What Is Hamas' Message To Israel By Electing Yahya Sinwar ? (X image @Marchfoward)
At the brink of an all-out war on the entire region of West Asia, Hamas, the resistance group of Gaza, has dropped another political bomb by “unanimously” electing Yahya Sinwar, as the successor of Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran. Sinwar leading the negotiations, and being at the helm of the diplomacy, is a huge thwart to Israel. By choosing Sinwar, Hamas is communicating in a very strong language to Israel that their defiance is not weakened by the assassination of Haniyeh, but rather doubled.
By choosing him as the group’s chief Hamas “is sending a strong message to the occupation that Hamas continues its path of resistance”, a senior Hamas official told AFP.
For Israel, Sinwar is the “devil incarnate”. Tel Aviv never shied away from accentuating their desire to “eliminate”, the hardheaded leader of Hamas, who had served over two decades of Israeli imprisonment. He is at the top of Israel’s red list. As a response to Hamas’October 7th attack on Israel, which Israel claim is architected by Sinwar, Tel Aviv labelled him as the “dead man walking”. Israel failed to locate Sinwar from Gaza, for the past 10 months of war.
Last November, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant urged Gazans to turn Sinwar in, adding “if you reach him before us, it will shorten the war”.
So, by choosing him as the leader – which was not expected by many – is a clear message to Israel. Analysts comment that Israel has yet again failed to realise that assassinating its leaders is the weakest move to strike at Hamas. The movement only gets stronger like what has happened in the past.
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“They’ve always assassinated senior leaders of Palestinian resistance movements whether it is the PLO, or Fatah or some of the other movement, PFLP [Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine], or the Hamas… But it doesn’t do any good. It’s bizarre that the Israelis don’t see that when they assassinate somebody they get somebody more radical”, Rami Khouri, a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington, DC (ACW) told AL Jazeera.
Notably, Sinwar was said to be chosen after voting, like the usual practice of Hamas. This also explain to the Israel occupation that Hamas inside Gaza, and outside the region is one on every aspects.
Hamas announced Sinwar as their political bureau chief, when tension in the region was running wild, with Iran’s promised “strong retaliation”, against the assassination of Haniyeh. Israel has not confirmed or denied the attack. But Hamas and Iran attribute blame to Israel.
Sinwar, who is alleged to be the architect of the October 7th attack on Israel, has been in Gaza during the 10 months long Israeli genocidal war in the Strip. He is one of the most uncompromising leader of Hamas movement. He has been navigating the military wing of Hamas, al Qassam Brigades against ferocious attacks from Israel. Analysts have observed several times that Hamas is putting a very strong fight, making it extremely difficult for the occupation force to attain their goal of destruction.
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Sinwar has been alleged to be in the complex tunnel networks of Hamas. Israel once claimed that he had fled out of the country, which was later debunked.
Sinwar will now vanguard the movement through uncertain times across the region from unknown location in the coastal enclave of Gaza. It is still unclear that how Sinwar will be able to communicate with his fellow Hamas operatives, and run the day-today political operations of Hamas, and at the same time, oversee the ceasefire negotiations, which has been so far done by Haniyeh.
He will face huge challenges and responsibility, as his people are being massacred by the Israeli occupation force and he is maneuvering through the tunnels.
Sinwar ruled Gaza from 2017 to 2023. The rule was well, and some even argue that Gaza was better governed than the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, in terms of everything from water to sewerage and electricity to security and order, as well as education and healthcare, said Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara.
Sinwar garnered global popularity through Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government voiced vile comments against Sinwar so much that he is very popular now. He is also even more popular among the Palestinians than before.
