'Sinwar represents the most extreme element in Hamas organisation', expert says
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00:00The appointment of Sen Moua as the new political chief for Hamas is a blow for anybody who's
00:06pushing peace in the region, is it not?
00:10It certainly is.
00:11And I don't think anyone who's been dealing with Hamas has been talking about peace with
00:14Hamas.
00:15But there were those in the Arab world, in the moderate Sunni states, the ones that have
00:18peace with Israel, who have been talking about a plan of integrating Hamas into the Palestine
00:24Liberation Organization under the clauses of accepting the Oslo agreements between Israel
00:30and Hamas.
00:31The appointment of Yahya Sen Moua puts an end to those hopes that Hamas might be moderated
00:37or might be pragmatic.
00:38Sen Moua represents the most extreme elements in Hamas.
00:42He has aligned himself with the Iranians and the other proxies of Israel, even though he's
00:47been disappointed that they have not joined fully in the war against Israel.
00:51This is a blow to the people of Gaza, I believe, who were hoping that they might have a future
00:58of more moderation and hope.
01:02And what does it mean, most importantly, for the negotiations to release those Israeli
01:06hostages still in Gaza?
01:09I'm not sure that it changes the parameters of the negotiations, because until now, while
01:13Yahya Sen Moua didn't have the only word, Hamas leaders have told me that he has the
01:18final word.
01:19And the final word has created an agreement that Prime Minister Netanyahu refuses to accept.
01:24And Prime Minister Netanyahu keeps adding additional conditions and red lines of Israel
01:27to the agreement, to the point that Netanyahu's own military chiefs are in opposition to him
01:33and believe that Israel needs to take the deal.
01:36In my own personal opinion, there needs to be a negotiated deal that doesn't spread over
01:40months but lasts for a maximum of six weeks, brings all the Israeli hostages home and puts
01:45an end to this war.
01:47And there are ways of doing that.
01:48But that's not what's currently on the table.
01:51Coming back to Sen Moua, he's believed to be hiding in the tunnels underneath Gaza and
01:55as we heard there, has become Israel's number one target.
01:58But given their failure in locating their very own hostages, are they likely to track
02:03him down?
02:04Gaza is not that big a territory and Israel has destroyed most of the infrastructure of
02:10most of Gaza.
02:12It is likely that sooner or later they will find where he is hiding along with other members
02:17of the leadership.
02:18He might be surrounded by Israeli hostages, he might be in a tunnel that's booby trapped
02:22and intends to blow it up and kill all the hostages along with a number of Israeli soldiers.
02:27It is very unlikely that he will ever surrender.
02:30It is very unlikely that we will see him emerging from the tunnels at any point in the near
02:34future.
02:35But Israel continues its mission, collecting intelligence information, interrogating prisoners
02:40that it captures and of course destroying more and more of the Gaza Strip in order to
02:44find him.
02:45I think the appointment of Sinwar basically means that this is going to be a fight to
02:49death for Sinwar and the Hamas leadership in Gaza.
02:53Now in regards to Israel and Netanyahu's future, protests against him and his government continue
02:58but he's still firmly remaining in the job.
03:02This despite reported military anger at his lack of a day after strategy for Gaza.
03:08Now with Sinwar having been appointed as leader of Hamas, what does that mean for Netanyahu
03:14and his political position?
03:17Netanyahu wants to continue this war because the longer the war continues, the longer it's
03:21clear to him that he will remain in power.
03:23The fact that the military and the national security establishment is against Netanyahu
03:28right now doesn't really mean anything because we won't have a military coup d'etat here.
03:33We have a democratic system and it will take a majority vote in our parliament to oust
03:37him or to call for new elections.
03:40It only requires five members of the ruling coalition to vote against the coalition but
03:44it seems that the cracks that exist within the coalition are not yet ready to vote against
03:49themselves and bring about new elections, even if the majority of Israelis really want
03:53that to take place right now.
03:55Gershon Baskin, thanks again for joining us.