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Sinwar Is Dead; So Why Aren’t Israelis Celebrating?
Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Yahya Sinwar, architect of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and known even to Palestinians as “the butcher of Khan Yunis,” was killed last week in Gaza by an IDF patrol. The details, as well as Sinwar’s horrific past, are widely known. But here are some insights that are less well known.
In 1989, Sinwar was sentenced to four life sentences in Israeli prison for orchestrating the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he considered to be “collaborators.” As part of a 2011 deal to recover Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza, Sinwar was released with about 1,000 other prisoners.
This confirmed for Hamas that hostage-taking (apparently) works. Along with Sinwar, many of those former prisoners played key roles in the October 7 massacre.
During his time in prison, Israeli doctors performed brain surgery to save Sinwar from cancer. The surgeon’s nephew, Tamir Adar, was among those murdered by Sinwar’s fanatics on October 7.
Israeli hospitals continue to treat Sinwar’s family, including his sister who gave birth last February in Israel’s Soroka Medical Center, even as Sinwar was fighting in Gaza and holding Israelis hostage.
The mood here in Israel is one of quiet satisfaction, relief, even a sense of justice. Israelis hope that Sinwar’s death leads to greater safety, and to the return of the 101 remaining hostages. Yet unlike America in the days following the 2011 assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Israelis are not celebrating. There are several reasons why, and each gives unique insight into the Israeli soul.
For one thing, Israelis feel that events never should have come to this point in the first place: we are slowly and painstakingly trying to rebuild the internal safety and regional deterrence that we never should have lost. Of course, we also remain painfully aware of the 101 hostages are still in Gaza, and nothing will feel quite like a victory until they are all home.
Israel’s northern residents have yet to return to their homes, and we are still fighting on seven different fronts, including in Gaza. Sinwar’s death is an important step, but for all that, only a step. This is far from over.
Yet there is another reason, deeper and more subtle, for Israel’s subdued reaction: in 14 years living in Israel, I’ve never seen Israelis celebrate the death of anyone — not Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh, or PLO chairman (and architect of the Second Intifada) Yasser Arafat.
Israelis recognize self-defense as a painful necessity, maybe even a source of quiet satisfaction for a difficult job well done, but not a source of joy. Israelis find joy in holidays, in our Independence Day, births, graduations, and weddings, but not in killing — even when it’s the right thing to do.
The world, in particular liberals of the world, can (and should) learn an important lesson from Israel: that one can stand fundamentally against war and killing, yet also accept its necessity when faced with threats to our lives, our safety and our most basic humanity. This apparent paradox, which is also a fundamental truth, lies at the core of the Israeli soul.
The United States expressed pride in Israel’s capabilities, even taking partial credit for them; for example, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “… to any terrorist who kills Americans … we will always bring you to justice.” Yet Harris glossed over the fact that Sinwar was killed in Rafah, an area of Gaza that Harris herself, along with the Biden administration, had furiously pressured Israel to not enter, including by withholding critical military resupply.
In contrast to global pride and awe over Israel’s effectiveness, in the days before Sinwar’s death, the White House issued (and publicly leaked) a letter threatening an arms embargo against Israel, the UK threatened to begin placing international sanctions on Israeli members of Knesset, and France cut off military sales.
There is both a superficial rationale for these actions as well as a deeper truth that points toward a global shift in the world order.
Superficially, these actions are about topics such as humanitarian aid in Gaza (notwithstanding that Hamas continues to steal much of it) and protecting UNRWA (the UN agency charged with aiding Palestinians that has been exposed as directly aiding Hamas, including militarily), and absurd claims that Israel is committing “genocide” (utterly unsupported by relevant numbers, data, and basic common sense).
Yet there is another possible reason for international pressure on Israel: though welcome, Israel’s victories are also humiliating.
France, for example, considers itself a kind of elder statesman to its former colony of Lebanon, yet proved impotent against Hezbollah’s (and by extension Iran’s) takeover of the entire country. Great Britain, former administer of the “British Mandate of Palestine,” has proved utterly without influence over Palestinian terror groups. And of course, the United States has found itself incapable of managing world events, bringing back American hostages from Gaza, protecting its own service people from Iranian attacks, protecting international shipping from Iran’s proxies, or even bringing justice to terrorists on America’s own “most wanted” lists.
Israel is accomplishing many of these tasks with astounding speed and alacrity including: dismantling terror groups, degrading Iranian influence, bringing America’s enemies to justice, and in many cases, doing so against direct international pressure. In short, Israel is exercising the very kind of independence and global influence that the world’s former colonial powers used to believe that they alone possessed.
The Middle East is on the verge of potentially becoming safer, more prosperous and more independent — and that is something that really is worth celebrating.
Daniel Pomerantz is the CEO of RealityCheck, an organization dedicated to deepening public conversation through robust research studies and public speaking.
