Over 3-4 consecutive days this past week, Gaza witnessed an unprecedented wave of demonstrations by what appear to be average Gazan civilians against Hamas, the Islamist terror group that has ruled the enclave since 2007. Estimates differ about how many have been involved each day or cumulatively, but estimates are that thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets, chanting slogans and with handmade signs like “Hamas does not represent me,” and “The people demand the toppling of Hamas.” Because of Hamas’ terrorist mafia-like grip on Gaza, protesters may be risking their lives to oppose a regime known for its brutal suppression of dissent, or anything seen controverting its strict, jihadi Islamic ideology.
Indeed, there are reports now of armed Hamas terrorists threatening, beating, and even killing protesters and blaming the protests on Israel as they conflate the protestors with Israeli collaborators.
These protests, occurring amidst an ongoing war and renewed Israeli military combat, signal a potential turning point in Palestinian “resistance”—not against Israel, as Hamas, other Iranian-backed proxies, and many Western narratives often frame it, but against Hamas itself. However, the interpretation of these events reveals a stark divide in perspectives, from the lack of Western media attention to the selective outrage of “pro-Palestinian” activists only demonstrating against Israel and not the actual threats and destruction caused by Hamas. All this is in the context of social and ideological undercurrents reflected in polls and actions showing wide support for Hamas’ brutal October 7, 2023, attack, massacre, and kidnapping, among Palestinian Arabs.
Hamas’s first official response to these protests, as reported, exemplifies what appears to be desperation and weakness. The group has accused Israel of orchestrating the demonstrations, labeling them as an ‘incitement campaign’ against the ‘resistance.’ It has cautiously acknowledged the protesters’ frustrations, attributing them to war-induced suffering rather than genuine anti-Hamas sentiment, while subtly threatening dissenters through the ‘resistance security’ apparatus, which internally controls its broader terror operations. This rhetoric underscores Hamas’s precarious position: it lacks the infrastructure to jail or systematically suppress such large-scale unrest, yet it cannot afford to lose face by cracking down violently on its own people. Instead, it seeks to redirect the narrative, urging protesters to focus their anger solely on Israel—a strategy that aligns with its historical deflection tactics but seems increasingly untenable as Gazans equate Hamas with the war’s devastation.
Suggestions have been made that Hamas’s apparent recent willingness to enter into another ceasefire that will see the release of more of the 59 hostages still in their captivity is to give them the ability to focus on putting down the protests rather than having to fight Israel.
Contrastingly, the Western media’s response—or lack thereof—has been glaring. While visual evidence of the unprecedented wave of thousands protesting across Gaza, mainstream media outlets have downplayed the scale, reporting mere “hundreds” of demonstrators, or their potential significance of the population beginning to rise up against Hamas. This minimization reflects a broader reluctance to disrupt the entrenched “resistance” narrative that frames Hamas as a legitimate voice of Palestinian Arabs “struggle” against Israel. Outlets like Al Jazeera, widely criticized as a mouthpiece for Hamas, have been accused of ignoring or distorting these events to protect the group’s image. The absence of robust press coverage not only obscures the courage of Gazan protesters but also perpetuates a one-dimensional portrayal of the conflict, sidelining the internal Palestinian Arab dynamics at play. Further, it limits the possible widening of the protests as being something possibly mainstream.
This selective attention extends to the supposed “pro-Palestinian” movement in the West, particularly evident in protests and campus activism. In Washington, D.C., and on U.S. college campuses, demonstrators continue to chant anti-Israel slogans, obliviously disregarding Gazans risking their lives to oppose Hamas. Confronting the often antisemitic and genocidal nature of alleged “pro-Palestinian” demonstrations, such demonstrators are being challenged that if they are truly “pro-Palestinian,” their focus should be on how Hamas harms Palestinian Arabs, with the proof text of the very demonstrations that have taken place and threat to the lives of those demonstrating.
This reveals the dishonesty of people more invested in an anti-Israel agenda than in supporting Palestinians’ genuine well-being, especially when protests target an Islamist group responsible for decades of oppression. Signs in Gaza reading “Hamas is a terrorist” and pleas for peace go unacknowledged by the alleged “pro-Palestinian” activists, who appear to prioritize ideological hatred of Israel over the actual well-being of Gazans.
Yet, the hopeful signs must be tempered by sobering realities. Banners proclaiming, “Hamas does not represent me” and chants demanding an end to the terror group’s rule suggest a burgeoning resistance within Gaza, seeking liberation from Hamas’s grip. However, this shift may be more strategic rather than ideological. Polls conducted since October 7, 2023, consistently show over 80% of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) approving of the Hamas massacre, which saw Gazan civilians along with Hamas terrorists participate in murder, rape, and looting alongside the terror group.
Eyewitness accounts and footage reveal Gazan civilians cheering as hostages were paraded through the streets, and many hostages later reported being held captive in civilian homes. Seventeen months later, as Israel cuts humanitarian aid in response, these protests may reflect a pragmatic awakening to the consequences of such actions rather than a rejection of the underlying genocidal anti-Israel ideology with which they have been indoctrinated for generations.
Amid the protests, one needs to avoid a naive misinterpretation of the protests as progress. While opposing Hamas’s tyranny may be real, there is no evidence that average Gazans have had a change of heart, and remain committed to the destruction of Israel. In this view, the protests are less a moral evolution than a self-serving reaction to Hamas’s failures, with the same “butchers and rapists” now facing the rubble of their own making. This perspective casts the demonstrations as a tactical pivot, not a renunciation of the hatred that fueled the massacre. It underscores that the true solution for peace in Gaza must be a wholesale ideological change. There is no evidence of this in any of the protests.
There’s a clear contradiction between those who perceive a glimmer of hope in Gazans protesting against Hamas, and those who see only persistent hostility. While the protests aim to free Gazans from Hamas, they do not necessarily diminish their ideological hatred or threat towards Israel. The lack of press coverage, the disingenuousness of “pro-Palestinian” activists, and the conflict between strategy and ideology all complicate these events. What remains clear is that Gazans are speaking, risking their lives to demand change. Whether the world listens and how it interprets this will shape the discourse around this unprecedented moment in history and their future.
