US President Joe Biden declared on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, "The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas." He elaborated, "I won't mince words. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. And Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. They're also suffering as a result of Hamas' terrorism. We need to be clear-eyed about that reality."
Throughout the conflict, there has been significant debate both within Israel and internationally regarding the extent to which Hamas represents Palestinians in Gaza, the level of support for Hamas among Gazans, and the proportion of the death toll in Gaza comprising Hamas operatives.
The discussion about Gazan support for, and involvement with, Hamas has intensified recently, particularly with the looming yet uncertain ground operation expected in Rafah.
Following the president's statement, various public figures disagreed on social media. Among them, former Miss Iraq, now a human rights advocate and ally to Israel, Sarah Idan, countered with, "Tell that to the Palestinians in my inbox telling me Hamas are heroes and are freedom fighters…"
Though not all Palestinians are members of Hamas or even support it, most of them agree with its basic ideology. Several surveys, as well as monitoring of social media, found that Biden’s remarks are off.
According to a November 14 survey by the Arab World for Research and Development, most Palestinians supported the killing and kidnapping of Israelis on October 7, and just a tiny percentage supported a two-state solution. The survey posed the question, “How much do you support the military operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance led by Hamas on October 7?” The findings revealed substantial support among Palestinians for the attack.
In the West Bank, 83.1% expressed their support to varying degrees, while only 6.9% were strongly or somewhat opposed, and 8.4% remained neutral. In the Gaza Strip, though support was slightly less unanimous, a majority of 63.6% still backed the attack, either strongly or to some extent. Another 14.4% were neutral, and opposition was slightly higher at 20.9%. Overall, 75% of respondents supported the October 7 attack in some capacity.
Regarding gender perspectives, the difference in support between Palestinian men and women was negligible, with 75.2% of men and 74.9% of women supporting the attack to some extent. Only a minority, 0.9%, believed the attack aimed to halt the peace process, and 0.7% thought it was to prevent settlement. Additionally, 5.1% perceived the attack as benefiting Iran's interests.
When it came to the concept of a two-state solution, 74.7% favored a single Palestinian state "from the river to the sea," with higher support in the West Bank (77.7%) compared to Gaza (70.4%). Support for a two-state solution was 17.2%, with Gazans (22.7%) more favored than West Bank residents (13.3%). Only 5.4% backed a "one-state for two peoples" solution.
The perception of the conflict's nature varied, with only 18.6% viewing it as between Israel and Hamas. A majority, 63.6%, saw it as a conflict between Israel and the Palestinians at large, and 9.4% interpreted it as a conflict between the Western world and the Arab world.
Inquiries about the motive behind the October 7 operation revealed that 31.7% of West Bank respondents and 24.9% from Gaza identified "freeing Palestine" as the primary reason. Additionally, 23.3% from the West Bank and 17.7% from Gaza pointed to "breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip" as the motive, while 35% overall cited "stopping the violations of Aqsa" as the reason, referring to issues surrounding the Al-Aqsa mosque's access.
Vast majority of Palestinians agree with Hamas
President Biden, though most Palestinians aren’t Hamas, as you claimed, a vast majority of them agree with almost any question regarding their basic ideology after October 7. Suppose most Palestinians, as well as most Israelis, are against a Two State Solution. In that case, you should probably speak to your advisors and ask them to think of a more practical solution - since on the ground, here in the Middle East, a two-state solution isn’t realistic if even an option.