A group of U.S. senators have introduced a bill known as the Taylor Force Act—named after a U.S. veteran murdered by a Palestinian in July—that would withhold funding from the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it ceases paying stipends to terrorists in Israeli prisons. These stipends, which this year have amounted to a total of $300 million, are a key element in the PA’s system of inciting and rewarding terror, as Yossi Kuperwasser explains:

The payments of salaries by the PA and the PLO to terrorists and to the families of dead terrorists reflect the core identity of the general Palestinian public as [these organizations] see it. According to Palestinian leaders, achieving their national goal of establishing their state over all of Palestine commits them to struggling against Zionism in a wide variety of ways, including terrorism. Therefore, terrorists . . . are heroes fighting for the national and religious cause, and should be glorified and rewarded without any hesitation.

The salary payments to terrorists from all Palestinian terror organizations, including Hamas, . . . are [mandated by] Palestinian Authority legislation that refers to the terrorists specifically as “fighters.” It makes clear that the Oslo Accords are not considered by the Palestinian leadership and by most of the Palestinian people as a [renunciation of] or an end to the battle against Zionism.

The feeble reaction of Israel and the [donor nations who fund the PA] shows how wishful and careless they are regarding . . . Palestinian ideology. It also reflects the success of the Palestinians in portraying themselves as the victims of the West and Israel. . . .

Legally, the payments of salaries to terrorists stand in sharp contrast to the Oslo agreement, according to which the PLO, and the PA through the PLO, have committed themselves to stop terror and to refrain from encouraging it. It is also in stark contradiction to international conventions . . . and to the laws of most donor countries, since [the payments constitute] direct support for individuals affiliated with entities designated as terrorist organizations by both the United States and the EU.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.