Catch-up: Aftonbladet Reports on Terrorist Funding

Cash for terror spills blood,
not ketchup

At the very end of August, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an article on Swedish aid to the Palestinian Authority which, surprisingly, pointed out problems with the endpoint receivers. Specifically, the article actually reported that the Palestinian Authority (PA) pays salaries to jailed terrorists, and that this is an essential component of continued terror recruiting.

Highlighting the top-level recipient Hassan Salameh, a headline statement points out that:

-“Salameh, gets a monthly salary of SEK 10,800 (about $1570), although he was sentenced to 37 life sentences in 1996 for leading the terrorist attacks that killed 46 people.”

The sub headline, “Millions in aid salary to terrorists”, is followed by concrete data regarding terrorist support funding. The total amount of the most recent Swedish Aid package (SEK 40 million or over $5.8 million) more than comfortably covers the PA “jail salaries”—which  total SEK 31 million (about 4.5 million).
  

Donor monies help the PA to pay hundreds of prisoners so that crime—in this case the brutal murder and maiming of Israeli citizens—does pay. Potential terrorists know that if they are caught and sit in jail their families will not lose financial support. (Not mentioned in the article is that the Israeli prison system also offers the opportunity to get high school or university degrees.)

Aid from Sweden and other donor states clearly supports and rewards terror. There is also a severe problem with the lack of transparency, as donors have no idea where the money goes once it’s handed over.  Anna Brodin, a spokesperson from the government’s Palestinian aid office, admitted that there are payments to imprisoned terrorists, but preferred to refer to them as “grants”. Nonetheless, she stated:

-“It's impossible to control exactly where all of their expenses goes to, but we can control is that our money is right.”

Minister for International Development, Gunilla Carlsson (Moderate Party), is using the same logic; her press secretary remarked:

-“It’s not our money that falls into the wrong hands, but then it is clear that there are gaps.”

This kind of “I didn’t do it” logic is no more than posturing, and totally fails to admit responsibility for fueling the whole PA rejectionist machine. The PA funds terrorists and also glorifies them by naming streets and public squares after cruel murderers, while refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Yet the donor states that line the pockets of the PA never call it to account.

Carlsson should be ashamed these pathetic statements; the Development Ministry should demand better accounting or better yet, turn off the cash flow to the PA.

By Chanah Shapira