According to a new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 59 percent of Palestinians believe that the October 7th massacre was the correct decision.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report published by Palestinian Media Watch, “More than a year and a half after the Hamas-led atrocities of October 7, 59% of Palestinians polled in the “West Bank” still think that Hamas’ made the “correct decision” to torture, rape, burn alive, murder, and kidnap hundreds of hostages—even including children—according to the most respected Palestinian polling agency.”
According to the report, “The new poll by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research asks: “In your view, was Hamas’ decision to launch its offensive against Israel on 7 October a correct or incorrect one?” The polling shows a continuation of the pattern of decreasing support since December 2023, when the first poll was taken after the October 7 atrocities. It found that 82% of “West Bank” Palestinians thought October 7 was a “correct decision.” In March and June 2024, just over 70% of Palestinians there supported it. In September 2024, support dropped to 64%. And now, 59% still say it was a “correct decision.””
Palestinian Media Watch added, “The slow but continuous decline in support directly correlates with the worsening military defeat in Gaza. Although the overwhelming majority of Palestinians supported and still support the atrocities, as the cost goes up, fewer think it was the correct decision.”
“This is the current Palestinian Authority message to its people as well,” Palestinian Media Watch noted. “While the PA’s initial response to the Nazi-like pogrom was immediate, spontaneous celebration, it has now changed its message, arguing that while the October 7 atrocities were “legitimate resistance,” the suffering it caused Palestinians in Gaza has made them unjustified. Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash expressed this explicitly when he stressed five times that October 7 was “legitimate resistance” before saying that “what Hamas carried out in terms of its consequences is illegitimate because it led to catastrophic consequences.””
According to the report, “As the poll shows (see graph above), support is even lower among Gazans, who are the ones suffering directly from the war. Those there who see the decision as “correct” is now at 37%, having dropped from a high of 71%.”
“Interestingly, a total of 78% of Gazans blame Israel or the US for “the current suffering of Gazans” while only 12% blame Hamas,” Palestinian Media Watch stressed. “Coupled with that is the finding that 77% of Palestinians overall (and 85% of Palestinians in the PA-controlled “West Bank”!) “oppose the disarmament of Hamas in the Gaza Strip in order to stop the war on Gaza.””
Palestinian Media Watch concluded, “The element that has certainly remained steady is that any Palestinian opposition to October 7 is not rooted in moral rejection of the atrocities but in dissatisfaction with its fallout. It is not the massacre that many Palestinians regret but the cost.”
Photo from Palestinian Media Watch: https://palwatch.org/page/37148
