‘Do Gazans Support Hamas?’ is the wrong question

Since Hamas does not value the life of their civilians, they'll simply gun them down if they speak out. Simple. (I suspect your question wasn't a serious one, Hank.)

I tried to do a little research on the matter. Apparently this one article in the Times of Israel explains it quite well. Now The Times of Israel is an obviously biased but that doesn't really matter because the article just transcribed information from the a Palestinian Polling organization called the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR).

It seems like that the PCPSR is the only organization that does serious polling in Palestine. It also seems like it is funded by the European Union and the Ford Foundation. If anyone knows how to verify where the money comes from, please inform me. Anyways the organization seems legit to me. Here is a section of the article.

No Israeli civilians were killed in the October 7 onslaught on communities near Gaza, Palestinian diplomat Abdullah Abu Shawesh claimed matter of factly to Al Jazeera last week. Accounts of rape and other atrocities “were lies,” he said, dismissing the overwhelming evidence that Hamas’s slaughter of 1,200 people in southern Israel included indiscriminate massacres and sexual violence.

On the Palestinian street, Shawesh’s claims are not the views of a fringe conspiracy theorist, but rather reflective of mainstream beliefs, with polling and other evidence showing high levels of denialism regarding the savagery visited upon southern Israel that day.

According to a Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) survey published last month, over 90 percent of Palestinians polled believe that “Hamas did not commit the atrocities seen in the videos” on October 7, referring to attacks on civilians. That number rises to a whopping 97% when only including West Bank residents, compared to 83% of Gazans.

The dismissal of the incontrovertible evidence is mainly due to the lack of coverage in Palestinian and Arab media, said Khalil Shikaki, a professor of political science in Ramallah and director of the PCPSR, who conducted the poll.

A full 85% of respondents said they had not seen video footage of the acts, despite widely disseminated videos of the attacks and their aftermath.

Though Palestinians could and can view video footage of atrocities via a wide array of sources online, unless they sought it out, “most Palestinians have not had access to information that showed that Hamas committed atrocities on that day,” Shikaki contended.

Footage of the savagery against civilians, which has been broadcast widely elsewhere, has been largely absent in the Arab media. On Al Jazeera and other networks, coverage feted Hamas or parrotted its claims, portraying the assault as a legitimate military action and ignoring the fact that civilians were brutally targeted for slaughter, to say nothing of the evidence of mutilation, rape and other atrocities.

Survey data from the West Bank and Gaza indicated that those who did see the videos were 10 times more likely to believe that Hamas did commit atrocities against civilians (31%) than those who did not (3%).

The article later recounts how most people watch Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera doesn't cover all the rape and baby killing on October 7th with the exception of their English website.

Personally, I agree with Michael Milshtein, head of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. He said,“Hamas filmed everything, and the videos were widely circulated. I say this with caution, but I think everyone knows what happened.”

Susan Quinn (View Comment):

Since Hamas does not value the life of their civilians, they’ll simply gun them down if they speak out.

Well documented that this is true.

Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

Personally, I agree with Michael Milshtein, head of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. He said,“Hamas filmed everything, and the videos were widely circulated. I say this with caution, but I think everyone knows what happened.”

"Murder porn" is strangely instructively popular there.

Susan Quinn (View Comment):

Since Hamas does not value the life of their civilians, they’ll simply gun them down if they speak out.

Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

Well documented that this is true.

America's Leftist Democrats have not quite reached that stage yet, just mock trials or charges and jailing so far. Well, maybe they do a homicide occasionally if nothing else works. J6 prisoners, Julian Assange, and Donald Trump are all examples.