Israel’s Minister of Finance has called for the elimination of the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas in response to the bid for full membership of the United Nations before reaching a peace agreement with the Zionist state. According to Radio Israel, Yuval Steinitz said that he is ready to bear the repercussions of the closure of the Palestinian Authority if it turns into an anti-Israel state which refuses to end the conflict or to recognise Israel as a distinctly Jewish state.
If the PA refuses to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, we must consider cutting the transfer of tax funds to the Palestinians,” Steinitz told the presenter. He added that the Palestinians must not attack Israel at the UN on one hand and expect to receive financial aid from Israel on the other. A commentator in London pointed out that the tax funds are not Israel’s in the first place, so the Zionist state is not giving any “financial aid” to the Palestinian Authority. “The state of Israel collects taxes as the occupying power on behalf of the PA,” said MEMO’s Ibrahim Hewitt. “If Israel no longer wishes to do that, it should end the occupation, not use the Palestinians’ own money as a weapon against them.”