RAMALLAH, Friday, January 6, 2023 (WAFA) – Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said today that although the deductions from the Palestinian tax funds announced earlier today by Israel’s far-right government will exacerbate the already deficit-stricken Palestinian treasury, they will not block us from continuing our political and diplomatic path in all international forums to achieve our independence and statehood.

Shtayyeh called on all countries that have condemned Israeli racist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the daily Israeli murder crimes in Palestine to translate their statements into action, and to put an end to these crimes.

Earlier today, the so-called Israeli Ministerial Committee on National Security Affairs ordered the deduction of approximately NIS 139 million (nearly $39 million) from Palestinian Authority funds in favor of the so-called “Israeli victims of terrorism”.

The Israeli Ministerial Committee also ordered offsetting the welfare payments made by the Palestinian governments to the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the families of those killed by Israeli occupation forces in 2022.

Bezalel Smotrich, the new far-right Israeli Finance Minister, said the new measures are just the beginning, and that “whoever acts against us will pay a heavy price”.

Smotrich said in a tweet that the “government alliance agreement confirms taking measures to put an end to salaries and benefits paid to prisoners and martyrs' families”.

M.N