Hamas and the Left: An Incompatible Alliance?
A Marxist Critique of Islamist Politics and Revolutionary Misrecognition
Introduction
In recent years, the tendency of certain sections of the Western Left to express support for Hamas as an anti-imperialist force has exposed deep fractures in leftist thought. The attacks of 7th October 2023 on Israel catalysed not just geopolitical chaos, but also ideological chaos as well. Among Marxists and anti-capitalists, a fundamental question seems to have arisen: Is Hamas compatible with Marxist thought? This essay seeks to interrogate the political ontology of Hamas, not merely as a resistance movement, but as an ideological entity, by assessing the movement’s aims, methods, and philosophical roots, and comparing them with the emancipatory vision of the Left.
Islamism vs Marxism: The Theological and Material Divide
Marx’s most famous quote on religion - “It is the opium of the people" - is an often misinterpreted one. Here is the quote in full for context:
“Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic [sic] compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
From this reading we can see, that Marx does not reject religious sentiment wholesale, but actually acknowledges religion as both a product of, and a protest against, real suffering. However, Marx was unequivocal in his assertion that religion is a reflection of alienation, not its cure. Political Islam, of which Hamas is an archetype, does not merely use religion as consolation, it elevates it to the organising principle of society. This theological absolutism stands in stark opposition to Marxism's materialist foundations.
By defining itself as “a Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement,” Hamas grounds its political programme in the supremacy of Islamic law, not in class emancipation. The movement sees Palestine not simply as a homeland, but as a waqf - in this case, a religious endowment consecrated by God to Muslims in perpetuity. This theological claim is not metaphorical. As Article 11 of Hamas’s 1988 Charter asserts: “This waqf remains as long as earth and heaven remain.” Such metaphysical claims place the entirety of Hamas’s struggle within a divinely mandated framework, utterly incompatible with historical materialism.
The ‘Anti-Imperialist’ Illusion
For many on the Left, support for Hamas emerges from the logic of anti-imperialism. Israel, as a settler-colonial state backed by Western imperialism, must be resisted, and Hamas appears to do just that. But to equate Hamas’s jihad with anti-colonial liberation is to conflate resistance with revolution. Marxism does not support “the enemy of my enemy” regardless of ideological content. Political Islam - which includes Hamas - is not anti-imperialist but a natural ally of dependent capitalism. Its alliances with conservative Gulf states and Iran are less about revolutionary strategy and more about the maintenance of power through reactionary networks.
Leandros Fischer, writing in his essay, ‘Left-wing Perspectives on Political Islam: A Mapping Attempt’, points to Syrian Marxist Ghayath Naisse’s view of Islamist movements being constituted “by what Trotsky described as ‘human dust’, the atomized layers of the petit bourgeoisie”. Effectively, the radicalism of groups proclaiming a Political Islamist stance is often expressive, not transformative, raging at imperialism while lacking any strategy for class emancipation. For other Marxist thinkers such as Chris Harman, the formulation with which the Left should apply to such Islamist groups is categorised as being “with the Islamists sometimes, with the state never”. Such a categorisation acknowledges the tactical convergence possible in authoritarian contexts, but only under strict conditions of Left independence. There is no indication that Hamas desires such convergence; instead, it seeks ideological dominance under the banner of Islamism.
Gender, Sexuality, and Social Reaction
The Left’s historic commitment to the liberation of all oppressed peoples cannot be squared with Hamas’s repressive social agenda. In Gaza, Hamas has imposed restrictions on women’s mobility through male guardianship laws, suppressed civil society groups defending women and LGBTQ+ rights, and has presided over a regime where queer people face state-sanctioned violence or are forced into heterosexual marriages. There is no serious Marxist theory in which such patriarchal repression constitutes “revolutionary politics.”
Of course, these conditions are not simply unfortunate side-effects of wartime governance; they are systemic features of Hamas's vision for society. Again, no Marxist tradition, whether Leninist, Trotskyist, or anarcho-syndicalist, can justify such authoritarianism as revolutionary.
