Exclusive: Hamas Weighs in on Biden vs. Trump

A senior Hamas official has shared with Newsweek the group's reaction to America's crisis-ridden 2024 presidential election season playing out amid the still-raging war in the Gaza Strip.

The race has proven to be especially turbulent. Former Republican President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt on Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania and continues to face a series of legal troubles. A growing number of Democrats have called on incumbent President Joe Biden to step down over concerns over his physical health and mental acuity following his debate performance last month against Trump.

Instability has also rocked the foreign policy front with the presidential candidates clashing over the wars between Israel and Hamas and between Russia and Ukraine. Yet Bassem Naim, a Hamas spokesperson and former Gaza health minister, saw little difference in the outcome of the upcoming vote in November.

"This is an American internal issue," Naim told Newsweek.

"If there is a difference," he added, "it is not essential because Israel is part of American strategic interests, independent of parties."

Both Biden and Trump have asserted their stalwart support for Israel since the war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented surprise attack conducted by Hamas and allied Palestinian factions against Israel on October 7, 2023. They have also at times criticized the way in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pursued the war.

The Biden administration has repeatedly called on Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties and increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Still, the U.S. has largely maintained military assistance to its longtime ally as the White House seeks to achieve a three-phase ceasefire agreement unveiled by Biden in May.

Hamas and Israeli officials have accused one another of deliberately derailing negotiations being mediated by Qatar and Egypt in Cairo. Naim, who has previously pointed out to Newsweek Biden's age as a potential factor affecting his decision-making, issued fresh accusations of Israeli atrocities over the past two days in the Gaza refugee camps of Khan Younis and Nuseirat.

"This disregard for the international law and treaties, and the extensive violations against unarmed civilians would not have continued without the support provided by the US administration to the extremist Zionist government and its terrorist army, through covering up its crimes, providing all means of political and military support, and paralyzing the role of international justice in addressing these crimes, placing the US as a full accomplice in committing them," a Hamas statement shared by Naim said.

The Israeli military has said that the strike on Khan Younis targeted senior Hamas officials, including a close associate of the group's military wing leader, Al-Qassam Brigades supreme commander Mohammed Deif. The strike in Nuseirat, according to the Israel Defense Forces targeted "a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out."

"Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence," the IDF said in a statement Sunday. "The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law, exploiting civilian structures and population as human shields for its terror attacks against the State of Israel."

Netanyahu has weighed in on the recent events threatening to upend U.S. politics in the lead-up to the election. In a video statement issued Sunday, the Israeli premier expressed his dismay toward the shooting that targeted Trump just minutes into a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.

"Like all Israelis, my wife Sara and I were shocked by the horrific assassination attempt on the life of President Donald Trump," Netanyahu said. "This wasn't just an attack on Donald Trump. This was an attack on a candidate for the presidency of the United States. This was an attack on America. It was an attack on democracy, it was an attack on all the democracies.

"On behalf of myself, my family, the Government and people of Israel we wish President Trump a speedy recovery, continued good health and continued strength."

Trump was treated for an injury to his upper right ear and has since returned to the campaign trail. The shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper. One audience member was killed and two others seriously injured in the attack.

Netanyahu, who is also facing ongoing criminal proceedings, forged a close relationship with Trump during the Republican leader's administration, in 2020 calling him the "best friend Israel has ever had in the White House." Under Trump, the U.S. broke with long-standing positions to adopt new pro-Israeli stances such as recognizing Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights and moving the U.S. embassy to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

Trump has since said that Hamas would not have conducted its massive attack on Israel in 2023 if he had been in office and argued during the June 28 presidential debate that Biden should let Israel "finish the job" in Gaza.

But Trump has also knocked Netanyahu's war effort, telling the Israel Hayom newspaper in March that "Israel made a very big mistake" in publishing images of bombs striking buildings and people in Gaza. He told TIME magazine the following month that Netanyahu "rightfully has been criticized" for not preventing the Hamas attack and recalled having a "bad experience" with the Israeli premier after claiming Netanyahu withdrew from the operation that killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force chief Major General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

Having survived the first assassination attempt of a leading U.S. presidential candidate since the 1972 shooting of Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, Trump has announced his intention to accept his party nomination at the Republican National Convention set to begin Monday in Milwaukee.

"In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win," Trump said in a statement published Sunday to social media platform Truth. "I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin."

Biden, who has previously called his rival a threat to democracy, called Trump on Saturday and issued a statement condemning of the attack. He further vowed to overcome the threats of political violence and deepening rifts in the U.S. during two sets of remarks delivered on Sunday afternoon and evening.

"There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can't allow this violence to be normalized," Biden said during his third-ever address from the Oval Office since winning the 2020 election, a contest marred by accusations of fraud by Trump and his supporters, some of whom violently stormed the Capitol Building in a bid to disrupt Biden's confirmation in January 2021.

Biden referenced the Capitol Building assault in his comments on Sunday and issued an appeal for nationwide calm.

"You know, the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated," Biden added. "It's time to cool it down. This places an added burden on all of us that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence."

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