Speaking on RNC sidelines, Pompeo rejects Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza after war

MILWAUKEE — Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo echoes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in rejecting the installation of the Palestinian Authority as the governing body in Gaza after Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“It cannot be that the government that exists there after [the war] is controlled by Hamas, or the Palestinian Authority, each of which are controlled by terrorists and underwritten by the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, Iran,” Pompeo tells reporters at a Republican Jewish Coalition event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

While Iran backs Hamas, it is not known to fund the PA.

He also asserts that Israel cannot allow continued weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza after the war and that either Israel will have to place troops along the Philadelphi Corridor or a mechanism will have to be put in place to ensure that arms cannot flow into the Strip.

Netanyahu’s new demand in for Israeli troops to remain at the Philadelphi Corridor has slowed negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire agreement that had been progressing since Hamas softened some of its demands in recent weeks, an Israeli official and an Arab mediator have told The Times of Israel.

Pompeo tells reporters he’d be happy to serve under Trump again if asked.