Fact Check: White House Claims, Despite Polls, that Hamas Does Not Represent Palestinians

CLAIM: “We know that Hamas does not represent the vast majority of the Palestinian people.” – John Kirby, White House

VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE. Several polls show Hamas is backed by a majority, or at least a plurality, of Palestinians.

White House national security aide John Kirby tried to to defend the Biden administration’s argument that the Palestinian Authority, which is governed by Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party, should return to Gaza after the war is over. He said that whatever government emerged should represent the wishes of the Palestinian people, and that Hamas did not represent a majority. He said that the best strategy would be to bring back a “reformed” and “revitalized” Palestinian Authority.

Polling data contradict Kirby’s claim. One poll by a Palestinian university in November showed Hamas with 76% approval. A more recent poll found that “if new parliamentary elections were held today,” Hamas would win a majority, though it only enjoyed a plurality of support three months ago. As Breitbart News reported, nearly three-fourths of Palestinians surveyed support the October 7 terror attack. The Palestinian Authority has 23% approval in the West Bank and 21% in Gaza; Hamas, by contrast, enjoys 85% approval in the West Bank, and 52% approval in Gaza — a majority, despite the devastation of the war.

Hamas, while still bearing arms, won the 2006 parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority, which were pushed by the George W. Bush administration, which had a totemic belief in elections as a path to peace. (It later took power in Gaza in a coup.) There were also Palestinian civilians who participated in the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, including looters.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.