If there was any media personality liable to say something mind-numbingly dumb after Israel killed Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar on Friday, it was MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin, and lo and behold, he delivered on Alex Wagner Tonight. According to Mohyeldin and the eponymous host, the fact that Sinwar’s death was a happy accident “raises questions” as to just what Israel has been doing over the past year.
Wagner claimed, “The circumstances, and you’re so right to point it out, the circumstances of his death, he's out there, I believe, killed by IDF trainees, right?”
She added, “This is all seemingly incredibly haphazard how it happens, it doesn’t seem like Israel has any intelligence that it’s even Sinwar when it’s in a firefight with him.”
That’s not what “haphazard” means. The troops were on a routine patrol and encountered gunmen and engaged and Sinwar happened to be among the enemy forces. Still, Mohyeldin agreed:
Well, again, that's why there is a lot of questions that need to be asked about the intelligence that goes into what Israel has been doing in Gaza for the past year. 42,000 Palestinians killed, no doubt that there has been moments when Israel has targeted specific people, but if it has been just ‘destroy Gaza and kill everybody who's in there’ as we saw today in this, kind of, like, random way you come across the leader of Hamas, then it raises questions as to what are you actually doing? What are you targeting at this point in the process?
This is real life where even the best intelligence services are staffed by humans, not gods. Israel can determine certain strategic or battlefield targets through technology and on the ground presence, but Sinwar wasn’t wearing a GPS tracking device that said “Here I am. Come get me.” To avoid detection by Israeli and American intelligence, he was reportedly using handwritten notes. He was presumably being transferred from one hiding location to another when he was killed because, despite Wagner and Mohyeldin’s consternations, Israel knew his general, but not precise location.
Furthermore, this is just another example of Israel’s critics being unhappy no matter what it does. When Israel bombs a target, it is accused of being reckless and people demand it be more precise, but when it engages in a firefight with gunmen, it is accused of being “haphazard.”
Here is a transcript for the October 17 show:
MSNBC Alex Wagner Tonight
10/17/2024
9:39 PM ET
ALEX WAGNER: The circumstances, and you’re so right to point it out the circumstances of his death, he's out there, I believe, killed by IDF trainees, right?
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: Right.
WAGNER: This is all seemingly incredibly haphazard how it happens, it doesn’t seem like Israel has any intelligence that it’s even Sinwar when it’s in a firefight with him.
MOHYELDIN: Well, again, that's why there is a lot of questions that need to be asked about the intelligence that goes into what Israel has been doing in Gaza for the past year. 42,000 Palestinians killed, no doubt that there has been moments when Israel has targeted specific, people but if it has been just "destroy Gaza and kill everybody who's in there" as we saw today in this, kind of, like, random way--
WAGNER: Yeah.
MOHYELDIN: --you come across the leader of Hamas, then it raises questions as to what are you actually doing? What are you targeting at this point in the process?
