‘Shouts of gladness’: Yahya Sinwar is dead

“When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness” - Proverbs 11:10

Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind October 7, is dead. As the U.S. Department of State rejoiced on Thursday, “The world is a better place with him gone.”

Barbarous, impenitent, and evil to his core, Sinwar had been pursued by the Jewish military since his orchestrated massacre of over 1,000 Israelis more than one year ago. However, October 7, 2023, was not the first time the Hamas leader appeared on Israel’s radar.

Indeed, Sinwar spent more than two decades in prison for abducting and murdering two Israeli soldiers along with four Palestinians suspected of aiding the “Little Satan.” During his incarceration, Sinwar penned what Google Books called a “compelling,” “deeply touching novel,” “a prophetic view into the future of the region,” “The Thorn and the Carnation.” The paperback still sells in the U.S. for $32.86.

Consider “The Thorn and the Carnation,” Sinwar’s “Mein Kampf.” The semi-autobiographical novel, which Sinwar snuck out of prison short passages at a time, laid the ideological groundwork for his future most violent work: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The would-be terrorist leader behind the pen abhorred his captors; he schemed to have his revenge.

Israel, he seethed, must not be allowed to exist.

In 2011, Sinwar was released in a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas. He was one of over 1,000 detainees set free in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Stepping into freedom for the first time since 1989, Sinwar owed his life, ironically, to an Israeli doctor who had treated him three years prior for a brain tumor.

Sinwar did not return the kindness.

Elected to serve in Hamas in 2012, he quickly began to harass the nation of his captivity. Five years later, he became the leader of the terrorist organization, swearing off any possibility of a two-state solution. Sinwar frequently fired rockets into Israel. But the crowning jewel of his evil empire of terror had yet to be unleashed.

The atrocities of October 7, the single worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, stunned the world. Sinwar relished in the carnage.

“We will come to you, God willing, in a roaring flood,” he had threatened months before the attack. “We will come to you with endless rockets, we will come to you in a limitless flood of soldiers, we will come to you with millions of our people, like the repeating tide.”

He more than kept his word.

The blood had only just dried in the homes and kindergartens where Sinwar’s fighters had slaughtered innocent families before Hamas threatened to repeat their crimes.

“We must teach Israel a lesson,” one leader blazoned on live television, “and we will do this again and again. [October 7] is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.”

To millions of sane, clear-minded souls, it was an unimaginable horror; to Sinwar, it was a sick, twisted dream come true.

A dream that demanded death.   

In the age-old fight against the forces of darkness, there is, of course, only one suitable response to that kind of evil: elimination. Yahya Sinwar was not interested in negotiations or appeasement. He, by his own admission, meant to kill and kill and kill, until the whole region suffered under his merciless thumb. Sending such a monster into an overdue grave, as Israel did on Wednesday, was the right thing to do.

Now, it’s time to offer up our “shouts of gladness,” as well as prayers that the filth of his memory will wash away in peace.

“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza,” rejoiced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This is the beginning of the day after Hamas. This is an opportunity for you, the residents of Gaza, to finally break free from its tyranny.”

“Sinwar died while beaten, persecuted and on the run,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant mocked. “He didn’t die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself.”

May the Lord God of Israel see to it that Sinwar's ignoble name is quickly forgotten and that his satanic forces of darkness are never again allowed to rise in the absence of their lead demon.