Iran will pay thousands of dollars to families of Palestinian terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis, Tehran’s Ambassador to Lebanon announced on Wednesday.
Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fateh Ali, said Tehran will give $7,000 to families of “martyrs of the intifada in occupied Jerusalem”, and a further “$30,000 to every family whose home the occupation has demolished for the participation of one of its sons,” according to local Iranian news reports.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said that the announcement was another example of Iran’s continued aggression towards Israel: “This is further proof of Iran’s deep involvement in support for anti-Israeli terrorism…After the [nuclear] agreement with world powers, Iran has allowed itself to continue as a major player in international terrorism”.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanding that he condemn Fathali’s announcement. Danon said, “If the UN is really interested in bringing calm to our region, they must cut off the flow of Iranian financial support of terrorism”.
Iran has a history of backing terror groups across the Middle East, providing financial and material support to organisations including Hezbollah and Hamas.
33 victims have have been killed in a wave of knife, gun and car-ramming attacks across Israel and the West Bank by Palestinians since the start of October, with at least 350 wounded. More than 170 Palestinians are said to have been killed, the overwhelming majority while carrying out terror attacks, and others during clashes and demonstrations.
