The Algemeiner reports: The umbrella group that represents leading Jewish organizations in the US issued on Thursday a stinging rebuke to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas for his defiant confirmation that the policy of so-called “martyr payments” — monthly donations to approximately 35,000 families of imprisoned Palestinian terrorists that are higher than the average wage in the PA — will not be halted.

“We are appalled by widespread media reports that President Abbas and other officials of the Palestinian Authority have recently made statements in Palestinian social and other media reaffirming their commitment to continue payments exceeding $300 million annually to reward terrorists and their families for attacking and killing Israelis,” Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Chairman Stephen M. Greenberg and Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Malcolm Hoenlein said in a joint statement.

Earlier this week, the Israeli monitoring organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) highlighted a statement in Abbas’s name on the Facebook page of the PA, in which the 82 year-old Palestinian leader said he would not bend on the issue, even if it cost him his job.

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