“The View” host Joy Behar denigrated former President Donald Trump’s supporters during Thursday’s broadcast on ABC News, claiming that they were just like drug addicts or alcoholics who cared more about feeding their addiction than about what happened to the people around them. Behar and her cohosts, who happily joined in the pile-on once she made the initial comparison, continued to describe how supporting Trump, like having an addiction, was bad for both the addicts and for the people around them. WATCH: Joy Behar compares all Trump supporters to drug addicts. pic.twitter.com/Q66SF3ND8j — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 17, 2024 “His base is addicted to the lies, you know?” Behar began. “They’re addicted, and I have a friend who was a drug counselor, and he said that nothing trumps an addiction. An addiction trumps everything.” The other cohosts started talking all at the same time, but Behar continued. “Even relationships, which is why if you’re in a relationship with a drug addict or a gambler or an alcoholic, you’ll never have a chance,” she said. MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 “They weren’t addicted to the lies before Trump,” Ana Navarro insisted, interrupting and arguing that supporting Trump had meant that they had to accept all of the bad things she claimed that he stood for. “They’re addicted to Trump and that means accepting racism, it means accepting lies, it means accepting hostility …” All of the hosts started talking at once, shouting over each other, but after a few minutes, Behar was able to regain control of the table long enough to make a reference to propaganda as it was used in Nazi Germany. “You know the ‘big lie’ was created by, you know, Goebbels,” Behar said. “Back in the 30s, the big lie, you keep lying and lying and lying, people get —” “But if you admit that you believe the lies, you have to admit that you were duped,” Sunny Hostin interrupted. “And they can’t admit to being duped.” “They want to believe it,” Behar said as the segment came to a close.

Actress Cynthia Erivo is not happy that fans decided to alter and circulate a movie poster for her upcoming film, “Wicked.” The highly anticipated adaptation of the Broadway musical features a very similar looking poster to the original, which depicts Glinda (Ariana Grande) whispering into the ear of Elphaba (Erivo). The Broadway version shows Elphaba’s witch hat tipped down and hiding her eyes while the movie version gives a clear image of the star’s whole face. “Wicked” fans headed to social media to circulate an updated version of the movie poster that more closely resembles the Broadway version. That meant Erivo’s eyes were hidden and she was sporting red lipstick. The actress hit back on Instagram, saying the changes were “offensive” to her as a human being. Cynthia Erivo has reacted to viral edits of the ‘WICKED’ poster: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting… Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face & hide my eyes is to erase me. That is just deeply hurtful” pic.twitter.com/y3P1Qh379S — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 16, 2024 “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the the question ‘is your ***** green?” Erivo shared to her Instagram stories alongside an image of the offending Photoshopped poster, per Variety. “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.” “The original poster is an Illustration,” she continued. “I am a real life human being, who chose to to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer …because, without words we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.” MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 Erivo referenced her disgust over an AI-generated video of the two main characters getting into a fight. She also mentioned the “is your p**** green” memes that have been going around since the film was announced, the outlet noted. “Wicked” is being released in two parts, with the first installment hitting theaters on November 22. The Broadway musical is based on the book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”  The musical “Wicked” is told from the perspective of the two witches, Elphaba and Glinda, before and after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz. The Broadway show has won numerous awards and broken records, plus raked in more than $1 billion in total revenue over its more than two-decades-long run.

The Republican National Committee sued Detroit on Tuesday, accusing city election officials of violating Michigan law by deleting surveillance footage of an absentee ballot drop box. Michigan resident Jonathan Koch, whose request for footage monitoring a ballot drop box in the city was denied by officials last month, filed the suit alongside the RNC. Koch and the RNC allege that Detroit’s Department of Elections violated Michigan Freedom of Information Act laws by getting rid of the footage. The suit argues that Detroit got rid of the requested footage even as there was an active request out for it that was filed before state law allows the footage to be purged. “Deleting drop box surveillance footage while there is a pending FOIA request for it is an assault on transparency,” said RNC chair Michael Whatley. “This breach of trust is exactly what reduces confidence in our elections. We will hold Detroit accountable, as this secrecy has no place in a fair and secure election — Michiganders deserve far better.” On August 20, Koch requested footage monitoring a drop box at Wayne County Community College from August 7 and August 8 during Michigan’s primary election. By September 16, Koch was informed by Detroit election officials that they no longer had the footage because they don’t keep footage after 30 days. In the denial letter from the city of Detroit, Koch was told by an official that he “was informed that video is no longer available after 30 days and is recorded over.” However, state law mandated that the footage be kept until September 6, which was well after Koch filed his request on August 20. The request also asked for all records on construction and installation of the drop box. MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 The RNC argued that Detroit had a “clear legal duty to retain video surveillance of absent vote ballot drop boxes after receiving a timely FOIA request for such public records.” “Specifically, the response indicated that the video surveillance records were recorded over after thirty (30) days, despite Koch’s request having been received fourteen (14) days after the record was created and sixteen (16) days before the record could be deleted,” the suit added. For resolution, the RNC asked for a judge to order Detroit to adhere to its footage retention policies going forward and declare that the city had violated Michigan public records law.

