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“Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, has been killed by Israeli forces in the Palestinian enclave, Israel said [last] Thursday.” Reuters
The left urges the US to use Sinwar’s death to push for a ceasefire, but is not optimistic.
“The recent death of [Sinwar] could provide an opening for renewed talks, but the same core issues remain… Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly torched a potential July ceasefire agreement with Hamas by insisting that Israeli troops maintain a permanent presence in Gaza, and that Israel would continue to have control of the Gaza/Egypt border…
“Those are much bigger — and more unrealistic — asks than previous demands for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza, which is what the initial ceasefire conversations revolved around. And more broadly, Israel’s goals in Gaza are somewhat subjective: Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they want to completely eliminate Hamas’s military and governing capacities, a goal Hamas has obviously rejected, and which US officials have said is unlikely…
“It’s very difficult to eradicate a political ideology, which is what Hamas is at its essence, and Israel has not made clear under what conditions it will feel satisfied its goals are met — whether that means the death or capture of major leaders, the dismantling of outside support, total Israeli occupation of Gaza, or some other scenario.”
Ellen Ioanes, Vox
“Israel has had a long history of successfully killing Palestinian leaders, including several Hamas leaders who preceded Sinwar. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Abdel Aziz el Rantisi. Most recently, Ismail Haniyeh. And yet with each killing of a Hamas leader over the years, their life story of armed resistance becomes folklore that fuels another generation of leaders who are in some cases more extreme, more hard-line and more militant.”
Ayman Mohyeldin, MSNBC
“For the past year, Biden has tried a bear hug approach to influence Netanyahu but has barely employed the enormous leverage the United States has as it supplies weaponry and spare parts for Israel’s wars. A few days ago, Biden administration officials did hint that the United States might cut back on weapons transfers unless Israel allows more food into Gaza — but it immediately undermined that message by delaying a reckoning for 30 days…
“In April and early May, Biden did briefly get tough with Israel and suspended at least one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs — and Israel then snapped to attention, listened to the White House and increased aid deliveries to Gaza. But after it became apparent that Biden was bluffing and blustering, Netanyahu resumed his intransigence and humiliation of Washington… Biden has an opportunity now in Gaza, but only if he pushes.”
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
The right celebrates Sinwar’s death, and urges the US to support Israel’s ongoing offensive.
The right celebrates Sinwar’s death, and urges the US to support Israel’s ongoing offensive.
“It’s worth recalling that Mr. Biden has pressured Mr. Netanyahu and his government for months to stop the war in Gaza. The U.S. counseled against a major military campaign against Hamas. Then, despite Israel’s clear early success, he tried to bully Israel against sending troops into the city of Rafah, where Sinwar was thought to be hiding…
“Israel went ahead anyway, and Mr. Netanyahu has a right to claim vindication for doing so. It’s not too much to say that if Israel had taken Mr. Biden’s advice, Sinwar, Nasrallah, and the rest of the Hamas-Hezbollah leadership would still be alive…
“Israel has shown through its fortitude since Oct. 7 that the best way to deter an adversary is to demonstrate ferocious retribution for murdering its people.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“A little over a year after the war Hamas inaugurated against Israel on 10/7 in the deadliest one-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, the terrorist organization has been entirely decapitated. Its fighters are scattered, disorganized, and reduced to chaotic rearguard actions against the Israeli troops busily rolling them up…
“Critics of Israel’s campaign like to insist that Hamas is an idea and therefore cannot simply be dispatched like the thousands of its fighters the IDF has cut down. True enough, but an idea cannot shoot at you or launch rocket attacks on your cities. That requires well-connected, deeply embedded commanders with years of experience conducting asymmetrical insurgent attacks on a superior force. Those commanders are all dead.”
Noah Rothman, National Review
“The opportunity in Sinwar’s death and Hamas’s military evisceration is that it begins to open a space for young Gazans… to openly and assertively reject Hamas’s brand of maximalist, fanatical, Islamist politics. Sinwar once told an Israeli intelligence officer that he would willingly lose 100,000 Palestinian civilians for the sake of freeing 100 Palestinian security prisoners. He clearly meant it and fought his side of the war accordingly…
“But after the last year of agony, ordinary Gazans seem less likely to be willing, if they ever were, to serve as Hamas’s human sacrifices in its quest to annihilate Israel… The trick lies in finding a way between two competing imperatives: the need to continue to destroy Hamas as a force that can rule Gaza, but to do so in a way that doesn’t justify, among many Palestinians, its status as a legitimate ‘resistance’ movement.”
Bret Stephens, New York Times
