'Israelis view Yahya Sinwar who masterminded the October 7 attack as a criminal'

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00:00Of course, Israelis view Yair Hassinwar, who masterminded the October 7th attack, as a

00:06criminal, a murderer, an arch-terrorist.

00:09And so just really minutes after he was announced to now be the new political chief of Hamas,

00:16we heard Israeli leaders coming out, even the head of the spokesman for the Israeli

00:22army saying, you know, we only have one place for Yair Hassinwar, and that's right next

00:28to Mohamed Def.

00:31That is his deputy, who Israel assassinated a couple weeks ago.

00:36Hassinwar has long been on Israel's, at the top of Israel's wanted list.

00:41And it's clear that killing Sinwar for Israel will be a kind of turning point in the war.

00:50And the fact that he's now the political chief only makes that more true for the Israelis.

00:56Having said that, you know, from the Palestinian camp, I don't think this is a surprise.

01:02Some view Sinwar as a hero for his attack.

01:06But it does show that Hamas is unwilling to moderate or soften its positions, including

01:15any future, future steps, for example, giving up its arms, demilitarizing and being part

01:23of a larger Palestinian ruling body in the Gaza Strip.

01:29I mean, the selection of Yair Hassinwar as the head of Hamas signals that it will continue

01:35to be an extremist, violent terrorist organization instead of evolving, if you want to say, into

01:44a political body that has a place in kind of the mainstream Palestinian camp.

01:53And that, I think, is a bad sign and a bad development, even for Palestinians.

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