“We’re not talking about animals. Animals attack their prey when they want to eat. They are the Devil. They attacked people out of pure malice” This is how Zaka spokesman, Moti Bokchin describes the horrendous sights he saw following the Hamas massacre on that terrible, horrifically violent Saturday. “It was Hell there, unfathomable cruelty.”
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More than two months have passed since October 7th, and accounts of the horrors still surprise the very people who thought they’d seen all the human evil that exists. Thousands of terrorists flooded across the border, taking residents of communities close to the Gaza border by surprise.
They were devoid of all human compassion. Are they psychopaths? And what about the man in charge of them, the man who planned it all and sent them to rape, abuse, and murder innocent people?
“There’s something very reassuring about trying to define every evil person as a psychopath. It’s very hard for us to accept that a person who is not a psychopath would be capable of carrying out such horrific acts. But reality isn’t like that, and human evil exists.
"The human mechanism driving us to classify people who do bad things as psychopaths, alleviates responsibility for their actions and lets them off - despite this being the last thing they deserve,” says clinical criminologist, Dr. Guy Becker, a psychotherapist specializing in treating psychopathic victims and dangerous personality disorders.
He says that the definition of evil and the classification of a person as evil is open to interpretation and dependent on the values on which they were raised and the culture in which they grew up. “The question as to who is an evil person is a philosophical one. Let’s take Hitler, an indisputable example of pure evil."
"Although he was the most despicable person in human history, he was not a psychopath. He was an orderly and organized person who acted in accordance with the goals he set for himself. Hitler assumed enormous responsibility and looked to the future. He was able to express affection: He loved his dog and his niece and was a vegetarian – albeit for health reasons.”
Adolf Eichman wasn’t a psychopath either. The philosopher Hannah Arendt, who coined the phrase “the banality of evil” and studied the Eichman trial, defined his evil as bureaucratic. “Arendt saw Eichman as a bad person who did especially evil things, but not for psychopathic reasons, but rather out of extremist ideology and the desire to advance his own agenda. Psychopaths cannot persist in their actions. They usually act on impulse rather than with an agenda behind their actions, just for personal enjoyment.“
By your analogy, the psychopaths would be the SS officers murdering people in extermination camps?
“I’m sure there were psychopathic SS officers, just as some of the Nukhba terrorists and the other terrorists who participated in the October 7th massacre were psychopaths who wouldn’t have gotten along anywhere, and chose this for the personal enjoyment they derive from abusing other people. “
“The most horrific part is that Gazans, who are not regular terrorist operatives, took part in the massacre acting out of hatred and murderous ideology that had warped and corrupted their souls, allowing them to carry out such cruel acts. They differ from sadists and psychopaths in that they didn’t commit the same horrifying acts on their families when they got back home.”
What are the chances of a child raised in a society that consecrates death and violence becoming a psychopath?
“A lot of children growing up in organized crime families and those involved in terrorism will adopt the problematic values they’re getting at home, and their thought patterns and behavior become similar to that of psychopaths. This condition even has a name: pseudo psychopathy or secondary psychopathy.”
'A leader of Sinwar's caliber can't be a psychopath'
Dr. Becker explains that the analogy of the Nazis and Hamas terrorists and Gazan society and the German people during the Second World War, is unavoidable. “On the one hand, I don’t want to accuse an entire society, but on the other, beyond doubt, a society has developed in Gaza that is unrestrained and that sanctifies death and violence.
"Like the Germans back then, 17 years of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip have created among Gazans a dehumanization of Jews and Israelis, allowing them to derive pleasure from harming us. And still, this isn’t psychopathy and most of the population there does not suffer from this psychological disorder. An army unit of psychopaths would have no chance or functioning whatsoever.“
Can Yahya Sinwar be classified as a psychopath?
“Although he is, beyond doubt, the embodiment of evil and cold-heartedness, and his willingness to harm other people without batting an eyelid indicates that his personality is unrestrained and has psychopathic traits, as a person he does not have the full psychopathic disorder.”
"Like Hitler, Sinwar overcame his tough background, studied and attained ‘high achievements’ in his ‘career’. He’s a man with an extremist political and religious agenda."
“Like Hitler, Sinwar overcame his tough background, studied and attained ‘high achievements’ in his ‘career’. He’s a man with an extremist political and religious agenda that lead him do things that shock us, but that he regards as advancing his life-long cause. Unlike psychopaths, Sinwar is not concerned with his own circumstances.
"His prison guards who knew him well in his Israeli jail, have attested that he kept an orderly daily routine and was busy most of the time planning for the future, without psychotic episodes that don’t allow people suffering from the condition to persist in their chosen paths.“
That said, he murdered at least 12 of his own people with a machete. In Gaza he’s known as “The butcher from Khan Yunis”
"There’s a difference between sadistic pleasure derived from death and lack of restraint, and the willingness to do anything possible to achieve your goals. Sinwar does have this distinction. He didn’t murder those people for personal pleasure, but rather as an extremist political and religious act that he committed out with no inhibitions."
