Some 80 members of the U.S.-trained and armed PA police and security apparatus have been directly implicated in severe acts of terrorism targeting Israeli civilians and military personnel within a brief three-year window.
By Hezy Laing
A growing body of intelligence from Israeli security agencies reveals a troubling trend of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces members moonlighting as active operatives in terror networks.
A comprehensive investigation published by the Jerusalem-based Regavim Movement think tank established that nearly 80 members of the U.S.-trained and armed PA police and security apparatus have been directly implicated in severe acts of terrorism targeting Israeli civilians and military personnel within a brief three-year window.
These individuals, whose institutional salaries are sustained by international donations and PA tax revenue, use their official training, tactical gear, and state-issued firearms to carry out ambushes, drive-by shootings, and bombings across Judea and Samaria.
Israeli intelligence bodies, including the Shin Bet and the IDF, have repeatedly exposed how terrorist organizations like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad exploit the operational freedom of these rogue officers.
Hamas alone has successfully recruited dozens of PA operatives, utilizing their unique status for domestic intelligence gathering, weapons smuggling, and active combat operations against Israeli targets.
The official security alignment, intended under the Oslo Accords to preserve order, has instead suffered severe internal compromise as high-ranking personnel succumb to systemic incitement or financial incentives.
The operational crossover became explicitly evident during counter-terrorism raids led by the IDF’s Central Command.
For instance, highly trained figures, such as former members of Mahmoud Abbas’s elite PA Presidential Guard or active members of the Palestinian General Intelligence service, have been intercepted, arrested, or neutralized by elite Israeli counter-terrorism units like Duvdevan after orchestrating lethal assaults against Israelis.
Rather than facing internal discipline or arrest by Ramallah officials, many of these compromised officers are actively sheltered inside PA security complexes or protected by Fatah-affiliated militias like the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Despite persistent diplomatic demands from Israel to halt the radicalization within its security infrastructure, the PA’s ongoing “pay-for-slay” policy ensures that the families of these rogue officers receive monthly financial stipends if they are jailed or killed while attacking Jews, further incentivizing structural terrorism.
