Sinwar’s death vindicates Israel’s pursuit of terrorists

Unlike the planned killings of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and other Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, Yahya Sinwar was chanced upon by an alert Israeli patrol, whose members didn’t know it was the Hamas leader until later. The image is stark.

The terrorist mastermind Sinwar is slumped in an armchair, wounded yet still defiant, throwing a stick at an Israeli drone shortly before he was killed. One might feel uncomfortable watching, except that Sinwar’s legacy of barbaric bloodlust has proven deadly for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israel’s patience in prosecuting this war is yielding results. It’s shown that you don’t appease or negotiate with terrorists. You eliminate them one by one (“Fight’s not over, but glimmers of light ahead” 19-20/10).

We should be grateful that Israel hasn’t listened to those who have repeatedly sought to force a ceasefire that would leave Hamas on its feet and Gazans oppressed. Along with others, the Biden administration and the Australian government sternly told the Israeli army to keep out of Rafah. But this was the very same Rafah where Sinwar was found last week. Sinwar’s death is a big step in forcing Hamas to capitulate and return the more than 60 living hostages and the bodies of about 35 others still missing.

Perhaps the Israelis should consider not burying him at sea, as the US military did with Osama bin Laden (because they didn’t want his grave to be a shrine), but making the return of Sinwar’s body to Gaza transactional in return for the hostages and any remains. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just promised that Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return the hostages.

Anthony Bergin, Reid, ACT

Following the death of world number one terrorist and murderer Yahya Sinwar, I heard Foreign Minister Penny Wong say this is a great opportunity for peace. She called for a ceasefire and a return of the hostages. Once again, she gets it back to front. First, there should be a return of the hostages and, second, surrender, and then there will be a ceasefire and peace.

Robert Krochmalik, Pearl Beach, NSW

Two very different men, Nelson Mandela and Yahya Sinwar, both convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to decades in prison, used their prison time to study their captors’ language, culture, society and history, in order, in Mandela’s words, “to know my enemy before I could prevail against him”. Mandela sought to prevail through building and nurturing common bonds of humanity, forgiveness and reconciliation. Those eagerly anticipating a bloody retribution against political rivals and white South Africa, were told, “Take your guns, your knives, and your pangas, and throw them into the sea”. Sinwar sought to prevail through brutality and vengeance, to bring about the genocidal annihilation of the enemy, Israel, and replace it with a Palestinian state. Mandela’s legacy was the dismantlement of the abhorrent apartheid regime. South Africa is troubled, but a work in progress. Sinwar’s legacy is suffering, hatred, violence, death and destruction. A legacy those who venerate him as a glorious warrior-martyr will seek to carry into a blood-soaked future. And Gaza is in ruins.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern, Vic

The slaying of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacres and the ensuing war in Gaza, completes the dismantling of Hamas in Gaza. This is a truly remarkable feat of arms, achieved in the face of relentless calls for appeasement coming from the West, including Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong.

While now acknowledging that Sinwar was a terrorist, Labor renews calls for a ceasefire and a two-state solution. It illustrates Labor’s fundamental misreading of the conflict in the Middle East. It is more than a question of Palestinian statehood. It is whether a war to exterminate Israel run by Iran and its proxies is allowed to continue. Or to be ignored. Until Labor grasps this, its diplomatic efforts will never ensure an enduring peace in the region. Its reputation as anti-Israel will continue. Policy needs the world community to bring Iran and its proxies to account with the severest sanctions and penalties.

Policy should be based on international realities not political consideration of votes in western suburbs.

Martin Newington, Aspendale, Vic