Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin

Opinion

Joe Biden and the left must know better than to deal with the devil known as Hamas

Listen up, Joe Biden.

You, too, you college antisemites who drape yourselves in keffiyehs and pledge allegiance to Hamas terrorists. 

The devil in Gaza has spoken, and the whole world must pay attention.

Yahya Sinwar says the deaths of tens of thousands of his fellow Palestinians are “necessary sacrifices.”

He also boasts that “We have the Israelis right where we want them.” 

Got that, stooges?

Now you know why Israelis say Hamas is a death cult. Because it is. 

Sinwar is the psychopath who masterminded the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel and his words, contained in messages obtained by The Wall Street Journal, show he has no more regard for Palestinian civilians than he does for Jewish civilians.

The way he sees it, the more dead on both sides, the better. 

Everyone is cannon fodder in service to his idea of the greatest good, which is to wipe Israel off the map.

His is not a war over boundaries or religious sites or settler grievances.

He aims for nothing short of the elimination of all Israelis.

Genocide is Hamas’ sole purpose for being.

Sinwar’s words convict him as a savage whose death will make the world a better place.

They show there can be no peace as long as he lives.

Which is why it is madness for Biden to join the calls for an immediate cease-fire. Israel, as the victim of a never-ending string of terror attacks that culminated in the bestiality of Oct. 7, must be allowed to finish the job, which means finishing Sinwar and what remains of Hamas’ leadership. 

In one sense, the Journal discovery confirms what many have long known about Hamas’ leaders.

Israelis, whose generosity and doctors saved Sinwar’s life two decades ago, are all too familiar with his bloodlust.

That’s why there is overwhelming public support for the government’s vow to eliminate him and other leaders as part of a strategy to make it impossible for terrorists to ever again control Gaza.

Palestinian civilians know all about Sinwar, too.

They have lived under the gun since Hamas seized power in 2007 and watched as opponents were executed, often after being tortured. 

Civilians also watched as billions in foreign aid were stolen by Sinwar and other kleptocrats, some of whom live in luxury in Qatar.

And they witnessed much of the remaining aid, including construction material, being diverted from civilian use to build the tunnel complex where Hamas hides with its weapons and money. 

Many of those civilians joined Hamas and some joyfully participated in the October atrocities.

Others, such as the so-called journalist who housed three of the Israeli hostages rescued last week, were just as guilty as if they had murdered and raped their way through the kibbutz communities. 

WH can’t spin out of this

But the burden of reacting to Sinwar’s messages falls heaviest on the White House.

It can no longer hide from the fact that his game plan has been the same for years: attack Israel, hide Hamas terrorists and weapons in private homes, schools and mosques, then wait for global public opinion to demand that Israel stop its counterattack before the leadership is killed. 

Then, after a pause, repeat the whole bloody scenario again and again.

If 1,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 civilians are killed, Sinwar never blinks.

The only thing that matters is that the cause of wiping out the Jews survives.

Now that the world sees his depravity, America’s failed strategy in the region must give way to a smarter approach.

The first thing to be scrapped is a budding Biden plan to negotiate with Hamas over the fate of five American citizens among the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The talks, conducted through Qatar officials, would not include Israel and would happen only if the stalemate between Israel and the terrorists continues. 

Talk about stupidity.

The fall-back plan is an invitation for Hamas to break off talks with Israel and draw America deeper into the mess, with the aim of further restraining Israel and running out the clock.

This is what Sinwar meant when he said recently that “we have the Israelis right where we want them.” 

He meant bogged down in negotiations, with America threatening to withdraw support if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t knuckle under to its peacenik ideas.

Unfortunately, Biden is all too willing to play the fool. Alarmed by his falling poll numbers, especially among young voters in swing states, he has repeatedly tightened the screws on Israel in hopes of ending the war and salvaging a second term.

Indeed, his entire approach has been a disaster.

His refusal to confront Iran over its role as the chief paymaster and strategist of Hamas, as well as Hezbollah and the Houthis, has reduced him to pressuring Israel into compromises Netanyahu believes threaten its survival. 

Biden, along with Britain and others in Europe, also tipped their hands that they want Netanyahu defeated in the next election. 

The result is that Hamas feels emboldened and knows that time is on its side.

The fact that Sinwar sees Palestinian civilian deaths as signs of success underscores why negotiations have been fruitless. 

Now that there can be no doubt that Israel faces a monster, Biden must take the handcuffs off of Netanyahu.

Anything less opens the door for Sinwar’s goal of endless bloodshed.

Butcher’s betrayal 

File this one under no good deed goes unpunished. 

The story of how Israeli doctors saved Yahya Sinwar’s life in 2004 is brilliantly recounted by Judith Miller in Tablet magazine. 

She writes that he was nicknamed the “Butcher of Khan Yunis” and was arrested in 1988 for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he believed were collaborators.

He was convicted and given four life sentences. 

Sixteen years later, in 2004, a prison doctor concluded that Sinwar’s many ailments were caused by a potentially fatal brain tumor. 

After surgery, Sinwar returned to the prison where, Miller writes, he thanked the doctor “and the rest of the prison medical staff for having saved his life — in excellent Hebrew.”

Sinwar was released in an exchange deal in 2011, one of more than 1,000 Israeli-held prisoners swapped for the return of a single Israeli soldier who had been abducted, Gilad Shalit.

Hunter’s pardoner in chief 

My prediction: President Biden will break his pledge not to pardon son Hunter. 

The only question is under what circumstances will the president wipe away Hunter’s conviction on three federal gun charges. 

One potential avenue is that if Biden loses in November, he will act during his lame-duck period.

At that point, few people will care or blame him.

Another option is that a Biden victory in November would give him more time to break the promise.

The criticism would be louder, but so what?

In this case, victory and defeat both have their privileges.