"He definitely does have the psychopathic mechanism allowing him to murder. However, the expression of this mechanism is not classically psychopathic, but rather a form of expression typical among extremist terrorist operatives and religious and political fanatics - who are invariably concerned with how history will remember them.“
From Napoleon Bonaparte through to Benjamin Netanyahu, there’s yet to be a ruler not concerned with how he’ll be written up in the pages of history. But like with any human behavior, there’s a spectrum, and Sinwar is on the extremely unsuccessful end of it.
“The most accurate classification for him would be 'malignant narcissism', i.e. the same disorder, just to a higher and sicker degree than that with which we are familiar. Accordingly, the willingness to harm and belittle other people for self-glorification will be especially high, and likely lead to particularly harmful and violent behavior. This still isn’t psychopathy that is completely devoid of ethics or emotions” says Dr. Becker.
The vast majority of leaders of terrorist organizations, destructive cults and dictatorships have malignant narcissism. A prominent trait is their ability to act within a value system they have created for themselves and does not correspond to society’s accepted value systems. These value systems will mainly be harmful and destructive.
“Sinwar and Hitler aren’t psychopaths because, in most cases, psychopaths don’t have the degree of self-control needed to reach these positions or retain them for years. If we get back to the Nazis analogy, the psychopath would be the concentration camp guard abusing prisoners or the terrorist slaughtering innocent civilians and abusing their bodies. To be like Sinwar, you need to know how to postpone gratification. You need a purpose and an agenda.”
“One of the reasons that Sinwar is so popular within Hamas is that, by warped Hamas standards, he’s regarded as relatively uncorrupt. He’s never been caught taking bribes and his image is that of a leader who cares for the people. Not just for himself.”
“Sinwar is also prepared to pay the price for his views, unlike a psychopath, who will do anything he can to save his own skin - even at the cost of selling out his own friends and family, lying to the public or collaborating with people he perceives as enemies."
"He refused to sign a statement promising to no longer engage in terrorist activities, knowing that it could keep him in prison. What psychopath wouldn’t sign something to save himself? Why should it matter to him? He could just sign and break his promise – but Sinwar, as a matter of principle, didn’t sign.“
Academics, doctors, and lawyers
The question as to whether terrorists are insane or driven by extremist ideological fervor has fascinated the world for years. A German-American study conducted at Leicester University in Britain a little over a decade ago determined unequivocally that terrorists do not suffer from psychological problems.
“The terrorists aren’t paranoid madmen,” said Dr. Andrew Silke, a psychologist specializing in crime who presented the study. “They desire revenge, most of them wanting to ‘punish’ the state they’re operating against for previous, violent events that had taken place.”
Unlike previous studies that relied on information from secondary sources, this German-American team based their research on a vast number of legal documents and interviews with 180 members of Al Qaida and further terrorist organizations.
According to the report, all Al Qaida members came from families that were middle class and upward. Two-thirds had studied at colleges and universities and 10% of them had advanced degrees. 70% were married with children.
Dr Silke said: "The widespread view that terrorists are isolated, vulnerable young men with paranoid or borderline personality disorders is false. It is entirely perpetuated by experts relying on second-hand reports … many psychiatrists and psychologists have written that terrorists suffer from delusions and are psychopaths, but the people who make these claims have never met a terrorist face to face." He continues "Psychologists who have met a terrorist face to face don't find any evidence of this.”
Like Al-Qaida, Hamas is careful to only recruit high school graduates who have prayed for at least three years in a particular mosque in Gaza and whom senior organization members have known for at least three years.
Entrance requirements to the Nukhba unit are even more stringent. In addition to praying and graduating high school, recruits must also complete a bachelor’s degree at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University. Ahmed Yassin himself studied at a university in Cairo and was a student of Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan El-Banna. Osama Bin Laden and further senior Al-Qaida officials also studied with him.
“There’s an idea that the terrorists who committed these horrors are crazy sadists. That’s not the case. These are educated people, including doctors and lawyers, brainwashed by Ahmed Yassin and later by Sinwar” says Michael (Micha) Kobi, former Shabak researcher who spent many hours in interrogation rooms with both Ahmed Yassin and Yahya Sinwar during their time in Israeli jails.
He says that “in the organization’s covenant, written by Ahmed Yassin in collaboration with senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, it clearly states that the goal of Hamas is to destroy the state of Isarel and each and every Jew."
