The world cheered as “Palestinian prisoners” walked free as part of the October 2025 hostage deal. But behind the celebration lies a darker truth: these men weren’t victims of “occupation” as the media wants you to believe; they are convicted murderers. Terrorists, some of whom, were serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prisons. And thanks to the Palestinian Authority (PA), they left prison not just free, but rich.
For years, the PA has told Western donors it ended its notorious “Pay-for-Slay” program — the policy that pays monthly stipends to terrorists and their families. But newly revealed financial records and official confirmations show those payments never stopped. In fact, they’ve grown. According to JNS, 160 terrorists freed in the October deal were already millionaires, having collectively received more than 229 million shekels ($70 million) in “martyrs’ salaries” during their time in Israeli prisons.
A Policy Built on Blood Money
The “Pay-for-Slay” program has been the backbone of the Palestinian Authority’s terror rewards system since 2004. Administered through the Prisoners’ and Martyrs’ Funds, it guarantees lifetime salaries for anyone who kills or attempts to kill Israelis. The more severe the crime, the higher the payout.
In 2018, the United States passed the Taylor Force Act, named after an American veteran murdered by a Palestinian terrorist, cutting off U.S. aid to the PA until the program ended. The PA claimed to comply — on paper. In reality, the payments continued under new names and shadow accounts.
Earlier in 2025, another exchange freed 316 terrorists who collectively received over 500 million shekels ($142 million) from the same system. Despite repeated denials, the money trail proves the PA continues to financially incentivize terror, while Western nations look the other way.
Now, a civil lawsuit filed in New York (Force v. Palestinian Authority, Oct. 16, 2025) accuses the PA of violating U.S. anti-terror laws by maintaining these payments with foreign donor money.
The Claim: “The PA Ended Pay-for-Slay”
Palestinian officials and sympathetic media outlets insist the stipends were halted earlier this year.
Western journalists even echoed the claim, with the Associated Press describing the prisoners released in the October ceasefire as “freedom fighters coming home.”
But that narrative collapses under its own hypocrisy. These “freedom fighters” weren’t activists or political detainees — they were convicted bombers, shooters, and planners of attacks that killed Israeli civilians. Their families have received monthly payments for years, and their release triggered new “grants” from the PA.
The Truth: Terror Still Pays — Literally
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on October 20 that the PA added “special release grants” for the newly freed prisoners. Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s former justice minister, put it bluntly: “They are paying salaries to terrorists and terrorist families. Now they’ve added grants to those we had to release.”
As Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch explained, “The Palestinian Authority ensures that it very much pays to slay.”
The Moral Inversion
The hostage deal exposed the perverse logic at the heart of Palestinian politics: terrorists are heroes, and their victims are forgotten. Each time the PA rewards a murderer, it sends a clear message — violence pays.
Western governments that funnel humanitarian aid into the Palestinian Authority are not promoting peace; they are subsidizing terror. As Israeli analyst Isaac Halevi put it to American onlookers, “Hard truth: your country may have helped bankroll their blood money.”
The families of terror victims are now fighting back through U.S. courts, demanding accountability and the end of this moral outrage.
Bottom Line
The so-called “reform” of the Palestinian Authority’s terror financing is a sham. The “Pay-for-Slay” policy didn’t die, it just got richer. Until the world stops rewarding lies and starts confronting the truth, the killers of Israelis will keep walking free, cheered as heroes and paid as millionaires.
