Sinwar’s Death Is A Disaster For Bibi

 

It wasn’t ‘coincidental;’ it was accidental. Israel just killed its favorite bête noire

Thomas Greene

The clearly unintentional martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar is a major headache for Bibi Netanyahu, who has accused the late Hamas leader of undermining peace negotiations and obstructing a hostage deal. It is of course Nethanyahu who has been scuppering progress on these fronts, as I discussed in a previous article. Sinwar has been providing handy cover for Israeli intransigence by being stubborn and hardcore himself, and therefore easy to blame.

It’s beyond doubt that Bibi is very much inconvenienced by Sinwar’s death, as he has just lost an important excuse for his own refusal to secure a ceasefire or a hostage deal, neither of which he wants, but both of which he is obliged to pretend to want.

The Israelis murdered Ismail Haniyeh because he was a politician, and flexible, and because he kept saying “Yes” to American proposals for a ceasefire and hostage exchange which Netanyahu would have to sabotage at the last minute — behavior that repeatedly exposed him as the bloodthirsty bad guy. Yahya Sinwar was preferred, even protected, because Bibi thought he could make Sinwar look like the worse of two bad guys. So Israel took out a relatively reasonable Hamas leader and installed the man who planned the 7 October 2023 ghetto uprising in his place — so that they could hate him, and Hamas, and the rest of Gaza that much more.

The IDF would no doubt have been under standing orders to avoid attacking any place where Sinwar was likely to be found. To cover the embarrassing fact of actually protecting someone they’re supposed to hate, the government had to explain why Sinwar hadn’t been killed or caught, so they put it about that he would be hiding deep in the tunnel network, keeping safe. The circumstances of his death reveal that he was, in fact, going about fairly openly, and probably could have been taken quite some time ago if anyone had actually wanted him.

A couple of 19 year old IDF sergeants no doubt got a little trigger happy, only to discover minutes later, and much to their dismay, that they’d unknowingly killed the only Palestinian whose violent death was not authorized.

US President Joe Biden crystallized Netanyahu’s predicament, calling Sinwar a significant obstacle to peace which has now been removed. Kamala Harris made similar remarks. And an editorial in Haaretz by Amos Harel clearly expressed the demand that Bibi has been dreading: “After Sinwar’s death, Israel must press ahead with a hostage deal,” he wrote. A hostage deal would necessarily mean a ceasefire and the end to his excuse for exterminating the Palestinians, so it’s the absolute last thing Netanyahu wants. [1]

No wonder the Israelis have been protecting Sinwar. He was the ideal bête noire; but now he’s been martyred accidentally and they’re fresh out of excuses. The pressure to pursue a ceasefire and hostage deal will be mounting relentlessly from all quarters — while at least one hapless IDF stooge is headed for a very swift and certain demotion. If not a fatal accident.

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[1] Update 18 October: It’s been less than 24 hours and the American pressure chorus has begun to sing, for all the good it’s likely to do.

US President Joe Biden: “Now is the time to move on — move towards a ceasefire in Gaza […] It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris: Sinwar’s death “offers an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: Sinwar’s death “provides an extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to end this awful war, and to rush humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Today, evil suffered a heavy blow, but our mission is not yet completed […] the war, the war, my dear ones, is not yet finished. It is harsh and it takes a heavy price from us.”

So that would be another “Fuck you, Joe” to add to the pile.

A very good article by prof. Thomas Greene, depicting and illustrating many people's views, again I got it through the Medium daily digest, and I help in not sending these articles into oblivion, so I copy, print and publish them under my blog,   Thanks to all my good readers for continuous following up.