THE CLIP
But Hasan said Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel.
This is a genuine quote. The context is the harm-reduction comparison behind it.
“Hasan said Hamas is better than Israel, so he endorses every Hamas action.”
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
The quote is real and Hasan reaffirmed it. He was making a forced-choice political comparison between Hamas and Israel. The phrase “a thousand times” is rhetoric, not a measurable casualty ratio.
The casualty record explains the political context Hasan is invoking: the scale of Israeli military violence and Palestinian death is radically larger.
THE SURROUNDING RECORD
On Pod Save America, Jon Favreau put the strongest version of the objection to Hasan: Hamas's October 7 attack included the killing, rape, and kidnapping of civilians and was catastrophic for Palestinians. Hasan answered, “it's all of the above. I do mean it,” then described himself as a harm-reduction and lesser-evil voter and said he would vote for Hamas over Israel in a forced choice. He meant the comparison.
The comparison is about systems and scale. Hasan treats Israel as a state and military system responsible for occupation, blockade, and a campaign that the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded constituted genocide. He treats Hamas as one armed and political component of Palestinian resistance. In the same conversation he says targeting civilians is wrong and describes Hamas's October 7 attack as catastrophic.
The casualty record explains why he makes the comparison. OCHA reported 73,407 Palestinian fatalities in Gaza by 19 August 2026, compared with more than 1,200 reported Israeli fatalities. The scale of Israeli military violence and Palestinian death is radically larger.
The harm to children did not begin on October 7. Defence for Children International–Palestine maintains a documented fatality table covering Palestinian children killed in the context of Israeli military and settler presence since 2000. OCHA recorded 40 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during the first nine months of 2023, before October 7. UNICEF later reported at least 21,700 Palestinian children killed in Gaza by 30 June 2026. OCHA and UNICEF also continue to report child deaths and serious harm in the West Bank and Gaza after October 7.
The Israeli state has killed far more Palestinians, and Hamas's attacks on civilians remain crimes that Hasan says he opposes.
THE QUOTED LINE
“It's all of the above. I do mean it… therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”
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WATCH THE SOURCE
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