Following the extermination — I will not use the word assassination to reference the killing of a cockroach — of Ismail Haniyeh as the political leader of Hamas, the leadership of the terrorist group decided that Yahya Sinwar should be their new Fearless Leader.

Israel had long ago declared that that Mr Sinwar is a dead man walking.

Middle East Crisis: Hamas Names an Architect of Oct. 7 Attacks as New Political Leader

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Hamas announced on Tuesday that it had chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds behind the deadly Oct. 7 attack, as the next head of the group’s political office, consolidating his power over the militant group as it continues the 10-month war with Israel.

Mr. Sinwar, who spent two decades in Israeli prisons, has been long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of their society. He has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017. But he will now also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s top political leader, who was a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel.

As The New York Times pointed out on May 12^th, Mr Sinwar was among 1,027 ‘Palestinian’ prisoners traded for one Israeli soldier, Staff Sergeant Galid Shalit, in 2011. It is the sad irony of the Middle East that Mr Sinwar planned what turned out to be the deaths of more than 1,027 innocent Israelis on October 7^th, along with the capturing of roughly 250 hostages.

In saving one soldier, Israel paid the price of over a thousand innocent non-combatants, plus over 600 soldiers and policemen killed in the current war. I understand the tremendous pressure on the government concerning the return of the remaining hostages, an unknown number of whom are already dead, just as there was during the five-year captivity of Staff Sergeant Shalit, but at some point Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have to realize that releasing multiple numbers of ‘Palestinian’ bad guys in exchange for a few surviving Israelis is not a wise trade.

The Times reported:

While the talks are mediated in Egypt and Qatar, it is Mr. Sinwar — believed to be hiding in a tunnel network beneath Gaza — whose consent is required by Hamas’s negotiators before they agree to any concessions, according to some of those officials.

The psychopath Yahya Sinwar. You can see the crazy in his eyes.

Due to Mr Sinwar’s concealment, it takes considerable time to get any new negotiations communicated to him, and time to get his responses back. If his consent has been required in the past, while Mr Haniyeh was still alive, how much more so is that true now?

He is supposedly hiding in a deep, deep tunnel network, protected by several captured Israelis being used as human shields.

The decision to appoint Mr. Sinwar is an indication that, ten months into the war, the Palestinian group’s leaders remain firmly behind the decision to attack southern Israel on Oct. 7, analysts said. And it signals that Israeli efforts to try and cripple the group by killing off its leaders may have only entrenched the hard-line position Hamas has taken, they said.

Gaza has been, if not completely destroyed, heavily damaged. Whatever jobs they had, whatever infrastructure they had, are gone now.

“This is more about the overall vision for what Hamas wants, which is focusing more on liberation and less on being a governing power,” said Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the official body representing Palestinians internationally.

Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza has driven the Islamist group underground, but Hamas had ruled over the enclave since 2007, fashioning itself into the new government of Gaza and exerting oppressive control over the enclave’s people.

Under Mr. Sinwar’s leadership, Hamas, designated by many Western governments as a terrorist group, had sought to free itself of the challenge of running a civilian government in Gaza, while remaining the ultimate power through its military might.

Mr. Sinwar’s selection was an affirmation of that vision, one that aims to put a greater focus on confronting Israel.

After the Oct. 7 attacks, Hamas leaders said they wanted to ignite a permanent state of war with Israel on all fronts to revive the Palestinian cause, knowing Israel’s response would be aggressive.

In other words, they’re fanatics.

As much as they might have thought the Arab or Muslim nations would come to their aid, that hasn’t been the case. Some Islamist groups like the Houthis and Hezbollah have tried to bring the battle to Israel, none of the Arab nations have done so, because Arab governments have a responsibility to their nations and people, and the last thing they want is another devastating war with Israel. Iran, which is Persian, not Arabic, and Turkey, which is Turkish, not Arab, have made threatening noises, but Iran is 1,000 miles away from Israel, and Turkey 500 miles away.

Hamas would prefer death before surrender, and Israel just might give it to them.