Tel Aviv, January 3 – Israel responded today to the abortive Palestinian statehood bid at the Security Council by announcing it would cease its transfer of tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority, prompting the political party Meretz to declare it would voluntarily reimburse the Palestinians for the nearly half-billion shekel sum currently outstanding.
Meretz Chairwoman Zahava Gal-On called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this afternoon to reassure him that her party would guarantee coverage of any deficit in Palestinian spending that results from the withheld revenues, saying it was only proper to enable the Authority to continue functioning as before.
“It is irresponsible and reckless for the Netanyahu government to act this way, as if it is up to them to dictate how the Palestinian government should or should not behave,” said Gal-On. “I told Mr. Abbas that we have his back, and that our coffers and those of our donors such as the New Israel Fund would be more than happy to provide this safety net.”
Pressure has mounted over the last few months on the Israeli government to take action on Palestinian incitement, specifically the Palestinian Authority’s policy of paying pensions to the relatives of terrorists. Calls have come from various quarters to reduce the amount transferred to the Palestinians commensurate with the sums paid to support terrorists’s families, but the latest Israeli move goes even further. In an interview, Gal-On said the withholding set a dangerous precedent of Israel impinging on the Palestinian right to use its funds however it chooses, a right that she said outweighs any so-called obligation of Israel to defend or protect its citizens.
“The international community made very clear during and after this summer’s horrific killing in the Gaza Strip that Israel does not enjoy a right to self-defense,” she noted. “Netanyahu and his cronies, who only hold office because of some outdated notion that democracy applies outside of the political Left, are exploiting this pre-election period to pander to the electorate with populist, aggressive moves.” She vowed that once the leftist bloc takes control of the Knesset in March, Meretz and its allies would put paid to any notions that Israel exists to do anything other than cease to exist.
400 million shekels is a hefty sum, but Gal-On insisted that it presented no serious obstacle. “Even if Meretz, J-Street, the New Israel Fund, and the European Union can’t somehow manage to cobble it together, when we’re dictating the next government’s agenda it won’t be a problem to simply cut funding for the maintenance and protection of Jewish settlements beyond the 1967 lines, and use that money instead.”
A spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas expressed gratitude to Gal-On for saving him the trouble of having to come up with anything to say on his own.
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