Key Takeaways:
- Briahna Joy Gray claimed on X that Hamas is “better than the IDF,” ignoring the years of brutality that Gazan civilians have faced under Hamas leadership.
- Hamas has exploited women and children, stolen and withheld aid, and created narratives that framed the terrorist organization as the victim. Still, the media has frequently overlooked these stories, instead choosing to focus on Israel’s actions.
- Hamas is a terrorist organization seeking to destroy Israel, whereas the IDF acts with clear guidelines. Inverting the two distorts the reality of the terrorism that has wreaked havoc in Israel and in Gaza.
If October 7, 2023, exposed Hamas’ brutality to the world, one might expect the group to be widely recognized for what it is. Instead, its crimes are increasingly distorted and, in some cases, openly excused.
Whitewashing Hamas has become disturbingly common. Activists and commentators who praise the group’s supposed “strength” in the name of defending Palestinians obscure a far uglier reality: that this “strength” is rooted in violence inflicted on the very people it claims to protect.
Podcast host and journalist Briahna Joy Gray illustrated this trend when she endorsed Hasan Piker’s claim that Hamas is “better than the IDF,” a statement that dismisses both Israeli and Palestinian victims of Hamas’ violence.
Hamas *is* a thousand times better than the IDF.
It’s not even close. https://t.co/XJgFHvOLTs
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) April 29, 2026
This is the same commentator who rolled her eyes when the sister of an Israeli hostage described the abuse hostages endured in captivity.
Related Reading: Sexual Abuse on October 7: The Campaign to Deny Atrocities & Defend Hamas
But acknowledging Hamas’ abuse of Israeli hostages would also require confronting its abuse of Palestinians — a reality much of the international media has been reluctant to address.
When Gazan women recently spoke out about abuse at Hamas’ hands, the response was largely silence. Children, including boys as young as nine or ten, have also come forward with rape allegations.
Had Israel been accused of similar crimes, the coverage would have been relentless. But Hamas’ abuse of its own population does not fit the prevailing narrative, and so it is downplayed or ignored.
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There is no moral equivalence between a terrorist organization, whose raison d’être is Israel’s destruction, and a military operating under a stated ethical code to defend its citizens.
Hamas’ exploitation of Palestinians is systematic.
Even before October 7, children in Gaza were recruited through summer camps and indoctrinated into violence. Thousands of minors, some as young as 12, have reportedly served as fighters, including during the October 7 attacks.
The group has also weaponized humanitarian suffering. Hamas operatives have stolen aid, launched attacks from aid warehouses, and destroyed critical supplies, all while the dominant media narrative focused overwhelmingly on Israel.
Further revelations exposed Hamas withholding baby formula and hoarding food in the tunnels, even as it promoted claims of widespread famine.
For many outlets, blaming Israel proved easier than confronting Hamas’ deliberate exploitation of Gaza’s civilians.
Related Reading: Hungry for Truth: Media, Propaganda, and the Misguided Starvation in Gaza
Hamas’ violence is not limited to Israel. It is also directed inward.
Following the October 2025 ceasefire, reports of Hamas’ brutality against Palestinians intensified. Those accused of dissent or collaboration have faced kidnapping, torture, and execution as the group enforces control with an iron fist.
Hamas is only “better than the IDF” if one considers a complete disregard for international law — abusing civilians, exploiting children, and diverting aid without consequence — to be a virtue. It isn’t.
By elevating Hamas as a supposed defender of Palestinian rights, Gray and others erase the very people who suffer under its rule.
Hamas’ modus operandi is clear: pursue Israel’s destruction at any cost. The IDF, operating under defined ethical guidelines, exists to prevent that outcome and to protect its citizens from precisely the kind of violence Hamas embodies.
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