Republican lawmakers are demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra rescind guidance requiring agency employees to use preferred pronouns and names and allowing men to use women’s spaces, including locker rooms and lactation rooms. “This Guidance denies science, compels speech, jeopardizes the ability of federal employees to practice their faith without fear of retaliation, endangers women, and further erodes the American people’s trust in public institutions,” the lawmakers said in a Thursday letter, first obtained by The Daily Wire. “We urge you to reverse course and rescind this Guidance.” The letter is led by Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and signed by Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Steve Daines of Montana, and James Risch of Idaho. The HHS guidance states that failure to use preferred names and pronouns “contribute[s] to an unlawful hostile work environment,” the lawmakers point out in the letter to Becerra. It also states that HHS cannot “require a legal change of name or gender marker, medical certification, or other documentation,” allowing anyone to change their name or pronouns and compel their colleagues to use that name or pronoun — or face disciplinary action. “There is no mention anywhere in the Guidance about accommodations for those with religious or conscience objections to the compelled use of incorrect pronouns,” the letter says. “In addition to violating extremely clear, long-standing Supreme Court precedents on compelled speech, reaffirmed as recently as 303 Creative v Elenis, this also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) “In forcing employees to choose between deeply held religious beliefs or losing their job, HHS is creating a hostile work environment for employees,” the Republicans said. Additionally, the HHS guidance promises that the agency will “ensure there are no barriers to equally accessing restrooms, locker rooms, lactation rooms, or other personal care spaces,” stating: “HHS will not condition this access on an employee having undergone or providing proof of gender-affirming surgeries or other medical procedures.” If any HHS female employees are uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a bathroom, locker room, or lactation room with a biological man who identifies as a woman, they would be told to use other facilities, since “employees will not be barred from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity.” “Given the Guidance’s stipulation on not requiring any evidence of gender dysphoria or gender transition procedures, women could be forced to be exposed to fully male anatomy in the bathroom or in the locker room,” the lawmakers told Becerra. “This creates a hostile work environment for women who may have no other option than using the facilities at work.” “A female employee who has used a women’s restroom for more than a decade will be told that she has to find a new option for a restroom if she is uncomfortable with a biological male in her restroom,” they added. “Women deserve better. Including lactation rooms in this same Guidance is blatantly offensive – males cannot breastfeed their children, and claiming to be female does not change that reality. The only reason for including this in the Guidance is to continue to push a radical agenda in every facet of the federal workplace.” The lawmakers also note that HHS, in their promotion of such ideology, reveals a “denial of science” and “incorporation of that denial into the hiring, firing, and promotion process” that raises questions about the “work and research being done through HHS.” “Gender is not, as the Guidance erroneously asserts, ‘a social construct of identities, norms, behaviors, and roles that vary between societies over time,'” they wrote. “There are only two sexes: male and female. Research by the HHS at taxpayer expense should not be done in contravention of that scientific and self-evident fact.” Becerra and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Read the full letter here.

Around 8.4 million people are registered to vote in Michigan, but that’s nearly 500,000 more people than the total number of voting-age residents in the state. The inflated voter rolls in Michigan, a vital battleground state in the 2024 election, are one of the largest imbalances in the country, Bridge Michigan reported. The Republican National Committee sued Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over the inflated voter rolls earlier this year, along with filing lawsuits over other election-related issues in the state, but Benson’s office dismissed the concerns on Wednesday, arguing that the lawsuits “lay the groundwork to overturn the results of the election if they don’t like them.” “The RNC and its members are concerned that Defendants’ failure to comply with the NVRA’s voter-list maintenance obligations undermines the integrity of elections by increasing the opportunity for ineligible voters or voters intent on fraud to cast ballots,” the RNC’s lawsuit stated. Secretary of State spokeswoman Angela Benander told Bridge Michigan that the GOP’s legal challenges “are an attempt to cause people to question the process.” The spokeswoman added that Michigan is expected to clear 606,800 inactive voters from the rolls, but that won’t be completed until 2027. Federal law requires voters to be removed from the rolls by state or local officials if the state is notified that they moved to a different state or if election mail sent to their home is returned as undeliverable. Voters are also removed if they do not vote in two consecutive federal elections. Bridge Michigan reported that all but five of Michigan’s 83 counties have more registered voters than people of voting age who reside in those counties. In Michigan’s largest county, Wayne County — which is a Democratic stronghold in the state — there are 1.4 million registered voters, but only 1.3 million residents are old enough to vote, according to U.S. Census data. In Genessee County, another blue bastion in Michigan, there are nearly 351,000 registered voters despite fewer than 300,000 voting-age residents living in the county. MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 Most of the largest voter roll imbalances by ratio of registered voters to voting-age population are in Michigan’s northern counties, which are less populated and tend to vote Republican. “The RNC relies on registration lists to estimate voter turnout, which informs the number of staff the RNC needs in a given jurisdiction, the number of volunteers needed to contact voters, and how much the RNC will spend on paid voter contacts,” the RNC’s lawsuit added. “If voter registration lists include names of voters who should no longer be on the list, the RNC may spend more resources on mailers, knocking on doors, and otherwise trying to contact voters, or it may misallocate its scarce resources among different jurisdictions.”

