Abbas to Israelis: Drop Dead, and I’ll Pay For It

Let’s say you’re the leader of a small and embattled group of people eager to finally achieve sovereignty. If you’re a decent and reasonable person—and not, say, a Holocaust-denying dictatorial maniac hellbent on oppressing his own people and inciting religious war—you’d probably want to shy away from anything that suggests you’re into, you know, bloodshed. And because so many of your people are struggling financially, you’d probably want to spend every penny you’ve got helping them find gainful employment.

Unless, that is, you’re Mahmoud Abbas. This weekend, the Palestinian president, now on the twelfth year of his four-year term, announced his strong and unflinching commitment to handsomely paying the families of Palestinians who have murdered Israelis.

“Even if I will have to leave my position, I will not compromise on the salary (rawatib) of a Martyr (Shahid) or a prisoner,” Abbas said on the official Fatah Facebook page, reaffirming his commitment to what is currently a $318 million pay-off to imprisoned Palestinian terrorists or the families of terrorists killed while perpetrating their attacks.

Thankfully, we’ve a bill in the works—named after an American officer murdered by a Palestinian whose family now enjoys Abbas’ generous patronage—to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority until it changes its priorities and stops offering economic incentives for killing Jews.