Ismail Haniyeh - Dr. Rich Swier

On October 20, 2023, the polling company Cygnal released a report on Americans’ views about the early October Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The report was titled Survey of General Population: Israel -Hamas Awareness and Attitudes.[1] The survey presented the same questions to six different groups: Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, Evangelicals, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, with the results being shown for each.

One of the disturbing results of this survey came in response to this question:

Below you will read a list of names of various people mentioned in the news recently. For each one, please indicate if you have heard of the person, and if you have, whether you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the person. If you don’t recognize a name, choose so.

The name given was Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, and 38.6% of Muslim Americans had a favorable impression of him (of the other five groups, the closest favorable rating came from Democrats at 14.9%). There are an estimated 3.45 million Muslim Americans in the United States. This survey indicates that around 1.3 million Muslim Americans have a favorable impression of Haniyeh.

This is disturbing for two reasons. On October 8, 1997, the United States designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. And in January 2018, the U.S. State Department designated Ismail Haniyeh as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

This favorable impression of Haniyeh was not due to a lack of information among Muslim Americans. The survey showed that when asked how closely they had followed events in Israel since the attack by Hamas on October 7^th (“Hamas Awareness”), 30.9% of Muslim Americans responded “Somewhat Closely,” and 44.9% responded “Very Closely.”

When asked about being informed with regard to “Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian politics,” 65.4% of Muslim Americans considered themselves “Informed,” and 7.3% considered themselves “Expert.”

The survey showed that Muslim Americans were also aware of the following events regarding the October 7^th attack by Hamas:

“Over 1,200 people were killed in Israel, including women, infants, the elderly, and Holocaust survivors.” Very Aware: 36.4%, and Somewhat Aware: 41.9%
“Over 250 people who were attending an all-night music festival were killed in Israel.” Very Aware: 33.7%, and Somewhat Aware: 42.7%
“Over 100 people, including women and young children, were abducted from Israel and are being held hostage in Gaza.” Very Aware: 36.9%, and Somewhat Aware: 44.4%
“Hamas militants decapitated young children during their attack in Israel.” Very Aware: 25.9%, and Somewhat Aware: 40%

So despite the extent of the knowledge among Muslim Americans about the above incidents, around 1.3 million Muslim Americans still had a favorable impression of Haniyeh, and by inference, HAMAS. It would have been very interesting to see the results if Cygnal had asked the Muslim Americans their opinions on the above incidents.

Another disturbing result came from the same question about favorability being asked, but this time the name was Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He is a man with whom the chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are closely associated. 31.3% of Muslim Americans had a favorable impression of Khamenei (of the other five groups, the closest favorable rating came from Democrats at 15.9%). So a little over one million Muslim Americans have a favorable impression of Khamenei.

Just as disturbing was the response to this question:

The Biden administration acknowledges that Hamas is nothing but a proxy for Iran and is funded and supported by Iran. Would you be more or less likely to vote for a political candidate who supports releasing billions of dollars in frozen assets for Iran to use any way it chooses?

32.6% of Muslim Americans were “More Likely” to vote for such a candidate (of the other five groups, the closest “More Likely” rating came from Democrats at 18.6%).

28.3% of Muslim Americans were “More Likely” to “vote for a political candidate who supports allowing Iran to evade sanctions and earn billions of dollars from oil sales” (of the other five groups, the closest “More Likely” rating came from Democrats at 15.9%).

And 44.7% of Muslim Americans support the recent pro-Palestinian protests and demonstrations across multiple cities in the United States (of the other five groups, the closest “Support” rating came from Democrats at 25.2%).

Conclusion

The results of this survey show a generally inverse relationship between the responses of Muslim Americans and the responses of the other five groups. In theory, there is nothing wrong with public differences in opinion, and that is one of the freedoms we cherish in the United States. However, it is a different matter when survey results reveal one group’s massive support for a global terrorist (and by inference, the foreign terrorist organization that he heads), massive support for the leader of a terrorist-supporting country in which the chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are regular features, and massive support for that particular country to evade sanctions and receive billions of dollars in frozen assets to be used anyway that country chooses.

I have already shown in my book Islamic Doctrine versus the U.S. Constitution: The Dilemma for Muslim Public Officials,[2] that core tenets of Islamic Doctrine are in direct, irreconcilable conflict with the United States Constitution. The attitudes and beliefs of around one million or more Muslim Americans regarding terrorists and the support of terrorists shown in this survey raise serious questions about the security of the United States. This is especially so when considering that in fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol encountered and released over 900,000 illegal aliens into the United States, and also estimated that during that same time period there were over 600,000 unidentified “gotaways” who had evaded the Border Patrol and entered the United States.[3] How many are unidentifed HAMAS or Iranian terrorists, and what kind of welcome might they be receiving?

