Hamas Is NOT a Good-Faith Partner in Peace

In Short:

Hamas is not a resistance movement seeking peace – it is an Islamist terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction, guilty of violating every ceasefire it has ever signed and rejecting the very idea of coexistence.

Background

In February 2024, Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill claimed in The Telegraph that Hamas could one day become a “partner for peace,” invoking the Irish Republican Army as a precedent for dialogue. “You only have to look to our own example,” she said. “Dialogue is the only way you’re going to ever bring an end to conflict.”

That statement reveals a deep misunderstanding of Hamas. Unlike the IRA, which ultimately renounced violence, recognized legitimate governance, and pursued peace through democracy, Hamas is not a nationalist movement with negotiable grievances — it is an Islamist jihadist organization founded to destroy Israel and murder Jews. Yet propaganda and moral relativism have distorted that reality: a Harvard/Harris poll (August 2025) found that 60% of Gen Z voters (ages 18–24) now say they support Hamas over Israel, even as every older generation backs Israel decisively — a troubling sign of how far misinformation has spread on U.S. campuses.

From its birth in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas defined its mission not as statehood but as jihad. Its 1988 charter declares that “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it.” Hamas rejects all peace agreements made by the Palestinian Authority and has repeatedly vowed to continue “October 7-style” attacks until Israel ceases to exist.

Any attempt to compare Hamas to the IRA or other political militias ignores the religious absolutism at its core. Hamas’s ideology is not “negotiable” — it is the very reason it exists.

The Truth: Hamas Isn’t Misunderstood — It’s Malevolent

According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service (June 2024), Hamas remains a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and has maintained control over Gaza through force, repression, and propaganda since 2007. The group receives up to $100 million per year from Iran, plus hundreds of millions more from illicit taxes, cryptocurrency, and sympathetic regimes such as Qatar and Turkey. Its revenues are used to build rockets, tunnels, and underground bunkers — not hospitals or schools.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas shattered a temporary ceasefire by launching the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including 35 Americans, and more than 250 hostages were dragged into Gaza. Afterward, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad proudly declared the group’s intent to “repeat October 7 again and again,” underscoring that mass murder of civilians is not a mistake of war — it is their policy.

This is not new behavior. During Operation Protective Edge (2014), Israel accepted multiple ceasefires — many of them requested by Hamas or brokered by Egypt, the United States, or the United Nations. Hamas violated every one.

On July 15, Israel halted fire at 9:00 a.m. under an Egyptian plan; Hamas launched over 50 rockets within hours.
On July 26, Hamas broke its own self-declared 24-hour ceasefire by resuming rocket fire on Israeli cities.
On August 1, during a U.S.–U.N. brokered truce, Hamas ambushed Israeli troops and kidnapped Lt. Hadar Goldin through a terror tunnel.
(Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Operation Protective Edge: Hamas Violations of Ceasefires,” 2014.)

Similar patterns occurred in 2008, 2012, 2021, and 2023 — as documented by the Israel Policy Forum. Ceasefires for Hamas are tactical pauses, not steps toward peace. Each “truce” has been exploited to smuggle weapons, rebuild tunnels, and prepare for the next war.

Analysis: Why “Dialogue” With Hamas Fails

Hamas’s entire worldview is built on religious warfare. As Carlo J.V. Caro writes in his 2023 Stimson Center study, Hamas “transformed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a territorial dispute into a profound religious and existential struggle.” Its theology of muqawama (resistance) and shahada (martyrdom) sanctifies endless conflict. Children in Hamas-run schools are taught that to die in jihad is the highest honor.

This doctrine cannot be negotiated with — it must be dismantled. Hamas’s hybrid control of mosques, schools, and hospitals blurs civilian and military life by design. Every institution in Gaza doubles as a propaganda platform or a weapons depot. The organization’s so-called “political wing” does not moderate its violence; it funds it.

Hamas insiders have confirmed this truth. Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, defected and later worked with Israeli intelligence to save lives. He now warns the West:

“Palestinianism is the cancer — Hamas is just the symptom. Killing Hamas is one step closer to peace.”
(@MosabHasanYOSEF, X, Sept. 30, 2024)

Moral clarity demands recognizing that not every conflict can be resolved through dialogue. As conservative commentator Ben Shapiro observed in a 2025 interview:

“I don’t feel a moral obligation to sit across from someone who advocates violence or justifies terrorism.”

That’s not extremism — it’s wisdom. Dialogue is only meaningful when both sides accept the existence of the other. Hamas’s founding principle is that Israel must be annihilated. Talking to Hamas about peace is like negotiating with fire to stop burning.

Even among Palestinians, Hamas’s popularity surges only during war, when propaganda and fear dominate. Polls cited in the CRS report show that support for Hamas spikes during conflict but drops once calm returns — proof that Gaza’s civilians, not Hamas, are the real victims of its regime.

The Bottom Line: Hamas is not Northern Ireland’s IRA — it is ISIS with better PR.

Every ceasefire it signed, it broke. Every promise it made, it betrayed. A movement that glorifies child murder and suicide bombings is not a “partner for peace.” It is the enemy of peace — for Israel, for Palestinians, and for humanity.

Sources

Congressional Research Service. “Hamas: Background, Current Status, and U.S. Policy.” June 14, 2024.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Operation Protective Edge: Hamas Violations of Ceasefires.” August 2014.
Israel Policy Forum. “A Brief History of Israel–Hamas Ceasefire Agreements.” February 2024.
Carlo J.V. Caro. “Martyrdom and Power in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict.” Stimson Center, December 2023
Michelle O’Neill interview. The Telegraph, February 8, 2024
Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF). X, September 30, 2024.
Ben Shapiro interview. “Ben After Dark.” YouTube, 2025.