As the war between Israel and Hamas continues to rage, President Joe Biden’s administration has been stuck in a precarious balancing act when it comes to supporting Israel’s right to defend itself while also appearing to rein them in to satisfy members of the anti-Israel lobby.

Biden and his team have been discussing what Gaza should look like after Hamas is finally eradicated. The plan they are pushing is to have the Palestinian Authority (PA) administer the region, which hasn’t sat well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government.

Now the Palestinian Authority has made a move further demonstrating why letting them rule Gaza after Hamas is a memory is a bad idea. The PA recently committed to giving out $97 million each year to support the terrorists who participated in the October 7 terror attack on Israel that ignited the current war.

As President Joe Biden pushes to empower the Palestinian Authority in the name of Middle East peace, the PA has committed tens of millions of dollars for terrorists who were killed or captured while carrying out Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel and the resulting war.

Since Oct. 7, the PA has doubled down on its longstanding “pay for slay” policy, which gives salaries and benefits to Palestinians imprisoned for involvement in violence against Israel and to the families of those killed in “the revolution” against the Jewish state. The policy does not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. But based on Israel Defense Forces estimates of enemy casualties and prisoners, the PA has put itself on the hook for more than $97 million in such payments for more than 13,000 Hamas terrorists in the year following Oct. 7.

The PA has moved to ramp up its spending on terrorism even as the West Bank, where the PA governs, spirals into a historic economic crisis. It’s a stark display of the authority’s priorities that clashes with the Biden administration’s vague plans for a “revamped” PA to govern Gaza—and eventually a Palestinian state that will supposedly lead regional normalization with Israel.

The Israeli government has opposed Biden’s post-war plans, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the PA is little different than Hamas, the rival Palestinian faction that rules Gaza. Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, a former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs under Netanyahu, told the Washington Free Beacon that a PA-run Gaza would quickly pose a renewed Oct. 7-like threat.

The PA has been shelling out significant sums of money to the families of terrorists who have been captured or killed while fighting Israel for decades. The policy, commonly referred to as “pay for slay,” underscores the PA’s continued dedication to supporting terrorism against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

“The Palestinian Authority is responsible for creating an incentive system and a mindset that made Oct. 7 possible in the first place, and they are too weak and unpopular to stop it from happening again,” said Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

The ramifications of this initiative extend beyond geopolitics. The PA’s continued funding of terrorism has also caused severe economic woes for civilians living in the West Bank, the region controlled by the organization. As the PA diverts funding to terrorism, government employees and public services have experienced substantial cutbacks. One PA employee noted that the decrease in salaries has made life “miserable and poor” for many trying to make ends meet.

This development also raises an important question for the White House: Does it make sense to push for the PA to administer the Gaza Strip when the organization is clearly in bed with the enemy of Israel and the United States?

In light of this news, the stance taken by Netanyahu and others appears to be the most appropriate. Putting the PA in charge of Gaza might tamp down on some of the violent activities Hamas favors, but it will not solve the problem. There cannot be a peaceful solution as long as those in charge of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are bent on continuing violence against Israel. Unfortunately, this revelation is unlikely to get the Biden administration to rethink its plans for Gaza after the war is finally concluded.