October 21, 2024 | The Dispatch
How the U.S. Should Respond to the Death of Yahya Sinwar
It’s time to put pressure on Qatar, a U.S. ally that has provided refuge to Hamas leaders.
October 21, 2024 | The Dispatch
How the U.S. Should Respond to the Death of Yahya Sinwar
It’s time to put pressure on Qatar, a U.S. ally that has provided refuge to Hamas leaders.
Excerpt
Hamas chief and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar is dead. In contrast with the recent series of strikes that culminated in the death of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, this was not one of those signature Israeli pinpoint operations driven by intelligence. It was dumb luck that a handful of young Israeli soldiers on patrol stumbled upon the most wanted man in Gaza. Regardless, the momentum of this war has unmistakably shifted.
And now it’s crucial to capitalize on this shift in momentum. That’s not likely to happen through garden variety calls for diplomacy by the Biden administration. The proper move for the White House is to play hardball—and not with Israel, for a change. Rather, it’s with Qatar.
Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @JSchanzer. Natalie Ecanow is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a non-partisan research institute in Washington, D.C., focusing on national security and foreign policy.