Good morning to the committee. Thank you very much for inviting me. My time is short, so I'll be quite direct.
I've been asked what are some of the more important routes of terrorist financing in North America, Canada, and abroad. The documentation shows that the most entrenched, organized, and institutional financier of terrorism both worldwide and in Israel is the Palestinian Authority. When I say the Palestinian Authority, I mean all the way up to its president, Mahmoud Abbas. I have in my possession just a fraction of the 4,000 documents recently unsealed by a court in Brooklyn which delivered a $680 million judgment against the PA.
Here's how it works.
When an ordinary citizen commits an act of terrorism in Israel, that person immediately goes on salary and that salary increases by the number of lives he takes and the amount of devastation he causes. It's specifically outlined in a graduated scale in a published law called the law of the prisoner. This money can be just $500 a month for say a five-year sentence and it could be $2,000 a month if you've killed enough people to get a 30-year sentence. None of these prisoners actually believe they're going to serve their entire period of incarceration; they think they'll be released.
This money is funnelled through the Ministry of Prisoners. The Ministry of Prisoners pays out about $3 million to $7 million a month. It's issued through a POA—the POA is a power of attorney—and that money is redirected to the prisoner's girlfriend, his mother, his club, his soccer team, whatever he likes. This and other similar programs total approximately 16% of the Palestinian Authority budget. There is an analogous organization that most people have never heard of called the Martyrdom Establishment. The Martyrdom Establishment has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars for terrorist activities around the world, especially where the person becomes martyred, that is, killed or wounded. These names are enshrined on the Martyr's Roster. These details are studied all the way up to the president and these are reviews that go on for years.
I have a case here of Ahmed Barghouti, who was involved with killing at least a dozen people. We can see that his rank in the government went up each and every year. I can provide these to the committee if you wish. His rank went from corporal to sergeant to warrant officer. His salary went up each and every year. His family got benefits each and every year. The documentation shows that this was specifically reviewed and authorized under rigorous conditions by the president himself. The organizations in the government that are contributing to this are not only the Ministry of Prisoners but the police, the sports, and everything else. Even when there's an economic shortfall, this money will be prioritized above all other welfare and health activities.
That's it.