October 7 marked the demise of Netanyahu's enduring notion of himself as the "guardian and savior of Israel." This occurrence signifies Netanyahu's most significant setback yet, signifying being outmaneuvered and humiliated by a rival who was previously underestimated but has now overwhelmed Netanyahu with his strategic capabilities.
ALWAGHT- The search operations conducted over the past four months since the Gaza war have proven unsuccessful for Netanyahu and his allies. Despite their initial pledges to ensure the swift health and freedom of Zionist captives held by Hamas, the conflict has resulted in the deaths of numerous soldiers and officers, with many more Zionists sustaining injuries. Unfortunately, their search efforts yielded diminishing returns, as they couldn't locate a single person alive during the operations.
Netanyahu now wrestles with daily street demonstrations from Zionist families who perceive him and his military leaders as defeated in the conflict against Hamas. These Zionist families are insisting for a peace accord with the resistance until the remaining captives are no longer endangered by their own air assaults. Netanyahu, leveraging his extensive political insight, must now acknowledge defeat in the face of Yahya Sinwar, the orchestrator of the Al-Aqsa Strom Operation.
Indeed, October 7 dismantled Netanyahu's enduring perception of himself as the "protector and rescuer of Israel," relegating his heroic narrative from contemporary Israeli records to rubble.
This incident appears to constitute Netanyahu's most significant setback, even surpassing the collapse of his cabinet and the revival of his legal proceedings, which the throneless monarch has weathered over his extensive and distinguished political tenure. It signifies him being outwitted and disgraced by a rival who he once underestimated but has now overwhelmed Netanyahu with his strategic capabilities.
The occupied territories' political and media landscape has also been impacted by this setback. Examples of such criticism include the widely-used statements that "Israel is waiting for Hamas" and "Netanyahu is waiting for Sinwar."
This statement alludes to how the Zionist regime's circumstances have changed since the 1967 battle with the Arab forces and how they compare today. Following the Strait of Tiran’s closure that year, the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser declared, "We are waiting for Rabin, the commander of the Israeli army."
Contrarily, Haim Hefer, a Jewish artist aiming to uplift the morale of Israelis before the 1967 war, composed a song in which he inverted Nasser's statement, proclaiming, "Rabin is waiting for Nasser." Consequently, Israeli media once again suggest, hinting at the army's setback in Gaza, that Netanyahu perceives himself awaiting Yahya Sinwar's response to the proposed mediators' agreement.
In this context, Israeli General Israel Ziv, for instance, conveyed to Channel 12 Hebrew: "The fact that we are awaiting Sinwar and not the other way around implies either a lack of military pressure on him or potential exaggerations in the army's reports of successes."
Such taunts have led Netanyahu to thirst even more for Sinwar's blood than the salvation of the captives. He has mobilized all intelligence agencies, the military, and all the espionage capabilities of Western and Arab allies to bring "Abu Ibrahim" to his knees.
Abu Ibrahim, however, has not only proven his leadership in combat, but he has also transformed Gaza into a dead zone and a maze for the occupying forces using cunning military maneuvers. He has been vital to the resistance fighters' success in this area. However, having emerged as the leader of Hamas from the ranks of intelligence and security, he is well-versed in outwitting the Zionists and rendering their efforts to track him down completely futile.
Under such conditions, the Zionists have recently turned to petty games and deceptions in an attempt to track down Sinwar, using psychological warfare to maybe persuade Sinwar to come out of hiding or obtain information.
According to this psychological warfare, Israel's Minister of War, Yoav Gallant, recently said, "Sinwar does not command the war, he has no control over his forces, and his only concern is saving his own skin."
In an attempt to cause division among the combatants and the Hamas leadership, last month, the Israeli army wrote: "Don’t die for Sinwar." They also offered a reward for information on Sinwar's whereabouts. Individuals who are on the list of “Reward for information” are as follows: Mohammed Deif, the commander of Al-Qassam, Mohammed Sinwar (Yahya Sinwar’s brother), and other resistance leaders. Hamas officials were made fun of in these remarks, for example one remark stated, "Oh people of Gaza, Hamas has lost its power, they can't even fry an egg. Hamas's demise is imminent."
The response to this mockery was swift, with one of the movement's prominent leaders stating that they were occupied with "Cooking Merkava." This referred to the destruction of the so-called advanced tanks of the Zionist army, whose videos of destruction by resistance forces had gained traction in the media and on social networks.
In a recent incident where the Minister of War challenged Sinwar's authority, the resistance once again spoke out. Husam Badran, a leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine (Hamas), sarcastically questioned: If Gallant's claims are true and they possess all this information, why did they fail during the "Al-Aqsa Storm" operation on October 7 and beyond?
Badran added: "Commander Sinwar symbolizes the nation's struggle against a criminal regime that has occupied our land and violated our rights."
The psychological warfare waged by the Zionists against Sinwar underscores his influence on the course of the Gaza conflict and the fear he instills in Tel Aviv's leadership.
The aim of psychological warfare is to influence the thoughts, beliefs, emotions, attitudes, and behaviors between civilians and the resistance, between resistance fighters and their leadership, and between the resistance and its allies.
Israel has sought to employ psychological tactics to spread political and moral divisions between civilians and the resistance, even accusing Hamas leaders of using civilians as "human shields."
Leaders of the resistance, particularly Yahya Sinwar, actively participate in the crisis and are present on the battlefield alongside other fighters, managing operations closely. Their efforts have led to the reduction of the Israeli army's resources, the protection of captives, and the neutralization of the Zionists military presence in Gaza. Criticism has been directed at Netanyahu and other senior Israeli military and political figures by the families of captives, families of fallen soldiers, and also by numerous Israeli military personnel. They claim that Netanyahu and other political figures of the Zionist regime remain in safe environments while sending settlers of the occupied lands to the front line to face a courageous leader named Sinwar. Brave leaders like Sinwar are recognized for their direct involvement and leadership.