The 7th October Attacks: A Turning Point in Misrecognition
The events of 7th October 2023, when Hamas operatives infiltrated southern Israel and massacred civilians, including attendees of the Nova music festival, posed an ethical and ideological crisis for the Left. While Israeli apartheid, occupation, and settler violence constitute crimes against humanity, this cannot obscure the moral bankruptcy of celebrating an operation that included the murder, torture, and sexual assault of civilians. To see paragliders as symbols of liberation, as some on the Western Left do, is to, in an attempt to be non-cynical, aestheticise horror. If I were to allow myself some cynicism, I would consider such symbolism as being rooted in ignorance at best, and a sense of faux revolutionary zeal of the bored, predominantly middle-class kind, at worse.
As Bashir Abu-Manneh argues, Hamas's actions on 7th October did not advance Palestinian liberation, but instead provoked, deliberately I believe, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. That Hamas was democratically elected or possesses popular support does not absolve its programme. Fascism has also emerged through electoral victories. We must not confuse popular legitimacy with political virtue.
Opposition to such sentiments are strong, particularly amongst the faux rebel for the hell of it types of bored suburbia, who wear the keffiyeh as a fashion accessory, chant slogans as if promoting a brand, and romanticise groups such as Hamas as modern day anti-imperial revolutionaries. All of which is a damning indictment of a culture taught to see commodity in everything, and which has been conditioned to see rebellion, and revolution, as simply making a lot of noise. See the absurdly, typically American branding of student protests as a “Student Intifada,” something that is simply not worth talking about in any serious manner.
In this sense, none of this opposition means much to me. Followers of my work on this platform know what I think of Zionism, Israel’s existence, the ongoing genocide, and religious fanatism in general. And religious fanatics Hamas absolutely are, driven by the exact same ideological purposes as the Zionists - that is, to implement God-given ownership of “the holy land,” a notion that should be deemed to be preposterous by this stage in human history.
Followers of my work will also be aware of my stance on Hamas’ intentions on 7th October 2023. There can be no doubt that Hamas would have expected an unprecedented response from the IDF after the events of that day. I have speculated previously of Hamas acting in the assumption that other Arab states, such as Iran, would join them in a fight against Israel in the event of mass Palestinian casualties that would no doubt be inflicted on the back of their actions. It is also highly likely that Hamas would have been aware of how the Western world would react to an infliction of such extreme violence, which has, of course, come to pass. In previous articles, I have gone into detail as to why Israel’s response to the 7th October attacks was not just insane, but utterly stupid. Israel’s standing in the world has diminished massively in the nearly two years since, and there is no doubt that Israeli’s are a lot less safer now than they were on 8th October 2023.
Also, I think it’s safe to assume that Israel could have negotiated for the release of the hostages first, got them all back, and then proceeded with an onslaught. The reaction and debate would have been the same. Worst still, Israel are capable of such a response, see the mass assassinations of Hezbollah members in Lebanon last year - a truly sophisticated operation.
Israel’s response can only be understood in the context of a predisposed intense hatred of the Palestinians, and Hamas’ assault - and the disregard for the consequences even - can only be understood as a natural response to unbearable, long-standing oppression. But just because Hamas’ hate-filled resistance is a natural product of Israel’s hate-filled occupation and oppression doesn’t make the chosen strategy right. The fact that it is understandable as a natural consequence is purely down to an understanding of human behaviour.
But all of this is my speculation. Many people will have an opposing view, including those in Gaza themselves. In an article for Jacobin, Bashir Abu-Manneh points to a report in the Financial Times on public opinion in Gaza. “While Palestinians in Gaza clearly blame Israel for executing a human catastrophe in Gaza,” he writes, “there is growing anger and resentment directed at Hamas for failing to expect the scale of Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 attacks and to protect Palestinians during the war.”
He quotes one Palestinian man as “openly” saying “that Hamas ‘should have predicted Israel’s response and thought of what would happen to the 2.3mn Gazans who have nowhere safe to go’ and ‘should have restricted themselves to military targets.’”
A complication to this view could be in the extreme likelihood of Hamas being unaware of a music festival taking place. Many Israeli sources make this conclusion, taking in evidence found on the bodies of killed Hamas “fighters” (all of whom had maps on them and none of which made mention of the festival) and in evaluating the unfolding of events on that day. My rebuttal will be one that I have seen made elsewhere, that such an approach would not have made a difference to the scale of the Israeli response. Also, I suspect that Hamas would have taken some perverse pleasure in finding such an event taking place (it is worth pointing out here the sheer stupidity in holding such an event so close to Gaza in the first place), probably interpreting it as a sign from God. There’s no denying that they took great pleasure in the killing of those festival goers.
