For anyone living with the delusion that Israel will one day be at peace with the Hamas regime in Gaza, this illusion has become even more unlikely following elections in Hamastine.

Elected to replace Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was Yahya Sinwar, a senior member of Hamas’ military wing and one of the terrorists released by Israel in the infamous Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.

Hamas Prime Minister Yahya Sinwar will however still be working with Ismail, who is going to replace Khaled Meshal, who headed the political bureau of Hamas. The newly-elected 52-year-old Hamastine PM is a known hard-liner and radical, as well as a senior official in Izzadin el-Kassam, the party’s military wing.

Prior to being released by Israel in the Shalit deal, he served 22 years in prison for murdering his own people, those suspected of collaborating with Israel. He was also a part of the planning of the 1994 kidnapping and murder of IDF soldier Sgt. Nachshon Wachsman HY”D.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)