This study aimed to determine how the Hamas movement represented the “other” in its media discourse during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. To achieve this goal, the study relied on the qualitative analytical approach, specifically rhetorical discourse analysis. The study sample included all Hamas’s media spokesman speeches, between October 7, 2023, and January 1, 2024, numbering 11 speeches.

The study results showed that Hamas’s media discourse focused on portraying two main groups: “us” and “them.” The “us” group included the Palestinian people in all their spectra. They were referred to using terms with positive connotations such as: “the steadfast,” “the one holding onto embers,” “the steadfast,” “those confronting the arrogance of the entity,” “those entrenched in their land,” “the resistant,” “the revolutionaries,” and “the people in the West Bank.” This group also included the Arab and Islamic nations, and they were referred to with phrases such as: “all the Arab and Islamic countries,” “the masses of our nation,” “members of the resistance movements in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon,” and “the Mujahedeen.” The group extended to include “the free people of the world,” about all those rejecting the aggression against Gaza, regardless of their religious or ideological affiliations.

In contrast, the “them” group included the “Zionists”, and they were referred to using terms with negative connotations such as: “tyrants,” “the enemy,” “herds,” “settlers,” “criminals,” “extremist religious groups,” “the riffraff coming from Eastern and Western Europe and from all parts of the world.” The group also included “America” and “all countries supporting the occupation.”

The results indicated that Hamas’s discourse relied on multiple rhetorical strategies, such as the use of loaded terms, citing Quranic verses and Prophetic Hadiths, and presenting statistical evidence.

The analysis revealed that Hamas’s discourse is not characterized by extremism in its definition of the “they” group, but rather is based on the right to resist occupation and self-defense, by international legitimacy and human rights.

The study recommends using the qualitative analytical approach to uncover the goals of various movements and organizations and their relationship to current events in the Arab region.