The Palestinian Authority (PA) attempted to hide payments to terrorists and their families last year despite its president's claim that such transactions had ended, according to the U.S. State Department.
A nonpublic State Department notice provided to Congress and obtained by The Washington Free Beacon determined that the PA paid more than $200 million to terrorists and their families in 2025, the same year PA President Mahmoud Abbas publicly claimed he had dismantled the long-criticized "pay-to-slay" program.
Rather than ending the payments, U.S. officials concluded the PA quietly shifted them to a newly branded system designed to evade donor scrutiny as the Ramallah-based government sought influence in postwar Gaza.
Israeli intelligence assessed that $144 million was funneled to terrorists and their families in 2024, with at least $214 million committed through 2025.
The State Department confirmed payments continued from March through August 2025 under what the PA portrayed as a reformed welfare structure.
According to the notice, the PA transferred responsibility for payments to the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment, framing the program as social assistance.
"Despite changing the mechanism for doing so, the PA continued the payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families during the reporting period," the State Department wrote, according to the Free Beacon on Wednesday.
The finding directly undercuts Abbas' February 2025 announcement that welfare payments would be based solely on financial need and no longer tied to terrorism.
Just weeks later, however, Abbas told the Fatah Revolutionary Council that "even if we only have 1 cent left, it will be for the prisoners and martyrs," a remark later removed from official PA channels but widely circulated by Israeli and regional media.
The continued payments place the PA at odds with the Taylor Force Act, a 2018 U.S. law that froze American aid until the practice ended.
President Donald Trump ordered renewed enforcement of the law after returning to office, despite lobbying by PA officials and sympathetic foreign governments.
The State Department also found that the PA used post offices, social media, and encrypted platforms such as Telegram to notify recipients of available funds, indicating deliberate efforts to conceal the payments.
U.S. officials further determined that Palestinian law still mandates monthly compensation for imprisoned terrorists, including Law No. 14, which guarantees payments equivalent to pre-arrest salaries.
Israeli watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch recently reported new "terror stipends" paid to recipients in Jordan, with amounts identical to previous payments — suggesting the scale of compensation remains unchanged.
Similar payments have reportedly continued in Lebanon and other areas beyond direct donor oversight.
All Israel News reported that Israeli officials view the move as a familiar deception, noting similar tactics were used in 2014 when the PA claimed to end the program while quietly continuing payments.
The revelations are likely to further complicate the PA's hopes of playing any role in governing postwar Gaza.
Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly cited pay-to-slay as proof the PA remains unwilling to abandon terrorism.
As one Republican congressional aide told the Free Beacon, the findings are a "wake-up call" for Washington: The PA, he said, remains "more committed to terrorism than fulfilling promises to President Trump," even while seeking international legitimacy and funding.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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