Reading the news last week that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ pitiless leader, was killed by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza Strip, I had the same sense of elation so many people felt when Osama bin Laden was eliminated.
To take satisfaction in the violent end of another human being, even an enemy, is almost always wrong, but there are exceptions. Sinwar’s death — like bin Laden’s in 2011, or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s in 2019, or Hassan Nasrallah’s last month — is among them.
I’m not alone in the feeling — and I don’t just mean among people who share my politics. In The New York Times’ report on Sinwar’s death, a 22-year-old Palestinian identified as Mohammed said the news marked "the best day of my life.”
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