Last September Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement on Tuesday to resolve the Palestinians’ outstanding debt of almost NIS 2 billion ($530 million) to the Israel Electric Corporation.
Under the agreement, the PA will pay Israel NIS 570 million ($132 million), putting an end to the 10-year debt crisis. The balance of NIS 1.5 billion ($397 million) will be paid in 48 instalments, according to AFP, which added that a portion of the debt - likely interest accrued over the years - is expected to be waived.
Under an economic agreement signed with the PA in 1994, Israel collects around NIS 600-700 million ($159-$185 million) each month in customs duties, which are levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports.
It transfers the money after deducting approximately NIS 100 million ($26 million) for expenses such as Palestinian hospitalizations in Israel, sewage treatment and covering part of the electricity debt.
In 2016, the PA paid out some $303 million to the families of so-called “martyrs” - terrorists who lost their lives during attacks against Israelis and to prisoners serving time in Israeli jails for security offenses.
(Israel needs to regain self-respectful and deduct immediately from collected funds all remaining debt, as well as $303 million which Israel can use as compensation to victims of terror and additional expenses Israel accumulated while combating terror attacks sponsored by the PA and Hamas. By not doing it, Israel is supporting terror against its own people! Not long ago, Israel paid $20 million in ‘compensation’ to Turkish terrorists – it is time to collect compensation for the Jewish victims and to the state from the enemies!)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sundayblocked legislation that would have made it nearly impossible to divide Jerusalem. “Netanyahu blocked the legislative process but we are determined to pass it in three readings and I’m sure we can unite around the bill and Jerusalem,” said Bennett.
These Congressional committees this month provided a total of $705 million for research and development and procurement funding for the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 US-Israel cooperative missile defense systems. The new awarded funds appear to contradict an agreement between the Obama White House and Israel - the Obama deal insists ALL money is spent in the US, thus damaging the Israeli arms industries, and putting the US in control of Israeli arms supplies. (So-called aid to Israel is money well-spent! It is beneficial to both, Israel and the United states. Where else does the US get such return on its ‘aid’ investment?)
FOOD for THOUGHT by Steven Shamrak
I would like to point out that all of these tools of Islamic terror – suicide bombers, knife attacks and killing people using vehicles –first were ‘perfected’ by Palestinians against Jews in Israel. Al Qaeda and ISIL have been using their expertise! British, Europeans and other ‘nice’ international Anti-Semites are still supporting the PA financially, morally and politically!
Zero Tolerance to Aggression
The Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes on two military infrastructures belonging to Hamas in northern and southern Gaza week ago. The airstrikes were carried out in response to a rocket attack. "Since the Hamas terrorist organization is the ruler of Gaza, it is responsible for any attempt to harm the State of Israel," the IDF statement said. Later, a Salafist terrorist group that is affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis, claimed the rocket attack.
US Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossert announces a new cyber security partnership with Israel; Bossert states partnership is aimed at “stopping adversaries in networks and identifying ways to hold bad actors responsible.” Citing US-funded Iron Dome, Arrow and David’s Sling anti-missile systems, Bossert said the United States would continue to support Israel on all security issues to ensure there will be no power vacuum for Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas or ISIS.
Amit Serfer, an Israeli researcher at Siibrizn Labs, discovered a method to block attacks of the Petya ransomware program that hit thousands of computers around the world last week. Serfer discovered a way to prevent Petya from turning on and multiplying itself.
Iran has been using the ancient Jewish symbol of a Star of David as a target in its missile practice. “The missile launch is not only a direct violation of UNSCR 2231, but is also clear evidence of Iran’s continued intention to harm the State of Israel”, said Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon.
Customers who bought the book "A History of the Palestinian People: From Ancient Times to the Modern Era" by Assaf A. Volt for $7.99 found themselves looking at 120 blank pages - a most striking way of making the writer's point that the Arab "Palestinian People" is a late twentieth century invention.
An Israeli Jewish couple surreptitiously held their marriage ceremony on Thursday at the Temple Mount, in an act of protest against Israeli-imposed rules forbidding Jewish religious rituals at the flashpoint site. The couple had to carry out the nuptials without being seen by the Israel police escort who would have stopped them. (Shame - after almost 70 years of independence Jews are still can’t feel at home in the Jewish holiest place - the Temple Mount and Judea, Samaria etc!)
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon accused the United Nations of “colluding with supporters of terror seeking to harm Israell,” following a two-day panel Thursday-Friday marking “50 years of occupation”. “It is beyond comprehension that UN funds are supporting organizations which aid terrorists and incite against Israel,” Danon said. (It is surprising when the UN isn’t voting against Israel.)
Quote of the Week:
“The history of fifty years of negotiations has shown one thing: No gesture and no concession has promoted any negotiations and certainly has not brought any agreement closer. On the contrary, the concessions created a dynamic of gradual progress towards Arab empowerment in Judea and Samaria and a constant war – but without any progress towards peace... We call upon the Government of Israel to be aware of the reality in which we are living and to refrain from any Israeli concession on the ground. Do not allow Palestinian construction in Area C so long as a final agreement on ending the conflict has not been reached. If the Palestinians need land on which to build, they must wait until the final arrangements are completed on the ground, not on paper.” – Statement made by Professors for a Strong Israel, an extra-parliamentary organization of academics – There have been no international protests against building homes for Arabs in Israel controlled Judea and Samaria. Therefore, Israel has the right to build homes for Jews in the PA occupied Jewish land!
by Jonathan S. Tobin
As usual, the ‘peace process’ is still an anti-Israel scam – the issue of payment to terrorists is just a diversion! ‘Palestinians’ are occupying Jewish land - Time to look for alternative solutions!
...During testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson let drop a bombshell. When asked about the Palestinian Authority’s payment of salaries to imprisoned terrorists and their families, the secretary announced the problem had already been solved. “They have changed that policy,” Tillerson assured Idaho Sen. James Risch.
If true, that would be quite a feather in Tillerson’s cap. But the claim was false. A day later, when speaking to the House Foreign Relations Committee, he was forced to backtrack and admit that instead there was only an “active discussion” about the issue. But, later in his testimony, Tillerson insisted he still believed the assurances he got from PA leader Mahmoud Abbas during President Trump’s visit to the region...
As it turns out, the Palestinians are a more reliable source of information than the State Department. Within hours of Tillerson’s statement, members of Abbas’ government announced payments to terrorists hadn’t stopped and there were no plans to stop them. Indeed, they considered the entire discussion a form of “aggression” against the Palestinian people...
The problem is not just that the PA uses the massive aid it gets from both the European Union and the United States to pay for terrorism — in just the last four years, they have doled out more than $1.1 billion to those who seek to kill Jews, Israelis and Americans. But by going public about this outrage, Trump and Tillerson have staked their reputations on ending it...
What Tillerson doesn’t understand is that anti-Jewish violence is an essential element of the Palestinian national narrative. Ending support for terror is essential to peace, but it’s also an impossible ask for Abbas, who is rightly worried about losing support to his Hamas rivals... (He and others before him do understand it perfectly - They have been playing ‘big boys game’ with Jewish lives, victims of terror, for quite a while!)
And by announcing that the PA had already stopped them, Tillerson gambled American credibility on getting Abbas to make a promise he can’t keep. Indeed, Tillerson set back Trump’s own negotiating position because now that the Palestinians have revealed the truth, the White House can’t plausibly claim it can get the Palestinians to stop the practice.
All of which means Trump’s peace initiative is likely over even before it starts!
No comments:
Post a Comment