Hamas and the Brotherhood: Weaponizing Ethnic Cleansing Narratives Post-Trump
By: Suha Hassen
Suha Hassen is a PhD candidate at George Mason University and a USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Institute of Peace or the Minerva Research Institute.
Following Donald Trump’s November 2024 election victory, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood made a notable shift in their narrative strategies. They transitioned from themes of victimization and grievance to emphasizing ethnic cleansing and displacement as tools of intimidation against the U.S. and Israel across the Middle East. Repeatedly invoking the concept of ethnic cleansing, they linked it to Trump’s rise, portraying U.S. support for Israel as enabling the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as populations in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Although the term “ethnic cleansing” is not linguistically familiar in Arabic and remains relatively unknown among regular Arabic speakers, Hamas and the Brotherhood aim to introduce it into the narrative and collective memory as a weapon of war and a tool of intimidation. This shift accuses the United States and Israel of committing genocide, exacerbating anti-American sentiment, and fostering distrust and hostility, particularly among individuals vulnerable to extremist ideologies.
The broader shift to ethnic cleansing narratives provides a framework for understanding the strategies and goals of Hamas and the Brotherhood in the aftermath of Trump’s election. This significant transformation sets the stage for exploring how these narratives are operationalized, particularly on Arabic social media platforms. Post-October 7th developments serve as a critical example, illustrating how these narratives have been used to foster collective grievance and escalate hostility toward the U.S. and Israel.
Notably, following October 7th, Arabic social media channels influenced by both Hamas and the Brotherhood amplified depictions of children and women in Gaza as symbols of lost Arab identity and honor, emphasizing their resemblance to every individual Arab Muslim. Messages such as “It is your child, the same hair, the name, the eye; it is our wife, sister, daughter” evoked a sense of immediacy and moral urgency. These emotionally charged narratives, conveyed through religious preaching, nashids, and sermons targeting mothers, youth, and others, sought to emotionally engage and radicalize Middle Eastern audiences by instilling a sense of collective identity and shared grievance.
This dual strategy—shifting broad narratives to focus on ethnic cleansing while leveraging social media to evoke emotional and collective responses—has escalated hatred toward the United States and Jewish communities. Through these efforts, Hamas and the Brotherhood have weaponized victimization, antagonism, and identity politics to advance their strategic goals.
Their long-term strategies rely on three key elements:
- Creating a collective memory of fear of displacement by Israel and the U.S., emphasizing the threat of being forced from their homes and lands.
- Emotional engagement through the narrative of being the next target, instilling fear and urgency among their audience by framing them as potential victims of an impending genocide.
- Fostering hostility toward perceived Jewish and Christian communities, portraying these groups as part of a broader conspiracy that threatens Muslim identity and survival.
To achieve this, Hamas and the Brotherhood unfold their narrative in a series of stages:
Stage One: Condensation of Blood
The condensation of blood in the radicalization process amplifies emotional connections. By portraying violence not just as an attack on an individual but as a collective assault on the community, it creates a unifying sense of urgency. This strategy taps into deep emotions such as anger, vengeance, and grief, fostering a sense of shared suffering. For example, images of women and children as victims in Gaza or other parts of the Middle East are framed as attacks on the Arab or Muslim family as a whole. This collective representation of pain not only leads to calls for unity and self-preservation but also underpins the strategic objectives of Islamist networks, reinforcing the accusation of “collective punishment.” This accusation has formed the basis of soft-power assaults on Israel and its Western allies in international forums, where these networks seek to delegitimize their adversaries by portraying them as perpetrators of mass injustice. This broader political context amplifies the emotional power of the victimhood narrative, making it both a tool for internal mobilization and a weapon for external diplomatic warfare.
Moreover, the use of fear, particularly regarding Jews and Christians, taps into historical narratives of conflict, such as the wars of Prophet Muhammad and the Crusades. These historical references serve as a radicalization tool, amplifying the perception of an ongoing, existential threat to Islam and Arab identity. By presenting violence not only as a present reality but as part of a continuous and looming danger, Hamas and the Brotherhood seek to provoke fear among their audiences. The idea of collective destruction—propagated through imagery, rhetoric, and religious symbolism—convinces individuals that they are at imminent risk of being wiped out or displaced. Fear, in this context, transcends mere emotion. It serves as a call to action, creating a sense of urgency and self-preservation that pushes individuals to engage in radicalized behavior, not out of personal vendetta, but to protect their very existence and way of life.
