Now that Israel has demonstrated once again that none of its enemies will escape retribution by eliminating the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza on Wednesday, efforts to dilute that message are also being stepped up. Astonishingly, minutes after confirmation of his death, Sinwar was being portrayed by media—including so-called impartial western news networks—as the person who would have affected the release of those held hostage since October 7, 2023.
The narrative includes the assertion that his brother Mohammed, who will probably succeed him as Hamas leader, is even more hardline. The anxiety of the families of the hostages is understandable, but nothing in the actions of Hamas or Sinwar have indicated they were in a mood to release hostages any time soon. So, should Israel have stopped going after the mastermind of the massacre of 1,200 people on the presumption that his alternative could be even worse?
Who could be worse than the man who cold-bloodedly planned the murder, rape, torture and kidnapping of hundreds of Jewish civilians anyway? All those who interacted with Sinwar during his 22-year stint in Israeli jails confirmed that he remained resolute throughout about destroying Israel and killing all Jews. His extreme hatred led to him even identifying and eliminating fellow Palestinians who were suspected of being sympathetic to or collaborating with Israel.
It is also being said that Sinwar’s death will only make Hamas more vengeful and unwilling to concede anything to Israel. The discovery of Sinwar’s DNA near where the bodies of 6 Israeli hostages were found in a tunnel gives rise to suspicions that he was using them as shields against attacks and that he has no compunction about getting rid of them when the going gets tough. So it is not as if the hostages had better chances of staying alive with him in charge.
Others have been saying the chances of ceasefire and hostage release have increased now that Sinwar is out of way as he had been impeding progress towards that goal. They add that his demise could also make Israel more willing to consider a cessation of hostilities as a major component of its agenda was seemingly complete. This could have more than just a kernel of truth as Sinwar planning the October 7 massacre was born out of his own experience.
He was one of 1,027 Palestinians released in 2011 by Israel in exchange for just one soldier held hostage in Gaza for 6 years. He may have decided 250 hostage would bring Israel to its knees. Eventually. His jail years would have made him realise Israel would not surrender right away and would retaliate first. Whether Sinwar realised the retaliation toll would exceed 42,000 may never be known but it is highly likely that he was unrepentant about that gruesome statistic.
The fact that he was willing to take the risk of hellfire and damnation from Israel shows the depth of his loathing. He wanted to hurt Israel grievously. This also means his participation in the Qatar-brokered ceasefire and hostage release negotiations could hardly have eased the way to a viable and enduring solution. The last thing he would have wanted was a cessation of hostilities with Israel, because that is precisely what had motivated him throughout his life.
Conversely, not going after him would have been construed by Palestinians as evidence of not only Sinwar’s invincibility but admission of Israel’s helplessness or even fear. No sovereign state would countenance the spread of such an impression about any terrorist leader. It would be like India suddenly saying it has no issue with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s hate-filled speeches, terror agenda and relentless separatist activities in Punjab from the safe haven of US.
A parallel narrative being put out is that Sinwar was not hiding from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in tunnels but boldly moving about above ground in Rafah, fighting the good fight. But Sinwar’s presence in a non-military building only reinforces the Israeli contention that the general population of Gaza is complicit in Hamas’ actions, which was bolstered by the videos of their ecstatic reaction to the hostages being paraded by gloating Hamas kidnappers a year ago.
Many people do not know—and others prefer not to recall—that Hamas is not an extra-political Islamist force. Though it is deemed a terrorist organisation, it came to power in Gaza through elections: the “civilian” Palestinians living there voted for Hamas, allowed its operatives to live amongst them and helped them dig and equip a vast warren of secret tunnels underneath residential areas. So Israel has had absolutely no compunction in reducing most of Gaza to rubble.
Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas into this war, not Israel. They planned the murders and took hostages knowing Israel would retaliate, causing many civilian Palestinian casualties. Hamas operatives are drawn from the population of Gaza and must have known the probable repercussions. There has been no evident dissent or remorse among them about the slaughter of innocent Jews, echoing Israel’s lack of sympathy for Palestinian civilians killed in crossfire.
The killing of Sinwar was a fluke by Israel’s own admission as the IDF contingent that blasted a building in Rafah had no idea that the terrorists they were chasing included the Hamas supremo. Lucky strike or not, it reinforces the old truism that Israel eliminates anyone who attacks it. And the sheer number of senior Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian leaders that Israel has killed so far is bound to have a psychological impact on their successors besides their rank and file.
Unfortunately, what was once a localised discord over a historical compromise effected by highhanded colonial powers that failed to consider regional sentiments, has now become a pan-Islamic article of faith. And deep-set communal hatred is a difficult hurdle to overcome with “negotiations”. Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed the assault on Gaza will continue “till the end” and Hamas has also said it will not release hostages till Israel retreats.
Maximalist posturing notwithstanding, most Indians would understand that even the total destruction of Hamas will only buy Israel a few decades of time. That means Israel has to carry through its Hamas Hatao campaign to the bitter end, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. Otherwise, those few prospective decades of calm could shrink to only a few years and that intrinsic hatred will surface again. Unless a real miracle happens in Abraham’s land, that is.
The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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