nine people were killed and more than 80 wounded. In honor of the anniversary, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) released a report showing that the terrorists responsible for the attack have thus far received $1,257,259 in “pay-for-slay” payments from the Palestinian Authority.

The bombing, which took place on July 31, 2002 and became known as the Hebrew University massacre, was planned and perpetrated by members of an eastern Jerusalem Hamas cell during the Second Intifada. A bomb was placed in a cafeteria on the Mount Scopus campus. Among those murdered were five Americans.

Six members of the Hamas cell are serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prisons for this attack and others.

Among the convicted terrorists for this and other attacks were Adballah Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences – one for each of the victims he murdered, and Ibrahim Hamed, who is serving 54 life sentences – one for each of the victims he murdered. Through June 2019, the PA cumulatively paid them NIS 1,271,000 ($339,862) and continues to pay them thousands of shekels per month, according to PMW.

The other four terrorists – Wael Qassem, Wassim Abbasi, Alla Aldin Abbasi and Muhammed Odeh – were residents of Jerusalem, entitling them to a salary supplement of 300 shekels/month. Each of them has been paid more than NIS 770,000 ($220,733) since their arrest in August 2002. Each of them is currently receiving NIS 7,300 ($1,951) per month.

According to PMW, since the start of 2019, these terrorists have received NIS 300,000 or $86,000, despite the PA’s purported financial crisis.

The PA obligated itself to pay monthly salaries to imprisoned terrorists when it passed the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners in 2004, PMW explained. The exact amount paid is set in regulations passed by the PA government.

This is not the first time PMW has reported on the payments of terrorists involved in particularly sensitive cases.

Last month, five years after the July 11, 2014 arrest of Husam Al-Qawasmi – the terrorist mastermind behind the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frenkel – PMW reported that the terrorist began receiving NIS 4,000 instead of NIS 2,000 a month, according to the PA’s standard pay scale.

The PA has long had a “Pay-for-Slay” policy, by which it pays monthly salaries to terrorist prisoners and the families of terrorists who were killed in the act or upon arrest.

In February, Israel implemented the “Pay-for-Slay” Law that instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of “martyrs” from the tax money it collects for the authority. The law was passed last July and was approved for implementation by Israel’s security cabinet this year.

In 2019, the cabinet is withholding approximately $138 million.

Source: JP