viewpoints

>> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com

essay

Palestinian Terrorists Are Paid To Kill Jews

M

urdering Jews pays off in shek-
to $3,000 a month.
els if you're a Palestinian terror-
Contrast that with the average daily
ist from Hamas, Fatah
wage for Palestinians in Israel-
or Islamic Jihad. The Palestinians
controlled areas ($49), in P.A.-
aren't fit for statehood until this
controlled areas ($23) and in the
government-sanctioned funding
Gaza Strip ($17). About a quarter
of terror stops.
of Palestinians in the workforce
The Palestinian Authority
were jobless in 2014, according to
(P.A.), governing body of the
a European Union-funded survey.
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), has awarded monthly "sti-
STUNNING NUMBERS
pends" totaling at least $6 million Robert Sklar
Most of those landing big prison-
Contrib uting
to families of suicide bombers
er payments are linked to Gaza-
Editor
and monthly "salaries" totaling at
ruling Hamas. No surprise there.
least $4 million to terrorists held
Documents show Abdullah
in Israeli prisons. Payouts date to 2003
Barghouti, a Hamas commander and
during the second intifada (2000-2005)
bomb maker serving 67 life sentences,
against Israel.
has received more than $64,000. Ibrahim
Official Palestinian government docu-
Hamad, former leader of Hamas' West
ments reported by Israel Radio on Oct. 6
Bank military wing who is serving 54 life
and confirmed by the P.A. reveal the best
sentences, has drawn more than $50,000.
compensated are some of Hamas' most
According to the Jerusalem Post, the
revered "martyrs for Allah" — killers
two men were involved in some of the
lodged in Israeli maximum-security pris-
worst suicide bombings of the second
ons. The longer the sentence, the higher
intifada: the Sbarro restaurant bombing
the "salary." Base "pay" for a prisoner sen-
in Jerusalem in August 2001, a Rishon
tenced up to three years is about $365 a
LeZion nightclub bombing in May 2002
month. Long-term prisoners can draw up
and the Hebrew University cafeteria

bombings in Jerusalem in July 2002.
Exposing the extent of prisoner payouts,
hallowed by P.A. law, is a must in light
of P.A. pleadings of financial duress. The
U.S. alone gives more than $400 million
a year in aid to the P.A. and an average of
$200 million a year to the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Overall, the P.A. gets more than $2.6 bil-
lion in annual international aid, according
to the World Bank.

DEEPLY ROOTED
Prisoner payouts reinforce that the P.A.,
Israel's supposed peace partner, not only
condones terror, but also incites it via
incentives that justify the murder of
Zionist "infidels" as Palestinian "free-
dom fighting." So much for calling P.A.
President and PLO Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas politically "moderate."
"It is a problem for the BA: an Israeli
government source told the JPost on Oct.
6. "On the one hand, they claim they want
peace and discourage violence; and on the
other hand, they put terrorists on pedes-
tals, idolize them as heroes and provide

meaningful financial incentives for others
to follow their path."
Important as ending Israel's military
occupation and settlement expansion in
the West Bank is, it hinges on a negoti-
ated bilateral peace accord. But the PLO
can't be trusted to negotiate as long as it
encourages terror.
The Israel Radio report on prisoner
payouts emerged amid the latest round of
Palestinian violence unleashed following
Jewish-Muslim clashes over visits to the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.
The report came one day after Israeli
investigators arrested the five members of
a Hamas terror cell believed responsible
for the Oct. 1 drive-by shooting deaths of
a young Israeli couple en route to their
home in a West Bank settlement. Initial
claims of responsibility for the attack by a
terror unit within Fatah were cited in my
essay last week.
Any attempt to re-engage Israeli-
Palestinian peace talks not only would
require compromise by Israel, but also
and, more significantly, a sea change in
Palestinian culture — from a mindset that
rewards terror to one denouncing it. *

editorial

Israel Must Create Pluralistic Climate

A

fter a far-right minister in his
ing the public, via its government, a say in
administration challenged the
its operation.
authenticity of Reform Judaism,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu DUELING COMMENTS
branded the assertion hateful.
In July, Israeli Religious Affairs Minister
The Netanyahu government must do
David Azoulay told Army Radio: "A Reform
more, however, to assure the religious
Jew, from the moment he stops following
rights of all streams of Judaism. Mutual
Jewish law, let's say there's a problem. I can-
respect among affiliated Jews has
not allow myself to say that he is a
proven a struggle in the Jewish
Jew. These are Jews that have lost
state, where the Chief Rabbinate is
their way; and we must ensure
Orthodox-controlled, as mandated
that every Jew returns to the fold
by the government since state-
of Judaism and [we must] accept
hood.
everyone with love and joy."
What's needed is a govern-
The Sephardic Orthodox Shas
ment push that coaxes the Chief
party member was interviewed
Rabbinate into recognizing
after Israel's Cabinet reversed
David A zoulay
Progressive (Reform) and Masorti
regulations reforming conversion
(Conservative) Jews. Collectively,
practices approved by the previous
they represent 8 percent of affiliated Jews
government.
in Israel, but the percentage continues to
When queried by the American Jewish
grow.
Committee's Jerusalem office, Netanyahu
The Chief Rabbinate commands political called Azoulay's remarks "hateful" and
power and its influence is wide-ranging. It
affirmed the religious affairs minister must
also controls a publicly funded budget, giv- "represent all of Israel's citizens."

8 October 15 2015

JN

"The government of Israel, which I
head, remains committed to strengthen-
ing the unity of the Jewish people, and will
unequivocally reject any attempt to divide
us or to delegitimize any Jewish commu-
nity — Reform, Conservative or Orthodox:"
Netanyahu declared.
Netanyahu didn't say how the govern-
ment would enforce such an order. Without
a plan to ensure "all Jews can feel at home
in Israel; his retort, while welcomed, rings
hollow. It's unsettling that Israel's religious
governance thinks so little of Reform Jews
and, by extension, Conservative Jews.
Those streams are the largest within U.S.
Jewry and generate plenty of philanthropic
backing for Israel.

FINDING BALANCE
At the time of statehood in 1948, non-
Orthodox streams weren't yet a part of
Israel's religious life; by default, that gave
Orthodox rabbis control over the Chief
Rabbinate and, as a result, over Jewish
practices. Such control has stifled accom-

modation as new Jewish denominations
have emerged.
It's wrong to belittle Israel's Progressive
and Masorti Jews by preventing them from
marrying, converting or being buried out-
side Orthodox strictures. American Jewish
life offers an inclusive precedent, typically
featuring inter-stream harmony, to play off.
Israel's non-Orthodox streams have been
forced to depend on the American Jewish
community for financial, political and spir-
itual support. Recognizing them in Israel
wouldn't threaten the Chief Rabbinate, but
it would create a sense of inclusiveness.
Even moderate Orthodox leanings
in Israel, such as those held by Shlomo
Riskin, founding chief rabbi of the Israeli
settlement of Efrat in the West Bank, have
drawn the wrath of the Chief Rabbinate.
Turmoil over what it means to be a Jew
has tarnished the ancestral homeland for
Jews of all levels of religious observance.
Until codified into law, religious equal-
ity in Israel, a democratic nation, will be
restrained by the rigors of religious zeal. *