The post Sinwar Is Dead; So Why Aren’t Israelis Celebrating? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump, Harris Tied 47%-47% in Final CNN Poll
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump points towards Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris, during a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, Sept. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris are tied at 47% each among likely voters, according to CNN’s last nationwide poll before the Nov. 5 election.
The poll, conducted by telephone Oct. 20-23 among 1,704 registered voters and released on Friday, had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points among likely voters and plus or minus 3.2 percentage points among the full sample of registered voters.
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2 Dead, Several Seriously Wounded After Hezbollah Rocket Hits Arab Israeli Town
The attack’s victims. Photo: i24 News
i24 News – Two Arab Israelis were killed by rocket shrapnel following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah on the Galilee town of Majd al-Krum.
The victims were named as Hassan Suad, 21, and Arjwan Manaa, 35.
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Israel and Hezbollah Trade Fire Across Lebanon Border, Blinken Calls for Urgent Resolution
A view shows damage at a site hit by an Israeli strike that killed a few journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media, Lebanon’s health ministry and local media reported, in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, October 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
An Israeli strike killed three journalists in southern Lebanon on Friday, Lebanese officials said, while Israel said Hezbollah killed two people in a strike in its north as Washington pressed for a ceasefire.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was an urgent need to get a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, a day after he said Washington did not want to see a protracted campaign in Lebanon by its ally Israel.
Israel launched its major offensive in Lebanon a month ago, saying it was targeting the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the north due to cross-border rocket attacks.
Beirut authorities say Israel’s Lebanon offensive has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1.2 million, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
Friday’s strike killed two people in Majd al-Krum in northern Israel, according to Israeli media, and followed a statement from Hezbollah saying that it targeted the northern Israeli town of Karmiel with a large missile salvo.
“The world must stop Iran now – before it’s too late,” Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on X.
The conflict was sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian officials said Israeli strikes had killed at least 72 people since Thursday night.
The journalists killed in south Lebanon were Ghassan Najjar and Mohamed Reda of the pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen and Wissam Qassem, who worked for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar, the outlets said in separate statements. Several others were wounded.
They had been staying at guesthouses in Hasbaya, a town not previously targeted, when it was hit around 3 a.m. (midnight GMT).
Five journalists have been killed in previous Israeli strikes while reporting on the conflict, including Reuters visual journalist Issam Abdallah on Oct. 13, 2023.
“This is a war crime,” Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said. At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News and Al-Jazeera were using the guesthouses.
“We heard the airplane flying very low – that’s what woke us up – and then we heard the two missiles,” Muhammad Farhat, a reporter with Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, said.
His footage showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked “Press.” There was no immediate comment from Israel, which in general denies deliberately attacking journalists.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said Israeli forces had fired at their troops in an observation post in southern Dhayra on Tuesday, leading them to leave the post though they remained at the base.
Israel has denied deliberately targeting the force but says Hezbollah has built strongholds in close proximity to UNIFIL sites. Its previous strikes on UNIFIL posts have drawn international condemnation.
BORDER CROSSING STRUCK
Israel has used airstrikes to pound southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and has also sent ground forces into southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
The military said it struck weapon production sites and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut as well as Hezbollah targets around the Jousieh border crossing in the northern Bekaa Valley.
It said Hezbollah used the crossing, controlled by the Syrian military, to transfer weapons into Lebanon.
Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh said the Israeli strike had knocked the Jousieh crossing out of service, leaving the northern route as the only way to Syria.
The UN refugee agency said the strikes were hindering refugees’ attempts to flee. UNHCR spokesperson Rula Amin said some 430,000 people have crossed to Syria since Israel’s campaign started. Lebanon has previously been a major destination for refugees from the Syrian civil war.
“The attacks on the border crossings are a major concern,” Amin said. “They are blocking the path to safety for people fleeing conflict.”
‘REAL URGENCY’
The Israeli campaign spiraled out of a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah, which opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas, a day after it launched the Oct. 7 attack.
“We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along border between Israel and Lebanon,” Blinken said in London.
He said it was important so “people at both sides of the border can have the confidence to… return to their homes”.
Hezbollah has kept fighting despite heavy blows, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israel said five of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, after announcing on Thursday the deaths of five others.
The Israeli military said it had uncovered an underground command center in a village close to the border with Israel and a site concealed in wooded terrain where Kornet anti-tank missiles, launchers, hand grenades and rifles were stored.
Washington has expressed hope that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, could provide an impetus for an end to fighting.
Officials said on Thursday that US and Israeli negotiators will gather in Doha in the coming days to try and restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who met Blinken in London, said “ethnic cleansing” was taking place in northern Gaza. Israel denies such accusations, saying it is separating civilians from Hamas terrorists and moving them to safer areas.
Safadi said: “We are at the moment now where nothing justifies the continuation of the wars. Guns have to go silent.”
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