Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said he would not support funding toward a future Palestinian state that would be run in part by either the militant group Hamas or the Palestinian Authority after Israel’s war with Hamas ends.
“Here’s what I want the world to know: If Hamas is still standing when this is over, we have failed as a world community,” Graham said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “I would not invest 15 cents in a future Palestine if Hamas is still standing.”
“And I wouldn’t invest 15 cents into the Palestinian Authority. Regarding a new Palestine, [President Mahmoud Abbas’s] Palestinian Authority is dead to me,” he said, adding that the the Palestinian Authority (PA) is “corrupt in the eyes of its own people.”
Adding that the destruction of Hamas is “nonnegotiable,” Graham said one would be “insane to invest in the Palestinian people if Hamas is still standing.”
“I will not send one dime of American aid if Hamas is still standing. If you put the PA in charge of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, no money coming from me,” he continued.
The U.S. has expressed support for the reformation of the PA to allow it to take over Gaza once fighting between Israel and Hamas ends. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to block any attempt to install the PA in Gaza in a postwar setting.
Graham has been a vocal supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7 deadly incursion into Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has included airstrikes, bombings and ramped-up ground attacks that have left more than 20,000 people dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Asked if he is concerned about whether Israel is doing enough to mitigate civilian casualties, Graham said, “Well, you’ve got to remember Hamas wants to up the casualties of their own people. They’re using the Palestinian people as human shields.”
“So I blame the death of all these Palestinians on Hamas, but Israel is trying to mitigate casualties,” Graham said, adding more humanitarian aid is needed for Gaza as long as it “doesn’t go into the hands of Hamas.”
