‘Hamas’ new political leader in Gaza Strip is an arch-terrorist’

Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff

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Yahya Sinwar’s election debunks assumption that Hamas has separate political and military wings, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee head Avi Dichter says • IDF official: Sinwar’s election could have “disastrous results” for balance of power in Gaza.

Yahya Sinwar speaks at a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip [Archive] | Photo credit: AP

Hamas on Monday elected hard-liner Yahya Sinwar as its new political leader in the Gaza Strip.

Sinwar will replace Ismail Haniyeh, who is slated to take over Khaled Mashaal as the organization’s political bureau chief. The Qatar-based Mashaal announced last year he would be stepping down as the terrorist group’s leader.

The election of Sinwar, a senior member of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, came as little surprise to Israel, as defense officials have been warning that radical Hamas officials were gaining power in the enclave, and were likely to assume senior positions in the terrorist organization.

Still, Mashaal’s deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk, said the leadership change does not necessarily reflect a policy change.

“Hamas is an organization based on institutions. The change in leadership doesn’t indicate a fundamental change in policy,” he told the Saudi Al-Arabiya television network.

Sinwar, 55, was released from an Israeli prison as part of the 2011 Schalit prisoner exchange, after having spent 22 years behind bars over the murder of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel. He was also involved in planning the 1994 abduction of IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman.

While in prison, Sinwar was diagnosed with cancer and was afforded lifesaving treatment in Israel.

Sinwar was appointed to Hamas’ political wing four years ago and succeeded in creating a new position — liaison between the terrorist group’s political and military wings — gaining him considerable influence within the organization. In fact, Sinwar is widely considered the strongest man in Gaza today.

A recent report by Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai warned that the election of Sinwar and other Hamas hard-liners to key positions in the organization could have “disastrous results for the delicate balance between Hamas’ political and military wings.”

The report further said the Sinwar and his supporters in Hamas were averse to the relatively pragmatic approach taken by Haniyeh with regard to Hamas’ fight against Israel. Sinwar is also said to be displeased by the “lack of Islamic devotion” among Gaza’s population, which he believes is too liberal.

Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Avi Dichter (Likud) said Sinwar was “an arch-terrorist.”

“Sinwar was and is a murderer. Starting today [Monday], the head of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip is an arch-terrorist — plain and simple. The appearances by which Hamas had separate political and military echelons were never true, and now they have been debunked,” he said.

According to Dichter, “This is how it’s going to work: Sinwar will replace Haniyeh; Haniyeh will replace Mashaal; and when the time comes, Mashaal will replace [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas. We have to reinforce our ability to destroy Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, because it may be put to use sooner than we expected. … Hamas’ leadership is Gaza sees things through the prism of rockets, terror tunnels and attacks on Israel; through abductions and recruiting terrorists in Judea and Samaria.”

Gaza sources on Monday expressed concern that Sinwar’s known ties with Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province), Islamic State’s proxy in the desert peninsula, will prompt fresh hostilities with Israel and Egypt both, which would result in a humanitarian disaster in the Strip.

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