Yahya Sinwar: The man, the myth, the horse feathers

A short primer on the guy who sacrificed Gaza for his own purpose

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The death of Yahya Sinwar has turned him into a martyr, his legend mythologized even beyond his own imagination.

Yahya Sinwar was not in any way, shape or form benevolent. He was cruel, merciless and filled with hatred and the single-minded purpose of destroying Israel. Sinwar was responsible for the deaths of countless Palestinians who posed threats to his vision of a Palestinian army obliterating the State of Israel.

Once sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Palestinians he believed sympathetic to Israel, Sinwar was released in 2011 in a hostage swap he, himself negotiated, with Israel releasing 1,000 prisoners in exchange for one kidnapped Israeli soldier.

One thousand for one. At least the man knew value.

Sinwar became the military leader of Hamas in 2017, immediately realigning Hamas with Hezbollah and Iran. Resistance in Gaza was brutally crushed, as Hamas built hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath the citizens of Gaza, for the purposes of prosecuting warfare against Israel and providing escape and shelter for Hamas fighters.

Gazans turned blind eyes as Hamas used hospitals, hotels, schools and apartments to conceal their activities and stockpile weapons.

In 2021 Sinwar warned of a coming war, one that he said would either destroy Israel or isolate her on the world stage, turning the Jewish state into a pariah among nations.

Under Sinwar, cease fire agreements with Israel were continually violated. As recently as August of 2023, Hamas attacked IDF soldiers, killing two just 90 minutes into that cease fire.

A cease fire was in effect on October 6, 2023, one day before the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. What impetus could move Israel to enter into another cease fire with an enemy who respects neither cease fires nor Israel’s right to exist?

Japan attacked the U.S. on December 7, 1941, leading to a war in which Tokyo was all but destroyed and two other Japanese cities leveled by atomic bombs.

Al-Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers on 9/11, leading to a decade-long search for the mastermind of that attack (Osama bin-Laden) and his elimination.

The terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 was the equivalent of twenty-two 9/11’s and the deaths of 66,000 Americans. Both sides are not equal. Terrorists, whose very charter calls for the destruction of Israel can not be reasoned with or trusted.

You can whine about it all you want, but until you come up with an plan to prevent the next October 7 or the next Holocaust, you should STFU.

Sinwar's death is not the end of Hamas or anti-Semitism and certainly not the end of anti-Israel sentiment.

If anything, Sinwar died a happy man, knowing that he did exactly what he set out to do, turn the world against Israel, staggering death and destruction in Gaza acceptable casualties.