Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday evening ordered the seizure of funds from 32 families of terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands, who possess Israeli citizenship.
Bennett said in a statement that the confiscation would go into effect immediately. The families had received the funds for years from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for their terrorist relatives' murderous acts.
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"The murder of Jews will stop being profitable," the defense minister's statement said.
Last week, for the first time, Bennett signed a confiscation decree totaling in the hundreds of thousands of shekels from eight convicted terrorists. These are Israeli citizens convicted of terrorist crimes, five of whom were sentenced to life in prison.
The confiscation order targets the monthly salaries these terrorists receive from the Palestinian Authority for the crimes they committed and also applies to their beneficiaries (i.e. their families), who receive the funds on their behalf.
Upon taking office, Bennett said he would step up the war on terror, including by employing what he called "targeted financial warfare."
Within that framework, last Tuesday he also signed a ministerial decree imposing financial sanctions on a London-based terror suspect believed to have ties to Hamas.
The decree states that any and all funds or assets paid or transferred to Mohammed Jamil Mahmoud Hersh – an employee of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK, which is affiliated with the terrorist group ruling Gaza – will be seized.
The decree was issued in accordance with Israel's Counterterrorism Law.
A Defense Ministry official said that the directive was the first of its kind with respect to the fight against terror financing, adding that in the future such orders will follow.
