FM Sa’ar: PA 'trying to fool the world' after PA leader Abbas fires finance minister over terror payments

A day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed PA Finance Minister Omar Bitar over payments made to Palestinian security prisoners, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Abbas is “trying to fool the world.” 

“Dismissing the Palestinian Authority's Finance Minister will not absolve the dismisser, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA, of their complicity in Pay-for-Slay and responsibility for the ongoing payments to terrorists and their families,” Sa’ar wrote on his 𝕏 account on Monday evening. 

Dismissing the Palestinian Authority's Finance Minister will not absolve the dismisser, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA, of their complicity in Pay-for-Slay and responsibility for the ongoing payments to terrorists and their families.
The Palestinian Authority is trying to fool the…

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 10, 2025

“The Palestinian Authority is trying to fool the world,” Sa’ar continued. “It won’t work. The truth is stronger.” 

Abbas dismissed Bitar for continuing to make payments to security prisoners under the old system, which awarded compensation based on the length of their sentences. However, despite the PA’s efforts to create the impression that it has ended the so-called “pay-for-slay” program, recent reports and statements in Arabic by PA officials indicate that the program has merely been modified to avoid international scrutiny, but not scrapped.

Under changes announced in February – framed as an effort to avoid U.S. sanctions – the PA declared an end to its previous payment system. In practice, however, it merely shifted the funding mechanism by using a third party to transfer the money and issued the payments based on “economic need” rather than the length of a prisoner’s sentence. This allows the PA to classify the payouts as welfare support rather than compensation tied to terrorist activity. 

In his remarks during a video address to the UN General Assembly in September, Abbas emphasized that the PA had halted the payments, giving the impression that they were no longer being made.

Following the dismissal of Bitar, the PA's official WAFA news agency announced that Istifan Salameh, minister of Planning and International Cooperation, would replace Bitar. A Palestinian official who spoke to The Times of Israel said Abbas’ decision to dismiss Bitar is proof that the PA is serious about implementing the prisoner payment reform. 

The Times of Israel also reported that France raised concerns with the PA about the continued payments to prisoners and their families ahead of a meeting on Tuesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Abbas in Paris. 

Following that meeting, Macron told reporters that the PA had committed to undergo an audit by an American firm to demonstrate that the payments were no longer being made.