Smotrich tweeted that the move was in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s “pay for slay” stipends to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks.

“The struggle against terror is not just a military struggle, but also a fight that includes a war against the wild incitement of the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist funds which it directs from its budget to the families of terrorists,” Smotrich tweeted on Sunday.

The announcement came on the heels of an unprecedented hearing at Israel’s High Court of Justice on Sunday, where the Palestinian Authority petitioned the court to overturn Knesset legislation allowing victims of Palestinian terror to more easily claim financial compensation from the PA. The PA has never directly petitioned Israel’s High Court before.

The hearing ended abruptly as terror victims raucously called on the PA’s lawyer to acknowledge Ramallah’s controversial “pay for slay stipends” to imprisoned terrorists.

“The judges didn’t even ask the state to weigh in at all over and above what they’d submitted. That’s very irregular. It’s clear that the judges had come to the conclusion that there was no basis for this petition in the first place,” legal expert Maurice Hirsch told The Press Service of Israel. Hirsch — director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs — said he expected the court to issue its ruling within days.

The Palestinian Authority allocates seven percent of its annual budget for its so-called “Martyr’s Fund,” which provides stipends to Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons, and the families of terrorists killed in attacks. The size of the monthly payouts is primarily determined by the duration of the terrorist’s incarceration, with a negligible additional factor based on family size.

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