Israel’s killing of Sinwar does the world a big favour

Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is a good day for the world, as Joe Biden said. Had Israel followed his advice and that of other Western allies, including to cease fire, Sinwar still would be exercising his tyrannical rule over Gaza and plotting the demise of Israel, backed by Iran.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s response was naive. Sinwar’s death, she said, was an opportunity for the war to end. She called again for a ceasefire and for the return of all hostages (essential, and the risk of revenge killings is high) and the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza (much needed and highly desirable, provided it is well directed).

Senator Wong also looked ahead to a two-state solution. The question of who could lead Gaza, however, could take years to resolve. The Greens’ day of silence in response to Sinwar’s killing was pathetic.

After holding his nerve for a year in the face of opposition from enemies, allies and the UN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cautiously optimistic after Sinwar’s demise but realistic and circumspect, unlike Senator Wong. “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza,” he said in an address to Israelis.

“This is the beginning of the day after Hamas.” To Palestinians, he said: “This is an opportunity for you, the residents of Gaza, to finally break free from its tyranny.” Paraphrasing Winston Churchill who recognised “this is not even the beginning of the end but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” after Allied victories in North Africa in 1942, Mr Netanyahu said: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.” Sinwar’s death was an “important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas”.

For now, however, the war will continue, a decision that rests with Israel alone. As Peter Jennings writes in Inquirer, there is something worse than a horrible war. That is “settling for a peace that entrenches enemies that want to destroy you”. That would be the effect of the government’s preferred approach to the war.

Sinwar’s demise is a moral victory for Mr Netanyahu and the Israel Defence Forces at home and in the world. There is no shortage of fanatics to take the place of slain terrorist leaders.

But the assassinations of terrorist bosses across the past year have weakened Iran’s terrorist proxies. In addition to Sinwar they include his predecessor as Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, during a visit to Tehran – an action that shook Iran’s confidence in its security. The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last month was a significant blow to that group’s terrorist army, which unprovoked shot about 9000 missiles and rockets into northern Israel in the months after October 7 last year. Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since 1992.

Israel’s current military focus is its expected retaliation for the salvo of nearly 200 Iranian missiles launched against it this month. It has narrowed down targets to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its volunteer paramilitary force. It also has a more indirect but more important goal: encouraging regime change, an aspiration that would be backed enthusiastically by most Arab states.

After Iran invested hundreds of millions of dollars in supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terror groups using money made available when Mr Biden eased sanctions against the Islamic Republic in 2021, regime change in Tehran, more than any other goal, would bring about regional peace. Sinwar’s demise is a serious setback for Iran’s ayatollahs.

In causing the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust on October 7 last year, Sinwar was also primarily responsible for the destruction of Gaza and what Hamas claims is the loss of 40,000 Palestinian lives.

Driven by manic hatred of Jews, ruthless to the core and with no respect for life, he was willing to sacrifice countless Gazans and condemn those who survived to horrific suffering. Not for them the chance to shelter in the network of tunnels he oversaw for years by diverting aid money.

Their passive, humiliating role, in his mind, was to suffer and die above ground; their plight, which he envisaged from the start in planning for the aftermath of October 7, would help turn world opinion against Israel. Given the gullibility of too many in the West, it worked.

After Sinwar’s demise, free nations that are deeply concerned about the Iran-Russia-China-North Korea axis but that also have been ambivalent about Israel’s conduct of the war can only look on with respect at the fortitude of the Jewish state. With fewer than 10 million people, it has, with US backing, provided an important lesson in effective deterrence. It has done itself, its region and the world a major favour.