Stage Two: Abstraction (Cognitive Abstraction)
Once the emotional reaction from the condensation of blood is triggered, abstraction becomes the cognitive mechanism that deepens the victimhood narrative and solidifies a sense of collective grievance. This technique utilizes deep linguistic structures and religious symbolism to connect individual suffering to a broader historical and cultural context. Jihadist groups, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, have long relied on the abstraction of key terms for manipulation and identity transformation, constructing their own interpretations and explanations, and framing conflicts as part of a broader existential struggle for the Muslim ummah.
Abstraction doesn’t merely ask individuals to identify with present-day suffering; it embeds these experiences within a larger, spiritual, and historical struggle. It links current grievances—particularly those framed as “unjust” or “genocidal”—with collective memories of past conflicts, such as jihadist victories. Through abstract messaging, suffering is contextualized as part of a higher moral, spiritual, and political battle, where violence is presented as a legitimate response to perceived injustice, further propelling individuals toward radicalization. This message, while cloaked in a justified spiritual struggle, also pits violence targeting the entire community against the need for spiritual resistance, directly leading to the call for violent jihad.
Individuals are encouraged to view themselves not as detached victims but as participants in an ongoing, righteous battle—a struggle that is timeless and intrinsically tied to their faith. This reframing of identity propels individuals further down the pathway to radicalization, transforming personal grief into a call to action rooted in a divine mission.
By invoking the “genocide” narrative, this abstraction not only seeks to rationalize violent actions, such as militant resistance or jihad, but also challenges the historical recognition of the Jewish community’s suffering during the Holocaust. The strategic use of the term “genocide” by anti-Israel factions—particularly in influential forums like the 2009 Durban Conference—aims to delegitimize Israel and rally global opposition. Furthermore, these narratives strategically connect the concept of “injustice” with the weight of “historical wrongs,” leveraging soft power to foster radicalization within the Muslim community and position them in opposition to perceived external adversaries.
Stage Three: Religious Narratives
Religious narratives provide the ideological framework that justifies the transformation toward radicalization. A key component of these narratives is the use of religious texts, such as the Hadith, often cited to justify violence against Jews. One such Hadith, narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, states:
“The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims will kill them until the Jew hides behind the stones or the trees, and the stone or tree will say, ‘O Muslim! O servant of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, so come and kill him,’ except for the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews.”
This Hadith serves as a foundational religious text, framing violence against Jews as part of a divinely mandated, predestined battle. The narrative positions this violence not as an act of vengeance, but as fulfilling a divine order.
Why Does This Happen?
The strategies of condensation of blood, abstraction, and religious narratives work together to shift identity from one of individual detachment to a collective sense of duty grounded in religious conviction. At the personal level, these narratives exploit deep religious beliefs and personal suffering, pulling individuals into a moral and spiritual framework that transforms their pain into a shared call to action.
At the communal level, these narratives foster radicalization within communities by emphasizing the shared experience of being targeted by Israel and the U.S. They reinforce a sense of collective identity among oppressed Muslims, which is crucial for mobilizing collective action and sustaining institutionalized militancy. The portrayal of women and children as casualties of the conflict deepens the sense of fear and urgency, resonating deeply within the broader Arab and Muslim communities. These religious teachings heighten this fear, framing future confrontations not only as inevitable but as divinely ordained.
As fear deepens, abstraction broadens the context, placing individual experiences within a larger spiritual and cultural narrative. These narratives serve to strengthen solidarity within the group, fostering a collective identity that is crucial for mobilizing the community. This sense of unity underpins support for militant actions and institutionalized violence.
At the global level, these narratives expand into political and ideological campaigns, targeting Israel and its allies, particularly the U.S. and NATO. These international powers are depicted as complicit in historical injustices, particularly through their alliance with Israel. The aim is to erode the moral legitimacy and diplomatic credibility of these actors in the Middle East, further strengthening the narrative of victimhood and resistance.
Together, these strategies create a powerful framework that transitions individuals from victimhood to active participation in radicalized behavior. This dynamic not only sustains radicalization but perpetuates cycles of violence across the region. The strategic manipulation of religious narratives, abstraction of grievances, and emotional investment in collective victimhood make it clear why these groups employ these narratives—ultimately, to provoke action in response to real or perceived existential threats.
Below, the diagram visually represents the progression and interaction of the key elements outlined in this article, illustrating how condensation of blood, abstraction, and religious narratives work together to sustain radicalization and drive ongoing cycles of violence.
Diagram Showing the Strategy Shift: Ethnic Cleansing Narratives
This article was supported by a U.S. Institute of Peace-Minerva Peace & Security Scholar Award. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Institute of Peace or the Minerva Research Institute
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