Support For Hamas Declines After Gaza Takeover, Media Disgracefully Mum

The Associated Press published a report early Sunday concerning a new poll that found Hamas' popularity has declined since the terrorist group took over Gaza in June.

Yet, Google News and LexisNexis searches identified not one major American media outlet thought this revelation to be newsworthy.

Not one.

As reported by the AP at 10:16AM EST Sunday, and published by the International Herald Tribune (h/t Glenn Reynolds, emphasis added throughout):

The violent takeover of the Gaza Strip has cost the Islamic Hamas some support there and bolstered its rival, Fatah, according to a poll released Sunday.

[…]

The poll of Gaza residents shows a backlash. Hamas got only 23 percent support, down from 29 percent in the previous survey last month, while Fatah climbed from 31 percent to 43 percent.

The poll, the first major survey since the Hamas takeover, also showed that 66 percent of Hamas supporters said they would vote Fatah if it undertook reforms.

The poll, released by Near East Consulting, interviewed 450 residents of the Gaza Strip. It quoted a margin of error of 3.05 percentage points.

Make sense why a seemingly pro-Hamas media ignored this?

For those interested, the website of Near East Consulting, the group responsible for the poll, describes the organization:

Near East Consulting is composed of a team of researchers who are leaders in survey research and data analysis. Their experience covered a wide array of consultancies ranging from public opinion polling, media research, democracy and democratization, food security, health and education, women and children, socio-economic development, poverty and the labor market, peace and conflict resolution, arms control and disarmament, electoral processes, Palestinian refugees, demography, legal and judicial systems, impact of aid and assistance.

The team was involved in consultancies for various local and international bodies, including UNDP, WFP, UNRWA, UNICEF, ILO, the World Bank, WHO, OXFAM, Royal Institute for International Affairs, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, JMCC, Arab Thought Forum, Panorama, the Nablus Center, Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University.

With that in mind, the article continued:

Trust in the Gaza-based deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas stood at 37 percent, compared to 63 percent for Abbas. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad got higher trust marks than Haniyeh, 62-38 percent.

Captain Ed Morrissey wrote the following about this report:

Gazans have reacted to the pragmatic reality around them. Gaza's economy had tanked before the coup, thanks to their election of an unrepentant terrorist group to power. It has declined sharply from that point since the coup. While the Gazans see aid returning to the Hamas-less West Bank, the closing of commercial crossings at Karni and Rafah have cut deeply into their finances. The World Bank estimates that Gaza has lost $20.6 million in a single month due to the disappearance of Fatah security at Karni. Israel won't reopen Karni with masked Hamas gunmen staffing security positions on the other side.

The resulting price hikes and food shortages will only get worse as a result, and the only way to change that will be to get rid of Hamas. Egypt won't open Rafah to any great degree for the same security reasons as Israel. Gaza can't get shipments anywhere else; the Israel military controls Gaza's coastline.

As a result, Fatah has become much more popular in Gaza than ever before. They have almost double the support of Hamas, although interestingly one-third of Gazans support neither party. Mahmoud Abbas has an almost two-to-one advantage over former PM Ismail Haniyeh in voter trust, 63-37. Even more significantly, Sallam Fayed -- the new PM that Hamas declared illegitimate -- has a 62-38 advantage in trust among Gaza voters.

Clearly, the Hamas takeover of Gaza has been a huge failure. Yet, American media couldn’t care less.

How disgraceful.

*****Update: My good friend and fellow NBer Gary Hall has pointed out a possible faux pas by yours truly:

You noted today, "Clearly, the Hamas takeover of Gaza has been a huge failure. Yet, American media couldn't care less." I might disagree with you here, as I do indeed think that they care. They want Hamas to be successful, and I sense that this is a great disappointment to much of the MSM. What is really important to the MSM is that we don't find out.

Gary is quite correct. The media care immensely about Hamas' failures; they just choose not to report them.

Thanks for the input, Gary.