Pay for Slay: The Bounty System Targeting Jews in Israel

Summary

Winner of the Moldovan Award for Military Literature

How much is a dead Jew worth? In the Palestinian Authority, there is an official price list.

A stabbing, a shooting, a bombing—each carries a different payout. The more severe the attack, the higher the reward. If the attacker is killed, his family continues to receive payment; if imprisoned, he earns a monthly salary—often higher than the average civilian's. This is not a fringe phenomenon; it is a policy. Funded in part by international aid and sustained indirectly through mechanisms that intersect with the State of Israel, this system operates in the open. It is codified in law, reinforced in schools, celebrated on television, and echoed by political leaders.

But the story does not end there.

Inside Israeli courtrooms, victim's families have attempted to fight back and stop the flow of money that rewards the murder of their loved ones. What they encounter is not only a legal battle, but a system that, at times, seems unwilling—or unable—to confront the full implications of what it enables. In Pay for Slay, Israeli journalist and news anchor Lital Shemesh traces this money's path: from the PA's budget, through layers of bureaucracy and politics, to the very real consequences on the ground.

This is not just a story about terror; it is about incentives. About what happens when violence is not merely praised, but institutionalized. And about the uncomfortable question of who, knowingly or not, helps keep it alive.