In light of a new unity agreement among Palestinian groups aiming to eliminate Israel, the Zionist Organization of America urges the Biden-Harris administration to halt support for this union.

By Morton A. Klein

(July 28, 2024 / JPost) My organization, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), urges the Biden-Harris administration to finally cease and desist from promoting Palestinian Authority rule and a Palestinian Arab terror state, in light of the new unity agreement among 13 Palestinian groups, including the PA’s ruling party Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, sponsored by the Chinese Communist government. The unity deal’s stated aim is to eliminate Israel. As journalist Daniel Greenfield noted, “The Palestinian Authority is now officially a Hamas front.”

In addition, the Biden-Harris administration should retract its recently announced plan, via USAID Administrator Samantha Power, to send another $100 million of aid to Palestinians in Gaza and Judea/Samaria. This aid only strengthens Hamas and its Palestinian partners’ genocidal actions against the Jewish people.

The USAID announcement noted that since October 7, the U.S. has provided “more than $774 million” to the Palestinian Arabs. Meanwhile, the real innocent victims – especially Israelis in southern and northern Israel – are traumatized and still displaced from their homes by Hamas and Hezbollah rocket fire.

U.S. demands Israel to recognize terror-endorsing state

Since October 7, the Biden-Harris administration has escalated its demands that Israel must agree to a Palestinian Arab state, ruled by the terror-inciting Palestinian Authority in Gaza, Judea/Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. The administration has based these demands on the absurd fiction that the Hamas terror organization is entirely distinct from the other Palestinian Arabs, including the PA. For instance, Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated during her speech on December 3, 2023: “We cannot conflate Hamas with the Palestinian people…. We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”

The administration’s fictional distinction between Hamas and the PA has long been belied by the authority’s massive, growing, hundreds of millions of dollars of “pay-to-slay” payments to murder Jews. The PA gives these payments to its own Fatah terrorists as well as to Hamas terrorists. Following October 7, it made “pay-to-slay” payments to the families of every dead Hamas terrorist in Gaza, as well as Hamas terrorists arrested for killing or attempting to kill Jews in Judea/Samaria.

The Biden-Harris administration’s fictional distinction between Hamas and the PA was also belied by the Fatah terrorists who bragged on video about murdering Jews on October 7, alongside Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Gazan civilian terrorists. The distinction was also debunked by repeated polls from the Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research (PCPSR), which revealed that the Palestinian population in the PA overwhelming (72% to 85%) supports Hamas’ October 7 atrocities, October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, and “armed struggle” against Israel.

The new unity agreement makes it crystal clear that the Biden-Harris administration’s promotion of Palestinian Authority rule constitutes support for Hamas rule. The administration needs to change course, and do so fast.

Morton A. Klein is the national president of the Zionist Organization of America.
This op-ed was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and can be viewed here.