The trial of Yahya Sinwar: An opening statement

While we await confirmation of the IDF’s hopeful assassination of Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief, and while the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Israeli taxpayer must fund defense for the Nukhba murderers, I began to think about what I would want to see happen to Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.

Death is not good enough for him, and I began to hope for his being captured and put on trial in Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital.

As the Eichmann Trial was used to shed light on Nazi crimes, so too should a Sinwar Trial be used to shed light on Hamas barbarity. What I’ve written below is a first draft opening statement for the Sinwar Trial, written in the style of Gideon Hausner, the chief prosecutor of Adolf Eichmann:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the court,

We stand here today in solemn reflection, tasked with a grave duty that history has imposed upon us. This is not merely a trial; it is a moral reckoning. The man before us, Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar, is accused not only of crimes against individuals but against humanity itself. He is charged with orchestrating the heinous atrocities of October 7, 2023, which reverberated through the heart of Israel and shocked the conscience of the world.

When I stand before you here, Judges of Israel, to lead the prosecution of Yahya Sinwar, I am not standing alone. With me here are almost 16 million accusers, the entire population of world Jewry. They are not only victims of Sinwar’s crimes in Israel and Gaza, but the victims of the crimes of his followers, his useful idiots overseas who for all the allures of antisemitism, seek to see Hamas’ moral code supplant that of Western liberal democracy. They have sought to harm, intimidate, and shame world Jewry, only for being Jews.

With me are a further one thousand two hundred accusers, but they cannot rise to their feet and point an accusing finger towards him who sits in this dock and cry: “I accuse.” For their bodies are buried throughout the cemetaries of Israel, their ashes in their burnt homes and buried cars, their remains scattered on the dry earth of Israel’s kibbutzim, moshavim, farmlands, and the now sacred ground of the Nova Festival. Their blood cries out, but their voice is not heard. Therefore, I will be their spokesman and in their name, I will unfold the terrible indictment.

On that fateful day of October 7, hundreds of innocent lives were torn apart by acts of unthinkable cruelty. Men, women, and children were subjected to barbaric violence, their lives extinguished in a storm of terror. Babies were killed in their cribs, some decapitated, and some burned to death in ovens in front of their parents. Parents were killed before their children. Families were butchered. Women and young girls were raped, and the perpetrators, Sinwar’s henchmen and suicide squad, rejoiced with the killing of each Jew.

These were not acts of war; they were calculated executions designed to instill fear, to break the spirit of a people, and to undermine the very foundations of civilization. Families were shattered, communities were devastated, and a nation was left to mourn its dead and comfort its wounded. Today, we are still missing over 100 of our countrymen, held hostage in Gaza’s dungeons. We pray for their speedy release each day.

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, stands as the architect of this brutality. His hands are stained with the blood of innocents, and his heart is cold to their suffering - Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Arabs, alike. He has wielded power not to build, but to destroy; not to foster peace, but to propagate hatred; not to seek justice, but to perpetuate terror. Under his command, Hamas has not only launched rockets and suicide bombings but has also engaged in kidnappings, torture, rape, and the indiscriminate killing of civilians. Sinwar’s reign of terror has brought untold suffering to both the people of Israel and Gaza, and has turned Gaza into a stronghold of fear and oppression. He, Meshaal, Haniyeh, and others, seek to do the same to not only the West Bank, but all of Israel too.

In his pursuit of a twisted ideology, Sinwar has shown a blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. His commands have resulted in a campaign of terror that violates every principle of humanity and decency. Indeed, of natural law. It is our duty to hold him accountable, to ensure that justice is served, and to affirm the values that bind us as human beings. We must make it unequivocally clear that such acts of inhumanity will not go unpunished, that those who perpetrate terror will be brought to justice, and that the international community will stand united against such evils. We know that the latter is becoming harder and harder to achieve each day.

Remember, this is not the first time this man has sat in that dock. His hair may be greyer, but the evil in his eyes remains. In 1989, he was sentenced to four life sentences for orchestrating the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian Arabs he perceived to be collaborators. His actions then, though brutal in their own right, pale in comparison to his later acts. He was known to strangle suspected Palestinian Arab collaborators with his own hands, digging holes and burying people alive in cement. These are not allegations, but details from Sinwar’s own admissions, of how he deals with his enemies. It is one of the tragedies of our already tragic history that this man was prematurely released after serving just 22 years in jail. Let’s let neither him nor his ideology slip through our fingers again.

Sinwar’s crimes extend far beyond the bloodshed of October 7. He has dug hundreds of miles of tunnels underneath civilian populations, turning entire neighborhoods into potential death traps. These tunnels are not merely strategic; they are a testament to his willingness to endanger innocent lives for the sake of his militant ambitions. He is responsible for the kidnapping and holding hostage of over 250 Israeli civilians, using their lives as bargaining chips in his ruthless game of power. He has ordered schools to be used as rocket storehouses, hospitals as military headquarters, and the Israeli army has unearthed an untold number of civilian homes, and children’s bedrooms, used to store weaponry. This is not a man who loves the Palestinian Arabs. It is a man who hates Israel and who will use his people, dead or alive, in furtherance of his devil’s arithmetic.

