Tag Archives: Yahya Sinwar

The Thinking Behind October 7th

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On May 18th, Zero Hedge posted an article about what is considered the reason behind the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2024. I suspect there are many in Hamas who currently wish they could rethink that attack.

According to the article:

Newly uncovered internal Hamas documents confirm a longtime theory explaining the motives behind the Oct.7, 2023 terror attack which kicked off the bloody and grinding Gaza war, which still shows no signs of abating and has resulted in unprecedented death and destruction in the Gaza Strip.

The documents, published by The Wall Street Journal, demonstrate that Hamas leaders had a specific aim of preventing a potential peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia based on the US-backed Abraham Accords. This was speculated about soon after the horrific attacks that also kicked off the hostage crisis.

This is according to minutes from a high-level meeting which cite now slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and which were reportedly discovered by Israeli forces in Gaza tunnels. Sinwar was quoted in the internal papers, which are dated Oct. 2, 2023 – as saying, “There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly.”

The article concludes:

And the prospect of Palestinian statehood resulting from some kind of Israel-Saudi normalization agreement based on Trump’s Abraham Accords (conceived during his first administration) – which US media reports previously hailed as ‘deal of the century’ – also clearly seems a pipe dream at this point.

In this regard at least, Sinyar’s ‘extraordinary act’ served its purpose, but the bloody aftermath is thousands of Israelis killed, many tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and wounded, and a region on fire.

So what would Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords mean and why is it important? The two negative players in the Middle East right now are Iran and Turkey. Turkey, unfortunately is a member of NATO, which complicates things. A majority of the Middle Eastern countries do not want Iran to get a nuclear bomb. They understand that even if the bomb is only used on Israel it will negatively impact them–radiation, infrastructure damage, etc. Iran is funding Hamas. If Iran is isolated, it may lose the ability to fund Hamas. Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords might be the domino that falls and paves the way for other countries to join. Iran would be isolated, and the money to Hamas would probably dry up. October 7th was an act of desperation. I don’t think Hamas got the results they wanted–Israel is not going to stop fighting this time.

The Only Path To Peace In The Middle East

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While the Biden administration and the political left are pushing for a two-state solution to end the war in the Middle East, people who actually understand the situation understand that this is not realistic. The status quo before October 7, 2023, was essentially a two-state solution–Gaza was not controlled by Israel–Jews were not allowed in Gaza. Many of the residents of Gaza worked in Israel because of the poor economic situation in Gaza (caused by using the relief money for weapons and tunnels). Sadly, many of the murderers on October 7th brutally attacked the people who provided them with work and income. The two-state solution is not acceptable as a permanent solution for the residents of Gaza and the West Bank–they want a one-state solution with Israel driven into the sea and all of the Jews killed. That was evident on October 7th.

On Monday, Breitbart reported the following:

Israel reiterated a new offer Monday made last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week: Hamas terrorists who release their Israeli hostages will be allowed to live; those who do not will be hunted down and killed.

There are 101 remaining Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, about a third of whom are presumed dead.

However, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops last Wednesday has renewed hope for a hostage deal — even if it is not clear with whom Israel would be negotiating. In the vacuum, private actors have begun to step forward: Daniel Birnbaum, has made a public offer to pay $100,000 per living Israeli hostage freed by October 23.

…As Breitbart News reported last Thursday, Netanyahu gave an address in Hebrew in which he said: “I am calling on everyone who is holding our hostages: whoever lays down his arms and returns our hostages, we will allow him to escape and to live. And by the same measure, I say: whoever harms our hostages, his blood will be on his own head.

It is long past time for Hamas to release the hostages. It is also long past time for the American government to put pressure on Iran to have the hostages released. The real solution to peace in the Middle East is regime change in Iran.

Maybe Yahya Sinwar Was Not The Entire Problem

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On Friday, Ed Morrissey posted an article at Hot Air about some of the statements made after the killing of Yahya Sinwar. Those who fail to learn the lessons of history tend to repeat the mistakes.

The article reports:

So much for all of the fatuous demands from the Biden foreign-policy team for Israel to declare an end to the war. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris made remarks yesterday cheering the death of Yahya Sinwar in Rafah, a city that both had warned Israel not to enter at all for most of the winter and spring. Both proclaimed this a great time to declare the conflict over, as did the State Department — and all aimed at getting Benjamin Netanyahu to stand down:

As both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated Sinwar’s death, they also expressed hope that the moment would enable Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare victory in Gaza and bring Israeli operations there to a close, finally clearing the way to a hostage deal and easing the daily drumbeat of grim headlines: civilian casualties in Gaza, ongoing Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a looming Israeli strike against Iran.

Biden’s statement made even less sense than Harris’, which at least sounded coherent. I clipped this strange remark from Biden in the Final Word post last night, but it’s worth considering here as well:

“This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world,” Biden said in a statement.

“To my Israeli friends, this is no doubt a day of relief and reminiscence, similar to the scenes witnessed throughout the United States after President Obama ordered the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011.”

The killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011 really had little impact on anything except to bring some closure to the families of 9/11 victims. It really had very little impact on the war on terror–it was doubtful how much Bin Laden was controlling at that point.

The article notes:

Netanyahu isn’t the problem; Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are the belligerents that started this war. And all three have declared that they intend to keep fighting it even after the deaths of the leadership in both Iranian proxies. Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death and reiterated his position that they would not negotiate on hostages until Israel withdraws from Gaza and pledges not to return:

Israeli hostages in Gaza will not return until “the aggression” on the besieged Palestinian enclave stops and Israeli forces withdraw, Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy Gaza Hamas chief and the group’s chief negotiator, said on Friday.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by the IDF, Hamas official Basem Naim confirmed on Friday, Israeli media reported. …

“Israel seems to believe that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people. They can believe what they want, and this is not the first time they have said that,” he added.