"As part of this annihilation it is permitted, even desirable, to rape as many of the enemy’s women as possible, behead people and conduct activities to humiliate the enemy, including abusing their dead bodies. This was the demand as laid out by Ahmed Yassin and Hamas activists, and later by Sinwar. This is what was said in interrogations. This is what it says in documents they wrote themselves that and have been found over the years. “
Smart, charismatic, but never smiling
Although the Hamas covenant is implemented primarily by organization activists, Kobi says that it’s also taught in schools in the Gaza Strip and that Gazan children are taught hatred toward the state of Israel and toward all Jews.
“From an early age, they learn how to be cruel, crush and hurt the enemy. Sinwar ensures that the covenant is taught in all schools in Gaza. This is also why the events of October 7th didn’t surprise me. It was clear to me that his release was a disaster that would, one day, blow up in our faces. At the time, I tried warning everyone I could. Sadly, it didn’t help me.”
How emotionally strong do you have to be to successfully interrogate murderous terrorists like Sinwar and Ahmed Yassin?
“It’s not easy work. These are very tough people for whom the idea of destroying the state of Israel is deeply embedded in their hearts and souls. I managed to make Ahmed Yassin confess and cooperate: I made him pass a religious legalistic ruling that must adhered to, saying that any Hamas terrorist in jail must confess his deeds. Thanks to this ruling, Sinwar confessed to us that, with a machete, he murdered 12 Palestinians suspected of collaboration with the Shabak.”
During these interrogations, Kobi studied Ahmed Yassin and Sinwar’s character traits. He even deciphered clear parallels. Sinwar served as advisor to Ahmed Yassin and advised him to kidnap the soldiers, Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon in 1989, and conducted negotiations with Israel in exchange for detainees.
“Sheikh Yassin was very clever, very reserved. He memorized thousands of names and codes he had given Hamas operatives. He was also very familiar with Israeli society and the Jewish religion, mainly due to reading hundreds of books on Judaism and he also had our history memorized."
"In investigations, he wasn’t afraid to say that they (Hamas) would wipe us off the face of the earth – if not now, then in a decade’s time, and if not in a decade, then in a century. He would say again and again that we would never take the idea of Hamas from them and that ultimately, they would set up an Islamic state in the Middle East and after that, they’d make the whole world Islamic. He conveyed this idea to everyone associated with the organization. “
Let’s talk about Sinwar, what makes him such an admired leader?
“He’s a very intelligent, charismatic person with unusual leadership skills. Also, he despises us Jews and Israelis with a deadly hatred. You can see this hatred in his eyes. He’s not easy to interrogate. He’s extremely manipulative and you must utilize all your senses to concentrate on him and follow his train of thought. He never flinched during investigations. Nothing moved him and he never smiled. He never married as he’s married to the Koran. He’s a murderer in his blood and in his soul. The cruelest of men.”
“He was above the authorities when he was in jail. He got hotel conditions for Hamas terrorists by threatening hunger strikes etc. Keen to keep things quiet, prison authorities would give him and Hamas terrorist whatever they wanted.“
Prison authorities’ capitulation to Sinwar, Kobi says, led to Sinwar, while in jail, continuing to plan the large-scale massacre whose awful results we’ve now living through. “From 1989 until his release in the 2011 Shalit deal, Sinwar served as commander to Hamas men in jail. He established headquarters inside the prison where Hamas prisoners conducted discussions and made decisions for implementation by headquarters outside.”
“In his time in jail, he made contact with Iran, raised a vast amount of capital and convinced them to send Iranian faithful to the Gaza Strip to train Hamas commando forces for implementing the massacre. Sinwar initiated founding the Nukhba unit and ensured its men were trained by Iranian forces.”
Is it possible that Sinwar and the terrorists with him in the tunnels are cut off from what’s going on, and don’t know that Hamas is losing control of the Gaza Strip?
“He’s not cut off, and he knows full well what’s going on. He believes that he’s achieving his goal and that he’s a Hamas hero and a hero of Islam. He knows that his end is near and his aim, like the rest of the Hamas terrorists, is to die a shahid and meet 72 virgins."
"They believe it with all their hearts. Sinwar fears nothing. Even during interrogations in jail, he threatened to murder us, and we know they had an organized plan to murder us, their interrogators. Even then, when the whole of the Hamas leadership was in Israeli jails and Sinwar and the rest of Hamas leaders knew their situation wasn’t good, they believed they would pull themselves out of it and kill us all.”
There was a time when he talked to Israeli journalists about a hudna with Israel
“In the Hamas covenant, it says that it is permissible to lie to achieve the goals of the organization. So, his saying that he can bring about a long-term hudna was a fraudulent and malicious tactic to pacify us. I’m sad to have to say that he succeeded. You must understand - Hamas’s war against us is a religious war and they want to annihilate us because we’re Jews. Period.”