One would hope that even the leader of a brutal terrorist group would express some small sign of grief upon hearing of the death of his children and grandchildren.
A terrorist leader might have little respect for the dignity and humanity of his enemies, but surely he would recognize the dignity of his own flesh and blood, wouldn’t he?
Well, Ismail Haniyeh, who, according to The New York Times, has been the leader of Hamas’ political wing from exile, had nary a tear to shed in response to the news that Israeli forces had killed some of his children and grandchildren in an airstrike on Wednesday.
According to The Times of Israel, the sons killed were Hazem, Amir and Mohammad, in addition to four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren, three girls and a boy.
Israel contended that the three sons were operatives in the terror group, and the Israeli Defense Force said that the three men were “en route to carry out terror activity in the area of central Gaza.”
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And Haniyeh did not seem the least bit fazed by his sons’ violent deaths at the hands of his enemy.
He told news network Al Jazeera in a phone interview, “The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position … the blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people.”
But the most chilling response from Haniyeh came from a video shared by Sky News Australia on the social media platform X on Wednesday.
The video purported to show the moment that Haniyeh was informed of the death of his children and grandchildren.
This is the moment Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh received news that his sons were killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces confirmed it killed Haniyeh’s three sons – claiming they were terrorists. https://t.co/UzJbbSBhHW pic.twitter.com/uQLQFOJnYB
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 10, 2024
According to Sky News, the video took place while Haniyeh was touring a hospital in Dona, Qatar, where the Hamas leader lives in exile.
In the course of this tour, one of Haniyeh’s aides played a report regarding his sons’ deaths on his phone.
Haniyeh leaned in to listen to the report, and asked for clarification from the aide, who confirmed the grandchildren had likewise perished. Haniyeh then nodded his head as he absorbed the information.
Then, according to the English captions on the video, Haniyeh said in response ,”God rest their souls. May God have ease on them. God willing, our God –“
The aide then cut him off, asking, “Shall we end the visit?” to which Haniyeh responded, perfectly nonchalantly, “No, why? Let’s continue,” before concluding with a perfunctory, “May God rest their souls,” as they walked out of the room.
Hopefully none of his surviving family members witnessed this calm callousness in response to the deaths of their loved ones.
Considering not only his adult sons, but several of his grandchildren, died in the attack, one would have hoped that Haniyeh could have shown more regret or emotion than the half-hearted platitudes he expressed in the video.
Should Israel bring this war to a final close?
Of course, it would be undignified and unprofessional for a political leader to have an emotional breakdown in public.
But haven’t people witnessed leaders at least struggle to hold back intense emotions when receiving heartbreaking news in public?
No one who lived through it could ever forget the shock on George W. Bush’s face when he received the news about the attack on the World Trade Center when reading stories to elementary school children on 9/11.
Indeed, even the late Queen Elizabeth II, famous for her motto “never complain, never explain,” had been seen struggling with tears at deeply emotional moments during her reign.
But when Haniyeh heard that his sons had been killed fighting the war that he wanted?
He expressed barely more than indifference, an indifference that was nothing short of chilling.
If Haniyeh could respond so indifferently to the deaths of his own flesh and blood, how would he respond to the deaths of those fighting on his behalf?
Haniyeh’s reaction should give Hamas and the Palestinians some pause.
A religion and a culture that has historically glorified death and violence is sure to see more of that.
And leaders like Haniyeh clearly put that ethos into action.
