Defying all credible expectations, The ‘Forward’ opinion page defends ‘pay to slay’ - by Karen Bekker

Newspaper hits a new low by running an article justifying payments to terrorists who murder Jews.

Karen Bekker..
CAMERA/JNS.org..
01 August '19..

Last December, the Forward gaslit Jews with the claim that “‘From the River to the Sea’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means,” an opinion piece by University of Arizona professor Maha Nassar. In January, the publication gave space to Ariel Gold, an activist with the pro-Iran, pro-Maduro group Code Pink, to advocate for housing discrimination against Jews. This month, the publication once again defies all credible expectations, hitting yet another new low with justifications for Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists who murder Jews. (“Does The Palestinian Authority ‘Pay To Slay’ Jews? Here’s How We Palestinians See It,” July 10.)

In the second paragraph, author Muhammad Shehada claims “pay to slay” is a “canard” that has been debunked by The Washington Post. This is grossly dishonest. The Post fact-check to which he refers took issue only with the claimed total amount of the payments, $350 million, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted in a speech, but the Post’s piece acknowledges, without caveat, that such payments are in fact being made: “the State Department, by law, already deducts from its Palestinian aid budget a figure that represents the amount of money the Palestinian Authority pays to people convicted of terrorism. The exact number is classified … ”

The same Post article continues, “in the Palestinian Authority’s budget, one can find $350 million in annual payments to Palestinian prisoners, ‘martyrs’ and injured, but can one with certainty say they are all terrorists?”

Inarguably, the P.A. is paying $350 million to prisoners. It can reasonably be argued that not all of them are terrorists, and certainly not all have committed murder. But it’s also inarguable that at least some have. The Post continues:

“Yet at the same time, Palestinians acknowledge making payments to the families of suicide bombers and people convicted of heinous attacks. Hakim Awad—the then-18-year-old militant mentioned by Netanyahu who murdered five family members in a West Bank settlement—receives about $14,000 a year.”

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Karen Bekker is the assistant director of CAMERA’s Media Response Team. Prior to joining CAMERA, she practiced law for nine years as a commercial litigator.