Sinwar has systematically used civilian sites for military purposes, a blatant violation of international laws designed to protect non-combatants. Schools, hospitals, and homes have become shields for his fighters, putting countless lives at risk. He has looted aid from the United Nations, diverting resources meant for the desperate and needy to fuel his war machine. His interference with international humanitarian efforts in Gaza has exacerbated the suffering of his own people, showing a wanton disregard for their well-being. Under his leadership, Gaza has not only been a launching pad for terror but also a place where hope and humanity are systematically crushed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is also crucial to understand the depth of Sinwar’s betrayal and duplicity. In 2011, he was released by Israel as part of a prisoner trade for Gilad Shalit, along with 1,026 other Palestinian prisoners. This was a gesture of hope and reconciliation, yet Sinwar turned it into an opportunity for further devastation. Morever, while in Israeli prison, he had been treated for brain cancer, and had a tumor removed by Jewish surgeons. Even as they fought to save his life, he was plotting to take theirs. While these doctors’ lifesaving tools were literally on his mind, their deaths were on his. This act of benevolence was met with unyielding malevolence, a testament to the depths of his hatred and the extent of his cruelty.

Today we remember the words of Golda Meir, who poignantly said, "We may forgive you for killing our children, but we can never forgive you for making us kill yours.” She also said, "Peace will come when the Palestinians love their children more than they hate Israel." Sinwar has stood for everything that is wrong with a Hamas-dominated Palestinian Arab society. He has rejoiced with each Palestinian death, having made the fatal calculation - albeit correctly - that the world will likely condemn Israel for that death more than Hamas. He has used the world’s political far-left and woke mob as useful pawns, indeed useful idiots, in his fight against Israel, manipulating international opinion to serve his sinister objectives. While he sought to destroy a Western democracy in Israel, his followers abroad - intentional or not - sought to undermine American and European liberalism and decency, all for the sake of eroding support for Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy. They, like many others, have fallen for his trap.

Through this trial, we intend to prove all of this and more.

This trial is a testament to our commitment to justice, to the belief that no one is above the law, and that the cries of the innocent will not go unheard. We are here to bear witness to the truth, to unmask the horror, and to confront the evil that has been unleashed. It is a solemn responsibility, but one we must embrace with unwavering resolve. The world must see that we are resolute in our pursuit of justice, that we are steadfast in our defense of human rights, and that we are committed to ensuring that justice is served.

Morever, this trial serves to show the world’s Jews that Israel seeks to protect them, when their own governments often will not or cannot.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the evidence we shall present will lay bare the extent of Sinwar's crimes. We shall hear the harrowing testimonies of survivors, we shall see the incontrovertible proof of his guilt, and we shall expose the monstrous nature of his deeds. Let this trial serve as a beacon of justice, a warning to those who would follow in his footsteps, and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. We will recount the stories of those who suffered under his orders, and we will bring to light the full extent of his malevolent actions. There is no other court to take on this role, as Palestinian Authority courts are not guided by the rule of law.

As we proceed, we must remember the faces of the victims—the children who will never grow up, the parents who will never again embrace their children, and the countless lives forever altered by Sinwar’s heinous acts. His victims are not only Jewish Israelis, but Arab Palestinians too. We owe it to them to pursue this trial with the utmost diligence, to leave no stone unturned, and to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to be done.

We must also recognize that this trial is not just about punishing the guilty; it is about healing the wounds of the afflicted, restoring the dignity of the victims, and reaffirming our collective commitment to the principles of justice and humanity. This is our chance to send a powerful message to the world—that we will not tolerate terror, that we will stand up against oppression, and that we will fight for a future where such atrocities are but a distant memory.

We are not our enemies. We live and breathe by the rule of law. We have inherited not only the laws of Abraham and Moses, but the human rights regime, as it was intended to be used, set out by prominent Jews like Raphael Lemkin who drafted the law of genocide, Hersh Lauterpacht, who drafted the laws of crimes against humanity, and Rene Cassin, the drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, we charge Sinwar with genocide, with crimes against humanity, with breaching the most basic rules of human rights, including the laws of war, and even natural law. No human should ever have to see his child burned alive; no woman forced to see her daughter raped.

Today, as you look at the man sitting in the dock, know that the Jewish legacy we seek to perpetuate is one of justice and light. The legacy that man stands for is one of murder, violence, torture, fundamentalism, and darkness. There is no question which legacy improves the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the court, let us proceed with the gravity and determination that this moment demands. Let us ensure that justice prevails, that Yahya Sinwar is held accountable for his actions, and that the world remembers this trial as a turning point in the fight against terror and inhumanity. Justice must prevail, and Yahya Sinwar must be held accountable for his actions.

We call our first witness.

Adam Humme lis a lawyer in Toronto, specializing in immigration law and estates litigation. He is an active member of Toronto's Jewish community, and enjoys reading, spending time with his kids, and fish tacos.