Do lots of people support Hamas?

[elprup]

I just read this story and it is absolutely horrific

I saw ten Hamas terrorists beat and gang-rape an Israeli woman

https://mol.im/a/12820081

Is everyone on the pro-Palestine marches in London solely supporting the innocent civilians of Palestine (as I do too)? Or are there some people on these marches supporting the actions of Hamas as well?

I want to join the marches in support of innocent adults and kids in Gaza (and I would want to march for the same reasons on any pro Israel marches too), but I do not want to endorse Hamas in any shape or form. They are absolutely vile.

I think it's remarkably naive to think there is no support for hamas in the UK.

So the pro Palestine marches are solely about calling for ceasefire? If that is the case then I would be happy to support them. If there is any antisemitism involved then I will absolutely not be joining the marches.

There was a ceasefire. Hamas broke it.

Well ofcourse if you don't like what you see then don't go to them. I personally haven't been to any this time but I have in the past and there was no antisemitism at the ones I joined.

Is there any chance of Israel and Palestine joining together, exterminating Hamas and civilians of both backgrounds living together in peace?

I think quite a few do support Hamas or at least choose to be ignorant over what Hamas do.

I saw somebody on my fb this morning supporting a tweet about the Israeli hostages hugging their Hamas captures as they were realised claiming that this showed the Israeli hostages must have been treated well. Completely ignoring the fact these poor people had been held at gunpoint for 7 weeks by men who had slaughtered their friends and family and had then most likely forced the hostages to hug them to both further traumatise them and get some propaganda images.

No fucking way.

There are many stories such as the one linked above. There is a piece on YT by Jewish women emergency workers who handled the bodies of slain girls and women on and after 7/10.

The atrocities are frankly sub-human and cover mutilation and objects being forced into very young girls in some cases, including a hand grenade. Simultaneous rape and execution, and a foetus cut from a living woman in one case. Utterly depraved.

If the same had happened in the UK perpetrated by a near neighbour, I do not think people would be too concerned about restraint.

I cannot begin to understand the mentality behind such actions.

I think the reason why is the plight of the Palestinians began long before Hamas came along. Condemning Hamas won't change what has been going on for decades. The marches aren't asking for the violence to be de-escalated back to what they were pre-hamas, they're asking for it to STOP.

YABU for posting this here instead of its designated topic.

Unfortunately there is a proportion of people on the pro-Palestine marches who do support Hamas or who propagate the same anti-Israeli hatred which means others who attend for more compassionate reasons become useful idiots in the propaganda war.
I share your concerns OP that left-wingers, who are happy to jump up and down with Me Too hashtags and cancel elderly actors over historic allegations are turning a blind eye to appalling sexual violence rather than support anything related to Israel
Jemima Goldsmith (born Jewish but married a Muslim and has Muslim children) has been supporting Jo Cox's husbands campaign which is anti-hate rather than supporting either "side"

If you believe that the free Palestine marches are for Hamas then I do not believe that you actually want to march.

I think you are being disingenuous and are actually trying to stir so that you can post that link.

I can't believe anything that comes out of Israel anymore, so if this story is true I will never know. I do however condemn Hamas and what happened on 7th October.

What Hamas did or didn't do does not justify what Israel are doing now and their actions before Oct 7th.

The dehumanising of Palestinians is evident on this forum and the victim blaming, especially of children is disgusting and unforgivable.

I wish people would say what they really mean (one mumsnetter did when she said she doesn't see Israeli children and Palestinian children as equal) instead of trying to deflect and confuse the narrative.

Children in Gaza are being bombed as we speak. The hospitals are turning into dust. People don't have food or water. The protests are to stop all of this. If someone wants to imagine that the protests are about something else then imagine away. I think it's very obvious that people are furious about what is currently happening.

There are plenty of Jewish people at these matches too.

I don’t support Hamas. Support both Israeli and Palestinian civilians.

Good article in Haaretz on this poll.

“It’s hard to compare Russians and Palestinians or Hamas to a classic totalitarian state. But they clearly share two critical features: First, both societies are at war, and their side kicked off the latest round with a terrible act of aggression. (Israel of course has committed terrible aggressions too, but Israeli public attitudes are for another article.) Second, Palestinians don’t live under anything like democracy. In fact, between the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Israeli military lording over everything, they live under many layers of non-democracy. Perhaps especially in Gaza, it’s worth asking what people can “really think.”

Huda Abuarquob, a longtime civil society and peace activist, spoke to me by phone from Dura, outside Hebron. “If polling shows high support,” she explained, “it’s their first reaction to an act that put Gazans back on the map.”

