REPRESENTATION OF THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT (2023) IN OFFICIAL STATEMENTS OF HAMAS AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Aim. To identify how the reflection of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is represented in 2023–2024 in the official discourses of the Islamic movement Hamas and the leadership of the Russian Federation; to assess the degree of convergence or divergence of their positions in the context of international perception and political rhetoric.

Methodology. The main method used in the work is critical discourse analysis (CDA). CDA allows not only to deconstruct the official positions of Hamas and Russia, but also to reveal how language serves as an instrument of political strategy – it shapes public opinion, legitimizes actions, reproduces hierarchies of power and ideological contradictions. By analyzing the rhetoric and structure of official statements, it is possible to identify the strategies used to convince the audience and legitimize the actions of the parties in the context of intra-conflict dynamics.

Results. The revealed similarities and differences in the discourse of the non-state Islamist movement Hamas and the Russian Federation reflect the specifics of their positions in the system of international relations and the conditioning of foreign policy strategies by different levels of responsibility and acceptable rhetorical space. As a subject of international politics, possessing sovereignty and striving to ensure a stable international image, the Russian Federation is forced to adhere to the framework of diplomatic communication, while Hamas, operating outside the traditional norms of state practice, can use more radicalized and emotionally charged rhetoric. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues to be a field of geopolitical confrontation between both regional and global actors who use the Palestinian issue to advance their own interests.

Research implications. The article deepens the understanding of the interaction of state and non-state actors in the context of international conflicts, revealing the mechanisms of formation of their discourse through the prism of geopolitical interests and ideological differences. The analysis of official statements by Hamas and by the Russian Federation demonstrates how heterogeneous actors (a non-state radical organization and a sovereign state) can converge in criticizing the foreign policy of third countries (for example, the United States and Israel) while maintaining fundamental differences in rhetoric and strategies. This allows us to expand the existing theoretical framework by combining approaches to the study of political discourse, geopolitics and ideology, and contributes to the methodology of comparative discourse analysis.

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