Palestinian Authority Rejects Iranian Funding For Terrorists’s Families
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The Palestinian Authority rejected an announcement by Iran saying the Islamic Republic would pay thousands of dollars to families of Palestinians killed while carrying out terror attacks against Israelis.
Financial assistance to such families is the purview of the Palestinian Authority, Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, reportedly said Sunday, according to several news outlets, including the French news agency AFP.
Rudenia told the local media that circumventing the PA in handing out such funds constitutes “illegal interference in internal Palestinian affairs,” according to AFP.
Iran should “send this money through official channels to the (PA’s) Martyrs and Prisoners Foundation rather than relying on informal and circuitous routes,” Abu Rudeina said, APF reported.
Mohammad Fateh Ali, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, said Feb. 26 that his country is allocating $7,000 to families of “martyrs of the intifada in occupied Jerusalem” and will give $30,000 to each family “whose home the occupation has demolished for the participation of one of its sons.”
Israel condemned the announcement, saying in a Foreign Ministry statement: “This is further proof of Iran’s deep involvement in support for anti-Israeli terrorism. After the [nuclear] agreement with world powers, Iran has allowed itself to continue as a major player in international terrorism.”
Israel strongly opposed the Iran nuclear agreement, which lifts sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. Among its objections to the agreement was that it would free up money for the Islamic Republic to use in funding terrorism in Israel and elsewhere.
According to the Times of Israel, Iran is believed to have increased its funding of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas since the nuclear deal was signed.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