AUTHOR

STEPHEN M. KIRBY

Dr. Stephen M. Kirby is the author of six books about Islam. His latest book is Islamic Doctrine versus the U.S. Constitution: The Dilemma for Muslim Public Officials.

[1] https://www.cygn.al/new-national-poll-muslim-americans-say-hamas-was-justified-in-attacking-israel-majority-of-americans-say-iran-should-be-held-accountable-majority-support-israels-right-to-self-defense/

[2] Stephen M. Kirby, Islamic Doctrine versus the U.S. Constitution: The Dilemma for Muslim Public Officials (Washington D.C.: Center for Security Policy Press, 2019). A PDF copy of this book is available for download at https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Kirby_Islamic_Doctrine.pdf.

[3] Adam Shaw, “Mayorkas confirms over 600,000 illegal immigrants evaded law enforcement at southern border last fiscal year,” Fox News, October 31, 2023, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-confirms-over-600k-illegal-immigrants-evaded-law-enforcement-southern-border.

I have for years drawn attention here to the billions of dollars that the leaders of Hamas have stolen from the sums provided by foreign donors, money that was meant to support the people of Gaza. Now I am delighted that The Daily Mail (UK), The National Post (Canada), the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Fox News have all given the story of the three Hamas billionaires extensive coverage. The coverage by Fox News can be found here:

Hamas billionaires: Lifestyles of the rich and terrorists

by Eric Shawn, Fox News, November 8, 2023:

They are living the Hamas high life.

While the people of Gaza live in poverty and have suffered under the horrors of Hamas, the terror group’s leaders apparently are living high on the hog.

Israeli officials say Hamas leaders are billionaires, amassing an overwhelming jackpot of terror money for themselves….

Hamas bosses Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh are worth an estimated $4 billion each, and political bureau leader Mousa Abu Marzouk is worth $3 billion….

Photos show Hamas leader Mashaal playing table tennis, as well as squeezing in a workout on a treadmill in what appears to be a hotel gym.

Reports have long claimed that one of the Hamas leaders’ bases of operations has been the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar. In 2015, Mashaal held a press conference in the hotel’s ballroom, where he attacked Israel. And it was said he spent a lot of his time at the property. Four Seasons touts its property as being “reimagined with modern grandeur and sparkling with sunlight and sea views. From the elegant lobby to energetic restaurants and lounges, our beachfront urban retreat has been transformed into a vibrant hotspot.”

In a statement to Fox News, the company says the “Four Seasons confirms that Ismail Haniyeh is not living at or staying at Four Seasons Hotel Doha. Information circulating on social media suggesting otherwise is not true.” Requests for comment from Fox News about other Hamas leaders have not yet been answered.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has introduced legislation, “The Hamas Sanctions Act,” that would block Hamas’ ability to find safe havens abroad, including in Qatar or Turkey. The legislation would impose sanctions on “hotels, landlords, banks, and similar businesses in allied countries that provide services to Hamas leaders,” and would potentially classify countries, like Qatar and Turkey, “as state sponsors of terrorism for hosting Hamas.”…

“The United States has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned terrorist groups in the region.”…

Read full article.

The three Hamas billionaires have stolen, from the people of Gaza, eleven billion dollars. They luxuriate in their residences, and luxury suites, in Doha, as well as in their villas in Beirut and Istanbul, where they have been photographed lolling on beds, working out in private gyms, flying about in their private planes, eating at the most expensive restaurants, completely indifferent to the conditions in which the people of Gaza live. Think of how many apartments, electricity plants, water purification plants could have been built in Gaza with those eleven billion dollars. The only people trying to help the Gazans directly — thus avoiding sending aid through the thieving Hamas rulers — are the Israelis, who until October 7 had been providing jobs to 20,000 people from Gaza, who earned between three and five times as much working in Israel than they could have earned at home, even assuming there were jobs to be had in the Strip.

The monstrous theft by Hamas leaders of aid meant for all Gazans is likely to arouse more indignation in the outside world than their record of supporting terrorism. For their vast wealth, stolen from the people of Gaza, and their living the high life while leaving the Gazans to wallow in their misery — a misery made much worse by the atrocities those leaders set loose on October 7 — is an outrage easy to grasp.

There should be posters, with the faces of these Hamas leaders, and the amounts they have stolen from fellow Arabs in Gaza, held up by pro-Israeli counter-protesters everywhere. Those will get attention in a certain segment of the population in the West that, I regret to say, posters of kidnapped Israelis will not.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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The people of Gaza are not our enemy. The humanitarian passage is crucial to save lives of innocent people so we can destroy Hamas, the genocidal terror organization that brought this war on themselves. pic.twitter.com/Svk3ROsIGR

— The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome (@TheMossadIL) November 12, 2023