Hamas has reacted to Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. election, saying its relationship with the incoming administration will be determined by its position on the Palestinian people.
Trump has won several swing states and reclaimed the White House, in what has been dubbed the greatest political comeback in history, and multiple world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have congratulated the president-elect.
Hamas has issued a statement, laying out five points for Trump that include a demand to "end the blind bias toward the Zionist occupation."
"Our position on the new American administration depends on its positions and practical behavior toward our Palestinian people, their legitimate rights, and their just cause," the statement said, reported by independent Palestinian news agency SABQ24NEWS.
It also laid out its desire for an "independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." When Trump was president in 2018, he made the controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Hamas went on to say "all successive American administrations...have had negative positions on the Palestinian issue, and have always been the biggest supporter of the Zionist occupation in all fields and aspects."
"We demand an end to the blind bias toward the Zionist occupation, and serious and real work to stop the war of extermination and aggression against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Hamas said.
It also demanded an end to aggression in Lebanon and for America to "stop providing military support and political cover to the Zionist entity, and to recognize the legitimate rights of our people."
It added: "The American president-elect is required to listen to the voices that have been raised from American society itself for more than a year regarding the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, rejecting the occupation and genocide, and objecting to support and bias toward the Zionist entity."
Newsweek has contacted Trump's team via email for a response to this statement.
Throughout Trump's 2024 campaign, he insisted he would end multiple wars around the world, including in the Middle East.
On November 1, a few days before the election, Trump visited a Lebanese restaurant in Dearborn, in the swing state of Michigan, where he said: "You're going to have peace in the Middle East, but not with these clowns that you have running the U.S. right now."
Trump, who has called himself the "best friend Israel ever had," brokered the Abraham Accords, which facilitated diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab and Muslim countries, without Israel having to accept a future independent Palestinian state.
The president-elect has made some criticisms of Israel during his campaign, saying it is "losing the PR war" because of the pictures coming out of Gaza.
In April, during an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show, Trump said: "You've got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I'm not sure that I'm loving the way they're doing it, because you've got to have victory. You have to have a victory, and it's taking a long time."
On Wednesday, once Trump's victory was clear, Netanyahu wrote on X: "Dear Donald and Melania Trump, Congratulations on history's greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America. This is a huge victory! In true friendship, yours, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu."
Dear Donald and Melania Trump,
Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!
Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.
This is a huge victory!
In true friendship,… pic.twitter.com/B54NSo2BMA
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