In fact, other studies show that Palestinians feel profoundly, existentially, alone. The second post-October 7 West Bank survey, commissioned by a new policy outfit called the Institute for Social and Economic Progress, asked which international actor is Palestine’s most important strategic ally: 56 percent said “none.” The top ally was Russia, then Turkey (18 and 11 percent, respectively); just 8 percent chose “the Arab world.” Palestinians have no homegrown heroes either. In focus groups, the institute quoted a participant saying “I feel that the Palestinian population is orphaned, there is no one to lead them.”

In fact, there was little love for Hamas prior to October 7. In a well-publicized Arab Barometer survey of Palestinians just ahead of the attack, researchers found that anger was mounting. People blamed Hamas for economic and social woes, a stunted life, and no progress toward ending the occupation. A week before October 7, Huda heard from a Gazan man that “there’s a lot of anger against Hamas, and the only thing that can save Hamas now is a war.”

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2023-11-22/ty-article/.premium/three-quarters-of-palestinians-support-hamas-attack-on-october-7-says-new-poll-why/0000018b-f841-d473-affb-f9e9eeef0000?gift=a8553143108b43eab375a3450657f22a

This!

This post has been created to stir and to start dehumanising Palestinians. Please stop it's disgusting.

They must do, I was on Oxford Street on the day off the first march and days after Hamas’ massacre. People on the stalls were shouting ‘support our glorious freedom fighters’ and nobody batted an eyelid, not even the police standing next to them. Lots of people were taking badges and signing their petitions though. I felt absolutely sick at how horrific it was.

i don’t get it either , it’s like when people blame Israel for no good or fuel when Hamas has plenty if food and plenty of fuel to support his people underground and launch hundreds of rockets a day . Blame Hamas and those who support him .
To be fair it’s a bit like women in Palestine , despite some being influencers most are very restricted in what they can do . I work with an amazing Palestinian woman who left Gaza when Hamas was already in power , her aunt brought her over after a visit and she refused to return as a teenager and ended up dating here since 2008 and has studied has a career and got married had kids etc . I didn’t what to ask about all this but asked her if her family was safe and was surprised she has minimum contact with them . She went on to tell em she is one of 9 and she is “ disposable “ as many others children . As she has spend so many years in the west she also realised the idea of martyrdom is completely wrong and despises the idea even more now she has children . She also told me families receive money for any children that die or get arrested in connection with the IDF or Israel , many depend on those monthly payments . In her own worlds I find it all awful and sad , but Palestine needs education outside radicalism or the children will never stand a chance .
She also said women have little rights or choice on what is allowed in their life’s and with Hamas in power things only got worse .
Its very sad to see those poor kids dying but part of me can’t help but wonder why people have so many children when they have so little to give to them .
i have been to Palestine a few years ago and a few times to Israel , so I’ve been following closely

Hardly anyone supports the actions of Hammas. I think the main disagreements are about how Israel responds to Hammas. I do not think many people out there are saying Hammas are justified in what they do.

I do think however some people believe that Israel in effect created Hammas because an organisation that extreme was always going to appear in a situation like that.

I venture that hardly any one thinks it's OK that civilians are dying

Why do all the Israeli propaganda people come on all at once at this time. Are you all huddling behind one laptop? I find it strange...

Some of the people marching in our city wore badges and held placards showing paragliders. They may be useful idiots, or they may truly support the hamas ideology.

Exactly! It's all blame Israel, no-one seems to condem hamas for its actions.

I've even read on here people saying that they are oppressed and therefore it's no wonder they do what they do, or likening them to freedom fighters. Disgraceful

@OuiOuiKitty This is nonsense. Have you ever been to Israel or spoken to an Israeli? If that were true why would Palestinians living in Israel have the right to vote, the right to form political parties, the right to speak out against the government, the right to access the justice system etc? You maybe need to look at what echo chamber you’re getting your news from.

I think only a very small percentage of the people going on the protests actively support Hamas.

A very large number of people are (understandably) distressed by the civilian deaths, lack a proper grasp of the situation and are swayed by the very effective Hamas propaganda on the behalf of "the Palestinians". Without the critical thinking or perspective necessary to identify the fact that their support for "the Palestinians" in effect hands a huge propaganda win to Hamas.

Unfortunately large parts of the far left are captured by the Hamas propaganda. (For the record I'm also distressed by civilian deaths and increasingly critical of the behaviour of the Israeli military but I think there's a huge amount of very naive people who see things in very black and white terms.