Did Hamas' leader really call Gaza civilian deaths a “necessary sacrifice”?
The mysterious Yahya Sinwar and why Palestinians support him
The Wall Street Journal recently published what it says are intercepted text messages between Yahya Sinwar and Palestinian diplomats, where the Hamas leader in Gaza appears willing to sacrifice civilians to achieve victory over Israel.
"What has been circulated is completely incorrect," a Hamas spokesperson said in response to the story, adding Sinwar was "heavily concerned" with ending the war as soon as possible.
The correspondence is purported to be between Sinwar and officials tasked with brokering a ceasefire with Qatari and Egyptian officials.
“We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Sinwar reportedly said in one of dozens of messages to ceasefire negotiators obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
One message cites civilian losses in national-liberation conflicts in places such as Algeria, where hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for independence from France, saying, “these are necessary sacrifices.”
Here in the West we are very familiar with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, while Yahya Sinwar is hardly recognized outside of the Middle East. The controversy over the text messages has put a lot of media attention on the Hamas leader in Gaza.
Sinwar, one of the original members of Hamas, is the mastermind behind the October 7 surprise attacks on Israel, breaking through fencing and attacking military outposts and Israeli border communities, including a youth music festival that was underway. More than 1200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and approximately 250 taken hostage.
Listen to this fascinating discussion about the life of Yahya Sinwar from the New York Times podcast, The Daily
Listen or read the transcript
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim A.A. Khan, called Yayha Sinwar a war criminal (alongside Netanyahu and others).
“During my own visit to Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, as well as to the site of Supernova Music Festival in Re’im, I saw the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today,” said Khan announcing his request for arrest warrants.
“My Office also submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel have been kept in inhumane conditions, and that some have been subject to sexual violence, including rape, while being held in captivity.”
Poll shows Palestinian support
Support for Hamas and the October 7 attacks remains high in Gaza. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found more than 60% of Gazans report losing family members in the current war on Gaza, but two-thirds of the public continue to support the October 7 attack, and 80% believe it put the Palestinian issue at the center of global attention.
Even our community seems less convinced of the need to prosecute Sinwar than they do Netanyahu. An informal poll of PeaceQuest readers found 90% agreed that Netanyahu absolutely should be charged with war crimes, while only 51% agreed that Sinwar should be absolutely charged.
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