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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
“This is what you get when you scandalously prosecute troops who kill terrorists,” wrote Bennett. “Only by changing the stranglehold IDF lawyers have on the military will things change.”
PLO Paying $15M to Terrorists
A senior Palestinian official admitted that the Palestinian Authority earmarks as much as $15 million every month to pay terrorists imprisoned in Israeli jails. “We pay around NIS 50 million ($15 million) per month in salaries,” PLO Commissioner for Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr told the Times of Israel. He said that the money goes to an estimated 7,500 Palestinian
prisoners, the majority behind bars for terror-related offenses. Abu Bakr added that the PA was also paying another 4,500 Palestinians currently in temporary detention. During the interview, Abu Bakr also denied that the PA had decided to phase out the controversial policy of monthly stipends to terrorists. “We’re still studying the matter, but we have not yet come to any conclusions about it,” he said. Known widely in Israel as “Pay to Slay,” the longtime Palestinian Authority policy lavishes monthly stipends on convicted terrorists, with the amounts rising according to the number of Israelis killed. According to Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority had dished out upwards of 512 million shekel ($159 million) alone in 2020 despite suffering from a severe financial crisis caused by COVID-19. Not only did the cash crunch not lead the PA to reduce the monthly stipends, the sums rose by NIS 161 million ($50 million) from 2019. The aforementioned payments have long bothered both Israel and the U.S., causing Congress to condition annual aid on the PA scrapping the program. In November, the PA said that it would begin phasing out the policy in
what observers said was an attempt to win over the incoming Biden administration. Instead of granting the monthly payments based on the number of dead Israelis, the PA would instead calculate it based on each prisoner’s socio-economic status.
Masks Off?
Amid rising vaccination rates and falling infections, a slew of states has begun to roll back their COVID-19 restrictions. Leading the trend is Texas, with Governor Greg Abbott announcing last week that the Lone Star State will allow businesses to reopen at full capacity. Abbott’s Executive Order, which took effect on March 10, removes all curbs on commerce along with the state’s mask mandate in public places. Upon announcing the rollback, Abbott touted Texas’s low positivity rate, which he said was “under 9%,” and spoke of the harsh economic fallout the lockdowns caused. Highlighting the fact that Texas is second nationwide in COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, the governor said that the time had come to put Texans back to work. “It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Abbott said, stressing that “too many Texans were sidelined from employment opportunities” due to the restrictions on businesses. “The vaccine supply is increasing so rapidly, Texas will soon expand the categories of people who are able to get them, and some medical professionals say within a few months every Texan who wants a vaccine shot will be able to get a vaccine shot,” Abbott said. “Hospitalizations are the lowest they’ve been in four months. The number of active COVID cases is the lowest since November, and is less than half of what it was just a month ago,” the governor said. Following Texas is Connecti-
cut, which dramatically loosened COVID-19 restrictions and will allow the resumption of sports games, cultural events, and outdoor dining. The state’s travel ban will also be lifted for the first time since early 2020, and incoming travelers will not need to quarantine. However, social distancing rules will still apply in all of the aforementioned venues, along with rules mandating masks and a curfew on all restaurants and bars. Outdoor seating at restaurants will be capped at 50% capacity and indoor venues permitted up to 10%. “We wanted to emphasize that which works and that which is enforceable,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont last Thursday. “And we know what works is the mask, and we know what works is social distancing, and we know the curfew is something we can enforce.” In West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice rolled out a new policy allowing restaurants and bars to operate at “100% of their seating capacity,” along with gyms, cultural centers, and movie theaters. Large gatherings will now be limited to 100 people, up from the previous 75, and the state’s fairs and festivals will resume. The decision came as the number of daily COVID-19 infections continues to decline across West Virginia, with only 326 new cases this past Friday. “We have no red counties in West Virginia – I just want you to look at this map. It just jumps out at you every way. Green, green, more green. The whole Northern Panhandle is green… Absolutely it is amazing,” Justice said.
$1.9T Stimulus Bill
The Senate passed a mammoth $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill in a narrow vote that illustrated the Democratic Party’s fragile legislative majority. Following tense last-minute negotiations, the stimulus package was approved by the razor-thin margin of 50-49, with every Republican Senator opposing. The Senate vote was
