From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Ex-Hamas minister in interrogation video: ‘Crazy people’ led by Sinwar ‘destroyed Gaza’
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Shin Bet security agency publishes footage showing the interrogation of former Hamas communications minister, Yousef al-Mansi, who appears to heavily criticize the terror group.
“This is a group of crazy people that [Yahya] Sinwar leads. They destroyed the Gaza Strip. Set it back 200 years,” al-Mansi says in translated excerpts provided by the Shin Bet.
In the 14-minute video published by the agency, al-Mansi says, “People in the Gaza Strip say that Sinwar and his group destroyed us. We must get rid of them.”
“I have not seen anyone in the Gaza Strip who supports Sinwar, nobody likes Sinwar. There are people who, day and night, pray that God will free us from him,” he says.
Al-Mansi says Sinwar has “delusions of grandeur,” and that he “feels like he is above everyone else. Acts only as he thinks. He makes decisions without consulting anyone.”
The former Hamas minister says the October 7 attacks are “the opposite of Islam.”
“This is heresy, madness. What they did is unacceptable according to logic, religion or intellect. Those who are responsible for this are Sinwar and his group,” he adds, according to the excerpts.
The agency has not provided further information about when al-Mansi was arrested.
The Times of Israel Community.