It has become an Israeli mantra throughout the latest war in Gaza: Hamas is ISIS. Since the bloody Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the war, Israeli leaders and commanders have likened the Palestinian militant group to the Islamic State group. They point to Hamas’ brutal slaughter of hundreds of civilians and compare their Gaza war to the U.S.-led campaign to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria. But in many ways, these comparisons miss the mark by ignoring the home-grown origins and base of support for Hamas in Palestinian society. These miscalculations may already have led to unrealistic expectations for victory. They also complicate the fledgling U.S. efforts to halt the fighting.
