This is the first entry in a three-part blog series discussing the evolution of al-Qassam Brigades’ content, dissemination strategies, and the relevant policy implications for combating terrorist content online.
Al-Qassam Brigades Propaganda Content: Evolution Since October 7
At the ceremony in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the leaders of European and Arab states gathered behind US President Donald Trump. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) seemed somewhat lost on the sidelines of the peace show. Trump praised him, saying he was “very smart and he is doing a fantastic job for his country.”
Syria needs an economic reconstruction program. Desperately. Yet nearly a year after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, there is still no talk of putting together a comprehensive economic reconstruction plan, whether in Damascus or among the obvious international stakeholders. Without clarity and wide-based consultation on the country’s new economic framework, there is a distinct risk that the cronyism of the Assad-era economy will reappear, undermining social equity and generating political discontent, and that violence will reemerge as “a central mechanism for the redistribution of power and wealth among competing forces,” as it did during the long civil war.
Latest Developments
After the fall of Assad, Islamic State fighters capitalized on the ensuing chaos to loot arms depots and ammunition storage sights, replenishing their arsenal and reequipping an insurgent force of several thousand fighters.
Throughout history, insurgents have won simply by not losing, and the Islamic State has consistently demonstrated a knack for survival, biding its time patiently and waiting for the right opportunities before surging again.
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Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to co-broker the Gaza peace process for his own prestige, to Hamas’s benefit, and at Israel’s expense.
Those who thought that Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip have made Palestinians change their minds about the terror group are in for a rude awakening.
More than half of Palestinians continue to support the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israelis and foreign nationals on October 7. Moreover, the terror group remains popular among a large number of Palestinians. Support for Hamas means support for the destruction of Israel through Jihad (holy war).
A poll published on October 28 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that 53% of the Palestinians think that Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 attack was “correct.” A majority of 54% of Palestinians blame Israel for the current suffering of Gazans, while 24% blame the US. Only 14% blame Hamas.
These findings contradict claims by some Western media outlets that a growing number of Palestinians were disillusioned with Hamas because of the death and destruction it has brought on its people as a result of its October 7 attack.
Asked about their perception of Hamas two years after the Gaza war began, 18% of the Palestinians said their support for Hamas was big and it has not changed, while 19% said their support for the terror group increased a lot. Another 17% said their support for Hamas increased a little. By contrast, 16% said they did not support Hamas before the war and that their opposition to the terror group has not changed; 12% said their support decreased a little, and 10% said their support for Hamas has decreased a lot.
“The conclusion from these numbers is that the past two years have led to greater support for Hamas rather than the opposite,” according to the poll.
The poll showed that a vast majority of the Palestinians are still in denial over the crimes committed by Hamas on October 7. Asked if Hamas had committed the atrocities seen in the videos shown by international media displaying atrocities committed by Hamas members against Israeli civilians, 86% said the terror group did not commit such atrocities. Only 10% said Hamas did commit them.
As for the disarmament of Hamas, as stipulated in the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan for peace to end the Gaza war, the poll found that an overwhelming majority of 69% oppose the idea. Only 29% said they support disarming Hamas.
Regarding public satisfaction with the role played by various Palestinian actors during the Gaza war, the poll showed that satisfaction with Hamas’s performance has risen from 57% (in May 2025) to 60%.
A majority of Palestinians, the poll showed, are extremely supportive of Iran, Hezbollah, Qatar and the Houthi militia in Yemen, a terror group that fired dozens of missiles and suicide drones at Israel during the war. The highest satisfaction rate went to the Houthis (74%), followed by Hamas’s main sponsor Qatar (52%), Hezbollah (50%), and Iran (44%).
If elections for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority (PA) were held today, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal would win 63% of the votes, as opposed to 27% for incumbent PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The 89-year-old Abbas, who is in the 20th year of his four-year term in office, remains as unpopular as ever among his own people, who view him and his PA as incompetent and corrupt.
According to the poll, dissatisfaction with Abbas stands at 75%, while 80% want him to resign.
Asked which political party they support, the largest percentage (35%) said they prefer Hamas, followed by Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction (24%). Nine percent selected third parties, and 32% said they do not support any of them or do not know. Five months ago, 32% said they supported Hamas and 21% said they supported Fatah.
“These results mean that support for Hamas over the past five months has increased by three percentage points,” the poll noted.
Another inconvenient finding: If parliamentary elections were held today, 44% of the Palestinians say they will vote for Hamas, 30% for Fatah, and 10% for third parties. The remaining respondents said they have not yet decided for whom to vote.
The number of Palestinians who believe that Hamas most deserves to represent and lead the Palestinians has risen from 40% five months ago to 41%.
Also unexpected is the ongoing Palestinian support for the “armed struggle” (terrorism) against Israel. The latest poll found that 41% of the Palestinians support the “armed struggle” as opposed to 36% who said they prefer negotiations.
The results of the poll demonstrate that a significant number of Palestinians continue to support the Jihadi group that murdered 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and brought death and destruction on the two million residents of the Gaza Strip.
Those who are pushing for reforms and presidential and legislative elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip need to take into consideration that the future Palestinian government or state would be dominated by the same terrorists who brutally tortured and murdered hundreds of Israelis, including Arab citizens of Israel, on October 7, 2023.
The results of the poll also show the challenges facing the implementation of the Trump plan, especially disarming Hamas and deradicalizing Palestinian society. Most Palestinians are openly opposed to disarming Hamas – a situation that will make it effectively impossible for any Arab or foreign party to confiscate the terror group’s weapons by force.
Any Palestinian or Arab leader who sees that most Palestinians oppose the disarmament of Hamas will think twice before he undertakes such a mission: he would not want to act against the wishes of the Arab street — such a move would be regarded as treason.
As for deradicalization, it is clear from the poll that Palestinians are moving in the opposite direction. This is mainly due to continued incitement against Israel in the Palestinian and Arab media, mosques, social media platforms and the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and officials. Deradicalization requires brave leaders who will stand up and speak out about the need to stop poisoning the hearts and minds of young Palestinians. Many Palestinians are afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled as traitors or collaborators with Israel. We have seen how Palestinians who challenged Hamas were tortured and executed in public squares in the Gaza Strip as soon as the ceasefire went into effect.
Radical change in Palestinian society will come only when Palestinians rise up against destructive leaders who, over the past few decades, have been dragging them from one disaster to another.
Israeli and Arab military officials have come together for meetings and trainings, facilitated by U.S. Central Command, on regional threats, Iran and underground tunnels.
Even as key Arab states condemned the war in the Gaza Strip, they quietly expanded security cooperation with the Israeli military, leaked U.S. documents reveal. Those military ties were thrown into crisis after Israel’s September airstrike in Qatar, but could now play a key role in overseeing the nascent ceasefire in Gaza.
Latest Developments
In the quiet corridors of Syria’s emerging republic—where the embers of revolution still flicker beneath the veneer of reconstruction—the saga of the so-called “Strangers’ Brigade” has once again resurfaced. Far from a transient disturbance, it remains a persistent quandary that continues to haunt the evolving Syrian polity. First surfacing in late 2024, the issue drew attention when the nascent General Command integrated several senior military officers into the army’s leadership ranks, including six foreign nationals—a move that symbolised the formal absorption of once-transnational fighters into the structure of a newly envisioned state.