Yesterday, August 6, Hamas named Yahya Sinwar as the new leader of its
political bureau. Previously Hamas’s leader inside the Gaza Strip since 2017,
Sinwar will now assume overall leadership of the terrorist organization.
Israeli authorities reportedly believe that Sinwar has been hiding inside
Gaza’s extensive tunnel network since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on
southern Israel, which killed 1,200 men, women, and children. Sinwar was a
chief architect of the October 7 attack and is now Israel’s “most-wanted”
individual following the killings last month of previous Hamas leader Ismail
Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din
al-Qassam Brigades, and orchestrator of numerous Hamas suicide bombings and
rocket attacks.





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Counterpoint Brief: Hamas Names Yahya Sinwar as New Leader


(New York, N.Y.) – Yesterday, August 6, Hamas named Yahya Sinwar as the new
leader of its political bureau. Previously Hamas’s leader inside the Gaza Strip
since 2017, Sinwar will now assume overall leadership of the terrorist
organization. Israeli authorities reportedly believe that Sinwar has been
hiding inside Gaza’s extensive tunnel network since the Hamas-led October 7,
2023, attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 men, women, and children.
Sinwar was a chief architect of the October 7 attack and is now Israel’s
“most-wanted” individual following the killings last month of previous Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, the
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and orchestrator of numerous Hamas suicide
bombings and rocket attacks.



Expert Analysis:



CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler



“With the choice of Yahya Sinwar as the new overall leader of Hamas, the
terror group has formally confirmed a shift in the internal power balance that
had already occurred after the pogrom-like terror attack of October 7, 2023.
With that attack, the internal leadership of Hamas in Gaza had taken over the
actual reins of power within the terror group. Over the past 10 months, it was
always the internal leadership, particularly Yahya Sinwar, that controlled the
hostage negotiations, rejecting deal after deal to ensure his and the group’s
survival as a terror threat in Gaza. The external leadership will still control
a significant part of the group’s assets stored securely outside Gaza,
including in the Gulf, Lebanon, and Turkey. However, this is unlikely to
translate into actual influence over the future direction of the terror
organization.



The appointment of Yahya Sinwar also ends the false distinction that Hamas
had attempted to establish between internal leaders focused on terrorism and
fighting and external leaders focused on negotiations. With this choice, the
group clearly focuses its overall branding on its terrorist structure and
activities. Therefore, the choice of Yahya Sinwar should encourage those
governments that have not yet classified Hamas as a terrorist group to
reevaluate their stance and finally recognize that Hamas is an Islamist
terrorist phenomenon that is not representative of the Palestinian cause or the
Palestinian people.”



CEP Chief Executive Officer Ambassador Mark D. Wallace



“Despite a belief in some quarters that the group can somehow be “reasoned
with,” plainly Hamas has no intention of tempering its murderous proclivities
at all—having chosen one of the most consistently violent individuals to lead
the organization and the man responsible for the bloodiest assault on Jews
since the Holocaust. As the founder of Hamas’s notorious Majd intelligence
unit, Sinwar also bears responsibility for the executions of Palestinians
allegedly colluding with Israel—acts that resulted in decades of incarceration
in Israel from 1989 until his release in the 2011 prisoner swap for captive
soldier Gilad Shalt. Indeed, Sinwar’s brutality against many of his own people
in Gaza—against so-called collaborators and also political rivals during the
2007 Hamas-Fatah conflict—approaches his monomaniacal hatred for Israel and
Jews.



Despite now being fully commanded by Sinwar, who was individually sanctioned
by the United Kingdom and the European Union in the wake of the October 7
atrocities, Hamas will continue to receive enormous financial and political
support from its long-time Turkish and Qatari state patrons. With his
appointment, the community of responsible nations has a clear opportunity to
demand Ankara and Doha cease this reprehensible largesse.”



CEP Resources:



To read CEPs report on Yahya Sinwar, click here
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To read CEP’s report on former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, click here
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To read CEP’s report on Hamas, click here
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