Conclusion: A Clear Incompatibility
Hamas’s political ideology, rooted in Islamism, theocratic governance, patriarchal moralism, and a nationalist exclusivism, is fundamentally incompatible with Marxist thought. While both Hamas and Marxists may oppose imperialism and occupation, their visions of liberation could not be more different. The former seeks the establishment of an Islamic order by force; the latter seeks the abolition of all forms of domination, religious or otherwise.
The true Marxist position is not to choose between imperialism and religious reaction, but to build an independent pole of class politics rooted in universal emancipation. Solidarity with Palestinians must not translate into support for Hamas. In choosing to attack Israel in the way they did on 7th October 2023, Hamas condemned Palestinians to a predictable onslaught of unprecedented levels of violence aimed at a civilian population. The first thing I did on hearing the news that day, and what many others did too, was message friends with the words “They’re going to wipe Palestine off the map now.” And I’m hardly a Middle-East expert.
Like the Zionists and their racist supporters, Leftist supporters of Hamas should know that history did not start on 7th October 2023, just as it didn’t start on 9/11. Hamas know their enemy, and with the mindsets of true Jihadi’s and religious fanatics, would have seen their victims, and the certain casualties of any Israeli response, as worthy sacrifices to the cause. Martyrs all. Part of a grand plan to lure Israel into one final battle.
The root cause to the Israel-Palestine issue, of course, is Zionism, and the aggressor here is the State of Israel. As already mentioned, Hamas are a natural response to the brutality inflicted on Palestinians for just shy of sixty years. But there is a strong case that religious fundamentalism plays a huge role in forming the ideological motivations of both oppressor and resistor. The aim is to claim, or reclaim, “the holy land,” not overthrow capitalism or install a socialist form of governance.
What the answer is to this issue, I’ve absolutely no idea. Further still, as a citizen of the West, it could be said I have no right to even suggest one. But most of all, any attempt at resolution is most likely to prove futile. It is impossible to imagine any amicable end.
At around 9:55 am this morning, whilst feeding my dog, I heard a conversation on BBC News. The guest was talking about a traumatised boy in Gaza. Because I had only just entered the room, I missed the context. But what I heard was the latest in a countless number of instances where I have been left stunned and nauseous at not just the depiction of events, but the almost blasé way these depictions are delivered.
To paraphrase, the guest said something like this - “The boy has been having spasms frequently since seeing his five-year-old sister have her head blown off.”
How can anyone seriously expect a way back from this.
At time of writing, Israel are now bombing Syria. I’m not entirely sure as to why right now, I’ve just long assumed Israel are taking the opportunity to take complete control of the entire region. A fantastically stupid article I read recently, written by a confused Leftist, spoke of Hamas adapting something the author termed “Strategic Accelerationism.” The only thing Hamas have accelerated is their own destruction, and that of the Palestinian people. There was no Hamas victory on 7th October. Israel was not proven to be a “paper tiger” (it is some paper tiger that can inflict the kind of destruction that Israel has). And the only cause Hamas are fighting for is a religious one.
Bibliography
Leandros Fischer - Left-Wing Perspectives on Political Islam: A Mapping Attempt: An Uneasy Relationship?
Bashir Abu-Manneh - The Palestinian Resistance Isn’t a Monolith
Bashir Abu-Manneh - Palestinians Against Israel’s Genocide and Hamas
Chris Harman - The prophet and the proletariat
I think you made some interesting points in this article. However, I think we must be very careful when raising the various issues around October 7th. and Hamas sex crimes. Despite repeated attempts by the Israeli government to resurrect the crimes as well as parroting by pro-Israel politicians there is no evidence to the claims. They have been debunked by Haaretz, Electronic Intafada and how can we forget the recent pulling of the documentary by the producers themselves which featured the outed fantasist and serial liar and grifter Davidian.
this was a super interesting read! I’d actually never heard the full Marx quote before, only the “opium of the masses” part. There’s a surprising compassion to the full quote and it made me think of the spiritual hunger that so many people feel today, and I think particularly on the Left.
I used to feel it myself in my atheist days; I’d say I was jealous of people who had faith because it seemed like a level of comfort I could never access.
I do think much organised religion is too often co-opted into political movements that mostly block liberation as you’ve shown here. But hope there is space for more grounded faith and spirituality for the future of our species! I think this would help to bring about more peace.