When the murderers are caught or killed, the P.A. will pay them or their families a hefty salary for committing this heinous crime.
By Maurice Hirsch, Adv., Palestinian Media Watch
Hours after a bomb exploded at the “Danny Spring” on Friday Aug. 23, murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and injuring her father and brother, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt took to Twitter to demand that the Palestinian Authority condemn the attack.
He added, “If they don’t, donor countries should demand the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) answer for why their donor funds continue to be used to reward attacks.”
Despite numerous checks, and notwithstanding the fact that the P.A. media has referred to the attack on multiple occasions, Palestinian Media Watch could find no statement whatsoever of any P.A. official condemning the attack. Rather the P.A. media chose to falsely claim that Rina was a “soldier” and a “settler.”
P.A. TV reported that Israeli forces had set up road blocks around Ramallah “on the pretext” that someone had killed an Israeli soldier.
Needless to say, 17-year-old Rina was not a soldier and no Israeli authority ever claimed she was a soldier.
WAFA, the official P.A. news agency, printed a number of articles related to the event. While Rina was a resident of Lod, a town in Israel (within the 1949 Armistice lines), the reports systematically described her as a “settler” and focused on the measures taken by Israel to apprehend the terrorists who carried out the attack.
According to the WAFA, “The Israeli army had also set up roadblocks on different roads in the West Bank following an attack earlier in the day against settlers near Ramallah in which one settler was killed and two others injured.”
P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party echoed the PA media, claiming that Rina was a settler, posting on its official Facebook page, “Pictures from the site where the female settler was killed and two others were wounded by the explosion of a bomb west of Ramallah.”
The post has received over 100 interactions including 2 “love” heart symbols , 94 “like”s and 4 “ha-ha” laughing smileys.
The P.A. referred to her, as it often does to victims of terror, as a “settler” and “soldier,” because from the P.A.’s perspective it makes her an even more legitimate target than killing other Israelis. The P.A. TV News reporting on the murder of American Taylor Force who was murdered in Tel Aviv also called him a “settler.”
P.A. Pays Terrorists Huge Financial Rewards
Even if the P.A. had bothered to pay even the minimal lip service required and issue a condemnation, it would be meaningless as its actions will speak louder than words. If the terrorist/s who murdered Rina are caught alive, the PA will pay them a salary in prison and even after their release.
If they are killed during an attempt to arrest them, the P.A. will pay their families a monthly allowance for the rest of their lives. The P.A. will pay these salaries/allowances simply because the terrorist/s carried out a terrorist attack, and regardless of whether the terrorists belong to Fatah, Hamas, or acted alone.
As noted by Greenblatt, in the absence of a condemnation (not only by words but also by actions) the countries that are funding the P.A. should ask themselves why they are contributing aid to the P.A., while the P.A. uses its resources to financially reward terrorists.
