Hamas chief touts rise of anti-Israel MAGA Republicans, thanks anti-Israel protesters

Hamas leader Khaled Mashal calls on President Trump to embrace the anti-Israel wing of his MAGA coalition.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A senior Hamas official has touted the rise of a staunchly anti-Israel wing within the MAGA coalition that brought President Donald Trump back to office, and is urging Trump to abandon his support for the Jewish state.

On Monday, “Drop Site News,” a far-left anti-Israel blog run by Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, published an interview with Khaled Mashal, co-chair of the Hamas politburo, and a longtime leader of the Islamist terror group.

During the interview, Mashal emphasized growing support for the Palestinian cause, including Hamas, among Westerners under 30.

Mashal offered his thanks to anti-Israel protesters in the US, including those responsible for the illegal campus takeovers at multiple universities in 2023 and 2024.

“We say to the American people—over the past two years—we have deeply appreciated the engagement we have seen in American society: in universities, [including] the most prestigious ones, across different US cities, among American elites, and among the new generation of Americans, including Jewish Americans who have shown solidarity with Palestine,” Mashal said.

Citing recent polling data, Mashal claimed that most young Americans back Hamas.

“Fifty-one percent of young Americans aged 18 to 24 support the Palestinian cause—indeed, support Hamas and the resistance. This is a significant shift, and we hope that the American human conscience will awaken and realize that Israel is a burden on [the United States], and that the Palestinian people are not against American interests.”

Mashal showed a particular interest in the growing prominence of anti-Israel sentiment among the ranks of President Trump’s supporters.

The 69-year-old terror chief called on the president to embrace Israel’s critics within the MAGA movement and to drop the administration’s support for Israel.

“Unfortunately, one of the problems with the US administration is that it prioritizes Israel’s interests more than the United States’ own interests. Even Trump’s people—MAGA—came to realize that Israel is a burden on them, restricting and harming US interests. I am simply calling on the American people and the US administration to judge based on America’s interests, not Israel’s.”

The interview, which was conducted by Scahill, did not include questions regarding Hamas’ invasion of Israel in 2023 or the subsequent atrocities committed, nor did it press Mashal on the organization’s rejection of the Jewish state’s existence or long history of terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings.

Instead, Scahill accused Israeli society of being locked in a “genocidal mentality,” asking Mashal whether there is a “point anymore” to a two-state solution.