When Israel talks about destroying Hamas's armed infrastructure in Gaza and eliminating the threat the terrorist organization poses to the Jewish state, it is clear that this includes eliminating its top leaders. First of all, the number one in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, symbol of the unprecedented attack carried out by the Islamist group against Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, for having been the backbone of the very conception of the massacre that left 1,400 dead and more than 200 kidnapped.
“We will get there, it is just a matter of time,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly stated.
“Sinwar feels the Israeli armor on his head and knows that we will get to him,” declared Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallat on more than one occasion. For his part, the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Daniel Hagari, assured that the elite army units that are looking for him in the tunnels are clearly following his steps and have already been to places from which it is clear that he is. I had gone shortly before.
It will not be too risky to say that The average Israeli wants to see Sinwar dead, since he personifies the idea, planning and execution of the October 7 invasion.
It can be assumed that the outcome of the persecution after Sinwar will depend, if it is reached, on the conditions in which it is found. Since it is estimated that he is surrounded by Israeli hostages, used as human shields.
Nevertheless, There are also those who consider that killing Sinwar is encouraging the cycle of violence and who, therefore, prefer that the authorities find him alive and put him on trial..
Regarding the two possibilities on the table, killing him or taking him to trial, EL TIEMPO consulted different people, not only “ordinary” Israelis but more than anything people directly affected by the situation unleashed after the attacks of October 7, who are residents of the south of the country.
These are survivors of the massacre, relatives of kidnapped people or relatives of victims of October 7, among others. A delegation of relatives of those kidnapped by Hamas who went to The Hague a few weeks ago to present a formal complaint against the Islamist terrorist group to the International Criminal Court (ICC) was even taken into account.
“This shows that we are persecuting the Hamas leaders not only militarily but also legally,” Izhar Lifshitz, whose octogenarian parents Yehudit and Yoheved were kidnapped from their house in the Nir Oz kibbutz, which was absolutely charred, told this newspaper.
His mother has already been released and his father, whom Izhar fears he will no longer see alive, is still in Gaza. “Sinwar and the other ama leaders are the thinking and ideological arm of the massacre and I really hope that we can see them behind bars,” he explained.
Izhar, who says that his parents always dedicated themselves to activities of dialogue, understanding and helping the Palestinians of Gaza to be able to live in peace, today feels that his dream has been broken. He knows that his greatest challenge is to recover his father, but he also highlights the importance of the biblical verse “Justice, Justice you will pursue.” “It would be good to be able to put him on trial and for the whole world to hear the testimonies of the survivors and those released about what happened to them.”
This shows that we are persecuting Hamas leaders not only militarily but also legally.
Eyal Eshel also participated in the delegation to The Hague. He knows that he will never recover his daughter Roni, who at the age of 19 was murdered with 15 other young soldiers in charge of observing the border through their screens.
But consider that you have to fight. And so he responds when asked what end he would like for Yahya Sinwar.
“First of all. our goal is justice itself. I hope that, for the sake of all of us, he is caught alive so that the whole world can see how he is judged. “He has to be judged.”
This certainly goes beyond the concrete possibility of finding him alive. That is, as long as he has not yet escaped from Gaza and entered Egyptian territory..
Ruben Friedmann, from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha located 2.4 km from the Gaza border, feels he is a survivor. He was locked up in the shelter of his house with his wife Estela for 30 hours and now summarizes what happened by saying that “although it may sound strange to say it, we were relatively lucky because in our kibbutz there were not dozens of deaths like in other places.” Cautiously, he says that in Ein Hashlosha there were 5 murders.
“The Israeli government's dilemma is not such. As a democratic country and so that the world does not forget the atrocities committed under his command at the head of Hamas, the best thing would be to catch him alive and try him publicly,” says Ruben.
It recalls the unprecedented trial carried out in the early 1960s in Jerusalem of Adolf Eichmann, Hitler's lieutenant, responsible for the so-called “final solution”, the extermination of the Jews of Europe. “Perhaps we would be facing an Eichmann II trial, which would attract global attention and give rise to showing the true face of the terrorist organization and its leaders.” Eichmann was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to capital punishment.
But Ruben Friedmann is realistic and estimates that the chances of catching Sinwar alive are “almost negligible.” “He and all the others who planned the massacre must be persecuted without end, just as the United States persecuted Bin Laden after the Tower attacks.”
I want them to give him a public trial first. And there they sentence him to death.
Daniel Weisz, also from Ein Hashlosha, had a very hard time that October 7th. He was not in the kibbutz but his daughter Natalie was, with her three small children, one of them approximately one month old, locked in the shelter while her husband took refuge in the dairy farm, where he was working when the alarms began to sound..
“I want them to give him a public trial first. And that they sentence him to death there,” she says categorically.
The same goes for Sapir, a young girl from the city of Modiin, who comments that “it wouldn't bother me if they captured him alive, as long as they killed him later. He has to pay for the horror he committed.” Joseph of Jerusalem believes that there is no need to bother looking for him alive. “We must put an end to these terrorists so that they cannot raise their heads again. It is best to eliminate it as soon as we get to it.”
JANA BERIS
FOR THE TIME
JERUSALEM
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