Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two teenage daughters were killed in a Palestinian terror attack, called on Wednesday for Jerusalem to terminate all funding to the Palestinian Authority and to grant Palestinians the possibility to work in Israel.
The British-born Efrat resident, who garnered national and international headlines for his message of unity in the wake of the deadly April shooting, directed the impassioned plea at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting of the Knesset’s Israel Victory Caucus.
“The Palestinian Authority is a terrorist state, which finances murderers and terrorists,” he said, of the notorious “pay-for-slay” program, in which the P.A. doles money out to the families of terrorists.
“There is no two-state solution or future possible with an authority that bankrolls terror,” he added.
Dee—who in May was offered Israeli special envoy status to Jewish communities worldwide—said that foreign ministers and ambassadors from multiple Western countries have admitted to him that the two-state solution, which they have peddled for more than three decades, is no longer viable.
“Without exception, they have acknowledged privately that the two-state solution is a dead horse,” he said.
Dee said that a “new economic reality,” whereby Palestinians are both eager to work in Israel and disaffected with their leadership, is already in place and ought to be seized upon.
This would entail “unlimited access” to the Israeli job market for those without a criminal record, he said. He thinks that would ensure that Hamas would not gain strength in place of the P.A.
“Let’s stop funding the leadership and give the people what they want,” Dee said, of the Palestinians.
Israeli security officials have long cautioned that weakening the P.A. could create a vacuum for Hamas to gain a greater foothold in Judea and Samaria. Last week, Netanyahu pledged to prevent the collapse of the Western-backed P.A.
In accordance with the Oslo Accords, Israel is responsible for collecting customs duties and other tax revenues on behalf of the P.A. and transferring them to Ramallah on a monthly basis.
However, Israel, in 2018, passed a law requiring that a sum equal to the stipends Ramallah pays to security prisoners and the families of slain attackers be withheld from the tax revenues it transfers.
The U.S. has also passed the Taylor Force Act barring economic funding for the P.A. until it ceases distributing the terror stipends through its Martyr’s Fund.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
(Additional reporting provided by JNS Reporter)
Edited by Kyana Jeanin Rubinfeld and Joseph Donald Gunderson
