Sinwar: ‘What’s in a name?’ By any other name it is known as evil

The now confirmed death, at the hands of IDF forces, of Yahya Sinwar – the 61-year-old leader of the Hamas terrorist group and a key mastermind behind the brutal Oct. 7, 2023 raid into Israel that claimed 1,200 innocent lives while taking 240 more victims as hostages – brings both good news and bad for Israel. Sinwar – who is shown in a video seeking safety within Gaza’s tunnels, along with his family, hours before the raid – met his end on Oct. 16, 2024 in a “precise, targeted strike” in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.

With Sinwar, rarely could there be a more contrarian example in the meaning of a name and the kind of life that person lived. The Hamas leader bore the last name of “Sinwar” and while Kabalarian philosophy attaches certain personality traits to first names, the attributes it attaches to “Sinwar” were not indicative of the life this modern day Adolf Hitler lived.

Kabalarian philosophy suggests Sinwar is a name that is indicative of one who is “friendly, approachable, and generous … good-natured” and is inclined “to be sympathetic and generous to those in difficult or unfortunate circumstances.” That was not the personality portrayed by a brutal Sinwar. Ironically, his attributes were much more accurately reflected by the connotations of the two negative English words “sin” and “war” making up his name.

Sinwar was an early member of Hamas who established himself as a “radical Islamist ideologue utterly committed to Israel’s destruction.” He has been responsible for the most deaths of Jews since Hitler’s reign of terror.

One of Israel’s main objectives during the current Gaza war was to eliminate Sinwar for his principal role in the October raid. In fact, a $400,000 bounty had been put on his head. It was not the first time Israel had targeted the terrorist – evidenced by scars Sinwar bore. Until Oct. 16, the Hamas leader proved very skillful at hiding and disguising himself – even dressing like a Muslim woman on occasion – to avoid being killed. Fortunately for him, photos of a dead Sinwar showed him donning more appropriate male attire at the time of his death.

The good news now for the Israelis is that never again will he sin nor initiate war against them. Interestingly, their success in eliminating Sinwar was only made possible by Israel’s decision in May of 2024 to ignore demands by the Biden/Harris administration that it not invade Rafah, which may well be why Sinwar sought safety.

Although Israel has rid humanity of a bloody abuser, there is bad news as well.

When it comes to like-minded terrorists of Sinwar’s ilk who are totally committed to Israel’s destruction, governing bodies such as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) operate an educational “conveyor belt” by which every generation of Palestinians are taught to hate the Jews. Such indoctrination is taught as early as possible to children, even to the point of putting on classroom performances in which they play terrorist roles. This occurs in foreign-funded schools where they play-act executing IDF soldiers.

Thus, Sinwar’s demise brings to mind the quote traced back to the Bible’s Old Testament, “Be careful what you wish for because you may get it in greater measure than you expect.” There will always be the fear now that Sinwar could well be replaced by a “Sinwar on steroids.”

Unsurprisingly, Hamas reported it will not reveal the name of Sinwar’s permanent successor once it has been determined, although an interim leader has been appointed.

Despite Sinwar’s departure from this world, a hatred for Jews will always be fueled by Hamas and the PA. It will continue for as long as the Palestinian people fail to question why they continue to live in poverty and are used as human shields while their leaders come and go, living lives of wealth and luxury. This is evidenced by the top three Hamas leaders, worth an estimated $11 billion, who live, not with their people, but in luxury and safety in Qatar. (Palestinians should watch the video footage of Sinwar and his family escaping into Gaza’s tunnels on Oct. 6 of last year as it shows his wife clutching to a $32,000 Hermes Birkin handbag – a telling observation in view of the fact that in 2022, Palestinians earned a little over $3,000 annually.)

There is another aspect of bad news for Israel being fed by Sinwar’s death.

As Allied armies closed in on Berlin towards the end of World War II, there was rejoicing in the streets in every democratic nation upon learning of Hitler’s death. Things are definitely different today as there are those who fail to similarly embrace Sinwar’s death. No better example of this exists than the American and British social media personality and convert to Islam, former professional kickboxer and self-declared misogynist Andrew Tate.

In the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, Tate published the following outrageous post glorifying Sinwar:

“I can only pray for a death as heroic as Yahya Sinwar. Brave, defiant in the face of evil and dedicated to his lifes purpose. He deserves eternal rest. He earnt it.”

While such a post is indicative of someone who has probably taken one too many kicks to the head, Taylor’s comments will undoubtedly help fuel keffiyeh-wearing, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas college protesters who have been demonstrating on campuses across the country. In their case, while such support cannot be attributed to hits to the head, it is more a reflection of hits to the mind provided by the anti-Jewish, anti-American professors now filling academia’s ranks.

Concerning Sinwar’s name – and taking editorial license with Shakespeare’s line from “Romeo and Juliet” – “What’s in a name? By any other name it is known as evil.”

Lt. Col. James Zumwalt

Lt. Col. James G. Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of three books on the Vietnam war, North Korea and Iran as well as hundreds of op-eds. Read more of Lt. Col. James Zumwalt's articles here.


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