Israel's military appears to be countering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
goals for the war in Gaza.
In ATV interview, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has
acknowledged what many observers have been arguing for months.
Take a listen.
Hamas, Zirayan, Hamas is an idea.
Those who think we can make Hamas disappear are wrong.
I'm not talking about the alternatives.
This is a decision of the political echelon and the
IDF will implement.
But the issue of the issue of eliminating Hamas is
simply to throw dust in the eyes of the public.
If we don't bring something else to Gaza, in the
end of the day, we will get Hamas.
And my first guest agrees.
And he probably knows the top level of Hamas better
than anyone.
That's because Israeli Dr.
Yuval Bhutan was working as a dentist for the state
prison service in the 1990s when he met Hamas leader
Yahya Sinwar.
Bhutan says they spent hundreds of hours together and one
day in 2004, when Sinwar faced a medical emergency, Bhutan
swooped in and saved his life.
Sinwar thanked him when he was later released in the
extraordinary prisoner hostage swap for Gilad Shalid.
But on October 7th, Bhutan's nephew Tamir was murdered by
Hamas at kibbutz near Oz.
It is an extraordinary story, and Bhutan tells us the
lessons he learned about what drives Hamas and Sinwar and
what the Israeli leadership continues to get wrong.
Since October 7th, Beaton has not spoken on international television
until tonight.
So here's our recent conversation.
Yuval, you said that on the morning of October 7th,
you knew immediately who had planned this massacre.
How come?
Because I know the person who planned and conceived and
initiated this criminal attack.
I have known him since 1996, and not only him,
but the entire Hamas leadership in Gaza.
And it was clear to me that this is what
they were planning while they were still in prison.
And this is the plan of Hamas.
It was very clear to me.
You're talking about Yahya Sinwa, and you said that when
you realize what happened on October 7th, you were kind
of tormented by what you did for him in jail.
You essentially saved his life.
Tell me about that story.
In 2004, I saved Sinwa's life in prison.
I was the Doctor Who diagnosed the problem he had.
When he explained to me what was happening to him,
I diagnosed it as a stroke and together with the
General practitioner, we decided to take him to the hospital.
He arrived at the hospital.
The diagnosis was that he had Abscess in the brain
and he was operated on that day, thus saving his
life because if it had exploded, he would have died.
He thanked me and the doctors for saving his life
and he also asked the security officer who was a
Muslim when we visited him in the hospital, to tell
me in Arabic and explain to me what it means
for someone to save a Muslim's life and that he
owed me his life.
He also told me that on the day he was
released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 that he
owed me his life and one day he will repay
it.
And as you understand, he repaid it on October 7th
and that he was also directly responsible for the murder
of my nephew in Kibbutz Neroz.
Your your nephew went to try to save his family
and others when the when the invasion happened and the
massacres happened and he was abducted and apparently killed or
he died of his wounds being dragged back into Gaza.
Do you believe that had Sin Juan known it was
your nephew, the outcome would have been different?
I did not and do not engage in speculation.
My nephew came out to defend the community and the
country and the Gaza envelope.
He fought in those terrible moments of the morning in
Kibbutz Neroz.
Hundreds of Nukba terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz.
They murdered, raped and slaughtered and burned 50 people from
Neroz.
50 members of Kibbutz Neroz and 75 other members were
kidnapped, including Tamir's grandmother, Yafa Adar, the older woman on
the scooter.
Tamir fought as an emergency squad member.
He was seriously injured during his defense of the community.
There were only five of them.
They didn't really stand a chance.