On October 17, Israel Defense Forces released an extraordinary drone video. The drone flies through the open window of a mostly destroyed building towards a man sitting in an armchair, his face mostly covered. The chair is surrounded by debris, and the man appears to be injured. As the drone approaches, the man throws a stick at it, and the video ends. The footage records the final moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the orgy of murder and sexual violence that unfolded on 7 October 2023, causing the deaths of more than 1,100 people.
The documentarian and journalist Pierre Rehov believes that, in the increasingly bloody war between Israel and her enemies, Sinwar’s death is significant. Rehov is familiar with war: he was born to a Jewish family in French Algiers, where his school was attacked by terrorists from the Algerian National Front of Liberation. In 1961, his family was forced to join the exodus of pied-noirs who were fleeing Algeria as the massacres became more frequent. The family settled in France, but in 2008 Rehov left for America due to the growing climate of antisemitism in France. In 2011, he moved to Tel Aviv, where he lives now.
As a journalist, Rehov writes regularly for Le Figaro, Valeurs Actuelle, The Jerusalem Post, and other outlets. He has released a number of documentaries, including The Path to Darkness, which documents what he saw while embedded with U.S. cavalry in Baghdad during 2008. His most recent—Pogrom(s): Could America Be Next?—includes an on-camera interview with Yuval Bitton, the former head of intelligence for the Israeli Prison Service. Bitton helped save Sinwar’s life: incarcerated for murder, Sinwar developed a brain tumor and was saved by an Israeli surgeon, before being released in a 2011 prisoner swap.
Rehov places the October 7 massacre in the context of historic pogroms; Muslims, he reminds the viewer, were the first to force Jews to wear a yellow patch. It is essential viewing for anyone who wishes to understand the current conflict. Rehov spoke to The European Conservative about this extraordinary moment in Israeli history.
What is the significance of Sinwar’s death at the hands of the IDF?
Sinwar was the main architect of the October 7 pogrom. It is certain that Israel would have preferred to capture him alive and put him on trial, with an outcome perhaps similar to that of Eichmann. Many hoped that his capture would mark the end of the war and the release of the hostages. But his ‘accidental’ death at the hands of young conscripts who didn’t even know who was in front of them, on the first day of Sukkot, a year after the massacre on the last day of Sukkot, has a very strong symbolic impact, making it almost mythical. This is important for a people who are very spiritual, who try to see signs and recognize a connection with the divine, at a time when, once again, they feel abandoned by the rest of the world. On a more pragmatic note, the disappearance of this pivotal figure in the terrorist nebula is a major blow to the mastermind of regional destabilization: Iran.
With Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh gone, what’s next for Hamas?
Hamas feeds on the misfortune it produces as long as it is able to convince people that it belongs to the ‘resistance’ camp. The whole strategy of destroying Israel is based on this, with the support of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Qatar is the ‘financial leader.’ This is an organization that took decades to build up its network of terror inside Gaza and Judea Samaria. The disappearance of its leaders has had a colossal impact on the morale of its members, but what’s most interesting to observe is the turnaround of the Palestinians since the elimination of Sinwar and Haniyeh. Three months ago, 78% of Gazans supported Hamas. Today, only 52% do. This fits in perfectly with the Arab mentality I know so well, which consists of always siding with the strongest, even if it’s only temporary.
The next step Hamas is trying to achieve without losing face is a hudnah, a temporary truce, to get the time they need to strengthen and regroup. That’s why they won’t accept any deal for the release of the hostages that doesn’t include a definitive ceasefire. But Israel has called their bluff. The weaker Hamas becomes, the more they’ll be in a position to surrender unconditionally. But don’t believe them when they say they prefer death to life. Yes, they prefer the death of their civilians as long as they can use them as human shields. But in the end, they’re just a bunch of fanatical gangsters who will always try to put the personal interests of their leaders before anything else.
In your documentary Pogrom, you describe how Hamas tapped into the deep historical memory of the Jews to reinforce the psychological impact of the terror perpetrated on October 7. Hezbollah and Hamas have been devastated, and Iran is increasingly isolated without its proxies. Has their plan backfired, strengthening Israeli resolve rather than paralyzing them?
What I’m observing is the last black swan song. I think the Israeli government has, at last, decided to adopt a hard-line stance and, unlike in previous conflicts, will only accept total victory. It’s 76 years since this victory should have been declared against the Arabs who call themselves ‘Palestinians’ and who have no legitimacy on Jewish land. They have long been able to pass themselves off as the victims in the eyes of the international community, which was their strength, with the cowardly support of corrupt governments and left-wing media.
But this time, it’s a question of survival for Israel. And if, for the Jewish people, life is the most important thing, including that of the enemy, the terrorists have unknowingly crossed a red line. This is the mistake everyone makes when they confuse the generosity and humanity of the Israelis with a form of weakness. Strength is not the capacity for violence at any moment. Quite the opposite, in fact. Today, two concepts dominate Israeli strategy. “Si vis pacem para bellum” (If you want peace, prepare for war) and “If someone gets up to kill you, get up and kill him first.” Iran, the octopus whose tentacles are trying to suffocate Israel, has ignored Israel’s quiet strength and is now paying the price. I think this is just the beginning.
You experienced war and terrorism as a child in Algeria and as a reporter in Baghdad and Durah. How different is the conflict in which Israel finds itself? Does living in a country facing war on seven fronts bring back memories?
A country at war, whether it’s being attacked on seven fronts or just one, is still a country at war, with that unbridled atmosphere that I experienced as a child in Algeria and that I find again today in Israel. Away from the front, life goes on with its daily worries; only the threat of possible violence, which seems so far away, is added. Strangely enough, I feel much safer here than I did in France, where I lived for a long time. I’m more worried about my family members who have stayed in the Paris region. The most important thing for a Jew is to be able to defend himself. Unfortunately, this ability can only be found in Israel. I’m a fervent advocate of self-defense because I have no confidence in current Western governments. In Israel, when I go to the supermarket, I see young women in shorts and t-shirts carrying M16s. I know that these weapons, carried by young people who could be my grandchildren, are there to protect me. It’s well worth living in a country at war, because the entire free world is at war with Islam. The difference is that here, nothing is allowed to pass.
Antisemitism is on the rise on both the Left and the Right. How do Israelis feel when they witness it?
What we feel can be summed up in one sentence. It’s time for all European Jews to go home. I mean, to come to Israël. I’m not so sure about the USA, where the antisemitic tradition is not nearly as deeply rooted as it is on the other side of the Atlantic. American Jews are a power, and despite the antisemitic riots fomented in American universities with money from Qatar, they have a capacity for survival that the Jewish communities of Europe no longer have. I am not so worried about antisemitism on the Right, because it is becoming irrelevant. The only concern about antisemitism today is the one hidden behind politically correct anti-Zionism. The fact that “Zionist” became an insult in the mouth of so many on the Left should ring alarm bells, since Jews become the only group of people denied the right to self-determination on their land. The next step would be to go back to the normal routine of killing defenseless Jews everywhere. Anti-Zionism means, “Take off your uniform and wear your striped pyjamas. You have no right to defend yourself, only to be protected if it suits us.”
