JERUSALEM—The president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) apparently capitulated to the Trump administration by claiming to scrap its long-standing program known as “pay for slay,” which provides payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families.

There are, however, conflicting reports about whether the PA ended the program or is trying to hoodwink the Trump administration. 

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein released a statement on X saying, “This is a new deception scheme by the Palestinian Authority, which intends to continue paying terrorists and their families through alternative payment channels.”

“It appears that the terrorists and families of terrorists who received payments under the PA’s ‘pay for slay’ program will continue to receive the same payments, simply via a ‘foundation’ under the control of Abbas, rather than via a ministry under the control of Abbas.”

Fredman added, “It remains to be seen whether Abbas truly ends the pay for slay payments, as well as the virulent terror incitement and antisemitism in PA media, schools and summer camps.”

He said the PA announced that the payments to convicted terrorists are moving from the Ministry of Social Development to an independent Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Foundation. The head of the foundation’s board is the minister of social development. The foundation’s general director is also apparently an employee of the Ministry of Social Development, according to her LinkedIn profile. The linkage suggests that the foundation is closely tied to the PA. 

Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released from an Israeli prison as part of a ceasefire agreement are greeted in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital, “We will rejoice when the PA stops financially rewarding Palestinian terrorists for murdering and injuring Israelis. Abbas’ statement makes no such commitment. Mr. Abbas, you either support and abet terrorism or oppose and help end it.”

The Times of Israel reported that PA officials informed the incoming Trump administration about its plan to pull the plug on the “pay to slay” program.

The thinking behind the PA’s decision is to curry favor with the Trump administration and avoid the strained relations that existed during the first Trump presidency. After Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city in 2017, Abbas boycotted the Trump administration.

The Times of Israel wrote that Monday’s “decree is Ramallah’s latest effort to improve ties with Washington and amounts to a major victory for Trump, who managed to secure a concession from the PA that repeated U.S. administrations had worked to bring about.”

A security prisoner with his hands tied at a prison in Giv’at Ze’ev, Aug 28, 2024. (Gideon Markowicz/TPS-IL)

The PA is based in Ramallah in the West Bank (known in Israel as the biblical region of Judea and Samaria).

Fox News Digital reported after a late 2023 deal involving the exchange of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel for the release of Israeli civilians held by Hamas in Gaza that the freed terrorists would receive monthly payments ranging from approximately $535 to $668 for Jerusalem residents.

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), summed up a recent trend of foreign leaders caving to the Trump administration. “I think it speaks to the Trump effect. Foreign leaders fear crossing the president because he knows how to engage in coercive diplomacy, and it produces outcomes which advance U.S. interests like this. Iran and other countries are watching very carefully how the president pressures other governments, and this will shape their decision-making. Thus far, Tehran has been more risk-averse since President Trump has been in office,” he told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital questions to the Palestinian Authority were not answered.