Israel did not start this war. I hope Israel continues it until all of Hamas is wiped out. Until that happens, there will not be peace. Israel is not the problem–nor is Prime Minister Netanyahu.

An Interesting Aspect Of The Death Of Yahya Sinwar

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On Thursday, Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces. There are some interesting aspects of his death.

On Thursday, Red State posted some interesting details:

On Thursday, October 17th, Yahya Sinwar finally met his deserved end. The mastermind behind the October 7th attacks in Israel, which killed over 1200 people, ate a tank shell after he and two of his bodyguards were located inside the upper floor of a building.

…It’s an incredible scene. A man who committed such evil acts was left sitting in a destroyed room full of debris and tossing a stick while resigning himself to what was coming. He knew he was done for. There was no further attempt to escape, if he was even physically capable of moving, and moments later, another tank shell would finish the job. That’s how the story of Hamas’ leader ended. Not in a grand battle, but cowering in a chair like the rat he was.

It’ll be interesting to find out why Sinwar was above ground at this point. With only two bodyguards around him, one being a UNRWA teacher, there didn’t appear to be much left of Hamas as an operation. It had been reported numerous times over the last year that Sinwar liked to surround himself with hostages. None were found in this location, though, which could indicate he was trying to lower his profile and draw less attention.

Not being underground could also be a result of the IDF’s relentless clearing of Hamas’ tunnel complexes. There may have been nowhere else for Sinwar to go at this late stage. Certainly, his death and the circumstances speak to Israel’s success in destroying Hamas. Whatever mumblings have come from politicians about the terrorist government’s demise being impossible, the IDF sure has made it possible, and in the current technological age, we are seeing it play out like never before.

Again, one of his bodyguards was an UNRWA teacher. It really is time for the United Nations to go away. Instead of seeking the peace they were supposedly created to establish, they are siding with terrorists.

The Death Of Another Terrorist

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On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a strike in southern Gaza. He has been described as the man behind the October 7th attacks on Israel.

The article reports:

Although Israelis and Palestinians have both suffered from Sinwar’s war, the terrorist himself directly profited from the conflict. Sinwar had been Hamas’s commander in the Gaza Strip but was promoted to lead the group after Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh in a daring strike in Iran in July 2024. Sinwar rose in prominence within Hamas after he plotted the abduction and murder of Israeli soldiers in the late 1980s. He was particularly infamous for his role in killing Palestinian “collaborators” — that is, those Palestinians who objected to Hamas’s brutal, authoritarian rule. Sinwar was later caught and jailed in an Israeli prison for his crimes. He even received life-saving treatment for brain cancer while he was incarcerated. Tragically, the nephew of Yuval Bitton, the Israeli doctor who saved Sinwar, would be among those murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7.

…Sinwar’s death is significant, both symbolically and otherwise. Israel has killed the “architect” of the worst slaughter of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. His demise is also the tip of the iceberg. In a span of months, Israel has eliminated the head of Hamas, Haniyeh, as well as top Hezbollah operatives, including the longtime leader of that Lebanese-based group, Hassan Nasrallah. And now Haniyeh’s successor is dead, too. Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s two most formidable proxies, are severely degraded. The overwhelming majority of Hamas’s “battalions” have been destroyed — and many of them, it must be noted, in Rafah, where Sinwar was killed and where the Biden administration attempted to pressure Israel not to launch operations.

Thank God for the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in continuing to fight terrorism despite the Biden administration’s trying to hinder his efforts.

Confirming What We Already Knew

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On Saturday, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article about some recent Hamas documents captured by Israel in the war against Hamas.

The article reports.

German magazine Bild reports on a Hamas strategy document captured in Gaza that comes from the poisoned pen and mind of Yahya Sinwar himself. The document, if authentic, lays out the full hostaging strategy Hamas planned to employ in this war. It will come as no surprise to anyone at this point — outside the White House, anyway — that Sinwar has no interest in cease-fires or a two-state solution.

His real interests? Psychological torture and the annihilation of Israel, with his own survival somewhere in between. This comes from a Google translation of the original German:

Now a previously unknown document from Hamas’ military intelligence service shows how the terrorists are manipulating the international community, torturing the hostage families and seeking to rearm. And also that they are just as indifferent to a quick end to the war as they are to the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

▶︎ The document in which Hamas sets out its negotiating strategy was found on a computer that is said to belong to the terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar (61). He is said to have personally approved the content. The letter dates from spring 2024 and is available exclusively to BILD. … 

What is particularly perfidious is that Hamas is abusing the kidnapped hostages to improve its negotiating position. The document states frankly:

“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire, ed.) , so that public pressure on the enemy government increases.”

The recent protests in Israel illustrate the possible success of Sinwar’s plan. Unless the country unites behind Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is quite possible that the war will drag on unnecessarily and significantly weaken Israel. Obviously that is what Sinwar wants. Unfortunately,  America, knowingly or unknowingly, has helped Sinwar in this effort.

A change in personnel in Washington is the solution to the unrest in the Middle East. America needs to elect a President and a Congress that will support Israel in its battle against the forces of terrorism. The Biden administration’s desire to make a deal with Iran has destabilized the Middle East and undone the work of the Abraham Accords. If Americans want peace in the Middle East, they need to consider the move toward war in the Biden administration versus the move toward peace in the Trump administration.