A new poll reveals how the fallout from Hamas’s attack on Israel last year has divided American society and has the potential to influence the outcome of the November election.
It found that nearly four in 10 American Muslims believe Hamas did not commit murder or rape on October 7 of last year.
About 31 percent said they believed gunmen were responsible for such crimes.
The results, from an online survey of 1,000 members of the general public plus a sample of 500 Muslims, illustrate how decades of conflict in the Middle East are viewed through profoundly different lenses.
About 59 percent of Muslims said the attack was carried out to “promote the Palestinian cause,” while a majority of the general public (51 percent) said it was because “Hamas wanted to kill Jews and is determined to destroy Israel.”
A survey by JL Partners for the Heritage Foundation investigated American Muslim attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
Only 14 percent of American Muslims said Hamas unleashed its attack for that reason.
And the poll, conducted by JL Partners for conservatives Heritage Foundationshows how the war will cast a long shadow over the elections.
A third (34 percent) of Muslims said the conflict between Israel and Palestine was the most important issue for the November 5 election. They rated it as more important than inflation and the economy, which was the top choice for the general public.
In contrast, only four percent of Americans overall said the conflict was the most important thing in deciding their vote.
It illustrates the difficulties facing Vice President Kamala Harris as she tries to win back voters frustrated by the way President Joe Biden has offered unconditional support and weapons to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Friday, he met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Flint, Michigan, to hear their concerns, one of a series of meetings he has held to try to placate left-wing critics.
The survey showed how much work remains to be done. It found that nearly half (49 percent) of American Muslims accuse Vice President Kamala Harris of being too pro-Israel, while 29 percent said she had things right and seven percent said she was too pro-Palestine.
Monday marked one year since Hamas attacked Israel. Hundreds of gunmen poured out of Gaza to launch an orgy of violence, killing more than 1,100 people and taking 250 hostages.
People inside an encampment on the University of Washington campus protest the university’s ties to Israel and Boeing in Seattle, May 12, 2024.
Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian, center, from the Kfar Azza kibbutz to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, October 7, 2023.
Gaza militants who attacked an all-night music festival in southern Israel shot and killed revelers at point-blank range on October 7.
This aerial image shows abandoned and burned vehicles at the site of the October 7 attack on the Supernova desert music festival by Palestinian militants near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev Desert in southern Israel on October 13, 2023.
It was the deadliest day in Israel’s history.
And stories of women being raped and sexually assaulted soon followed.
Israel responded by launching a bombing raid on Gaza, while vowing to destroy Hamas.
American campuses erupted in protests as the Palestinian death toll rose and reports of anti-Semitic sentiment soared.
The bombing continues, with more than 40,000 people dead, and the conflict has only widened in recent weeks as Israel attacks Iranian proxies elsewhere.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the village of Khiam, seen from Marjaayoun, near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon.
US President Joe Biden, flanked by First Lady Jill Biden and Rabbi Aaron Alexander of Congregation Adas Israel, lights a candle to mark the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Israel has sent ground troops into Lebanon and attacked Hezbollah targets in populated areas, including the capital, Beirut.
On Monday, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa, while the Israeli military also said it had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired by Iranian proxies in Yemen.
Israel commemorated the anniversary of the attack with ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem starting at 6:29 a.m., when Hamas launched its attack.
In Washington, President Joe Biden lit a candle at the White House to commemorate the dead.