In typically blunt fashion, U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced a budget cut of $200 million or more to the Palestinian Authority (and indirectly, to Hamas). The State Department examined the expenditure, he noted, and concluded that the monetary support was incompatible with the administration's set of priorities. The Palestinians interpret the move as additional pressure before Trump unveils his new Middle East peace plan, but in actuality, the move is a continuation of the president's clear and consistent policy.
Taylor Force was a young American who survived tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq as an officer in the U.S. Army but was murdered by a terrorist on the Jaffa promenade in March 2016. Two years later, in March 2018, the U.S. Congress ratified the Taylor Force Act, whereby funds will be withheld from the PA as long as it pays terrorists and their families salaries. Senator Lindsey Graham, who initiated the law, wanted to pass an even tougher and more comprehensive version.
Of course, this law would never have passed had Trump not instituted a policy of "give and take" – toward everyone. Similar to U.S. relations with China and Europe, not to mention Iran, the Arab world, North Korea and even domestically – Trump doesn't pay without receiving something of value in return.
In fact, the return has been nothing but the opposite: They incite and bloviate, threaten and murder indiscriminately, and then ask the U.S. and the international community to foot the bill. For years, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees enjoyed massive support from the U.S. – in 2017 it provided a third of its funding and in 2016 it gave around $370 million.
Israel has been proving the link between terror and UNRWA for two decades, which during Operation Protective Edge helped Hamas conceal weapons in hospitals and its schools. Only Trump, however, was willing to listen to these claims and slash nearly two-thirds of American aid to the agency. The same agency that justifies its existence with a registry of no less than 5 million "refugees" – many times more than the very same agency reported when it began operations after the 1948 war.
The only responsible adults in the Palestinian neighborhood are Israel and the U.S. That's the reality. Over the decades, the Palestinians have benefited from their occasional lack of overlapping interests in the Middle East. Israel turned a blind eye when the U.S. supported certain elements, sometimes made a sour face, and sometimes even asked the U.S. to help the Palestinians in order to buy a little peace and quiet and security cooperation.
Ever since Trump entered office, however, Israel and the U.S. have for the first time forged a wonderful synergy to formulate clear and consistent policy. In the long term, everyone will be able to benefit from this cooperation, even the Arabs in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. Only the terrorists and Iran can lose from this collaboration, which is why it's so imperative in all regards.