Fox News anchor Bret Baeir opened up about his interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and said he really thought all she wanted out of it was a “viral moment.” Speaking Thursday morning on the network, Baier talked about his sit-down with Harris where he pressed her on issues like the immigration crisis, her handling of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, and her economic proposals. “I left there right after the interview and I thought, ‘Wow, this was really a lot more contentious than I thought it was going to be,'” Baier told the hosts. “There was a lot of filibustering. I didn’t really want to keep on interrupting, but if I didn’t, I thought there would maybe be four answers total in the interview.” Bret Baier EXPOSES the Kamala campaign for pulling last minute shenanigans to try to shorten the interview and delay its release. “We were supposed to start at 5 P.M. and this was the time they gave us. Originally we were going to do 25 or 30 minutes… they came in and said… pic.twitter.com/7sHC75Mx9M — Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 16, 2024 “And I think I came away with this, there were moments that clearly she prepared for that, I think, that she wanted to have [this] viral moment,” he added. “And she got it. And I think her campaign was happy with that.” Following the interview, Baier revealed that if the interview seemed rushed, it was after he said Harris arrived 15 minutes late. He said the interview they were told would last 25-30 minutes was whittled down 20 by her team. Given that she was late, the entirety of the interview ended up being even shorter, with multiple members of her team waving their hands to wrap it up even though he had “a lot of other questions.” MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 “They were watching the clock,” Baier said on Thursday. “And so we had to speed things up at the end.” As to how far the needle will move for Harris, former pollster for former President Bill Clinton, Doug Schoen, criticized the VP’s unclear answers and said it will not help her with what he called the eroding “blue wall” in some key battleground states. “The so-called blue wall of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania is eroding for the Democrats,” Schoen told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “There is a level of disorganization on the ground and incoherence vis-à-vis the messaging — that is clear.” “The Harris campaign really doesn’t have a closing message or strategy, as we, I think, saw in Bret Baier’s interview with Kamala Harris today,” he added. “I don’t think it helped at all. I think she felt she’d reach some swing voters. But to me, the absence of clear answers, the real sense of, you know, confusion to perfectly logical questions that Bret asked, to me suggests that it underscored all of the issues and concerns that few undecided swing voters have. Don’t think it helped a bit.” Related: Ben Shapiro Breaks Down Kamala Harris’ Fox News Interview: ‘Full-Scale Disaster’

There was a claim that the toothpaste company Colgate used to make all the time on television. They said that “80 percent of dentists recommend Colgate.” Technically, the figure was accurate. Colgate did send around a survey. And when they got the survey back, 80% of dentists had indeed indicated that they recommended Colgate. But ultimately, the advertising regulators came down hard on Colgate and forced them to pull the ad off the air. And they did that because Colgate left out an important piece of information: the survey allowed dentists to recommend multiple brands. So, yes, 80% of dentists did recommend Colgate. But 80% of dentists also recommended Colgate’s competitors. We’re bombarded with misrepresentations like this so often — from politicians, advertisers and so on — that pretty much everyone understands that statistics are very often misleading, at best. That’s why we have the famous line: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” But even given that baseline of skepticism that we all have, it’s still very easy to fall into the trap of assuming that some statistics are reliable. Take the murder rate, for example. That’s the number of murders that occur, divided by the population. You’d think that it would be pretty hard for the government to fudge that data. After all, if somebody gets murdered, the odds are very high that someone’s going to notice it and file a report. Unlike crimes such as shoplifting or assault, which often go unreported now because everyone knows the D.A. won’t do anything about it, murder is still prosecuted — even in places like San Francisco or New York. For now. So when the FBI declared last month that violent crimes, including murders, had declined for two years in a row, it was natural for a lot of people to take that claim seriously. Democrats immediately used it as a talking point. They said it was proof that Donald Trump was wrong when he said during the debate that this country has become more dangerous under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Here’s that moment, one more time: The “revised” FBI data now says crime is up. Here is Trump being “factchecked” by ABC News on the FBI data that has now been to be wrong. Trump was right. Again. pic.twitter.com/XeY2p7bRum — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 16, 2024   When I covered this at the time, I didn’t take any issue with the FBI’s actual data. They claimed they had finally incorporated the vast majority of police departments into their calculations, and I took them at their word. Instead, I pointed out that the FBI’s data, by its own terms, is incomplete and therefore misleading. It’s a bit like the Colgate ad. It tells you something that’s technically true, but it doesn’t tell you anywhere near the full story. Specifically, the FBI’s data only counts crimes that are reported to law enforcement. And there’s a lot of evidence that people don’t report most crimes to law enforcement. In fact, that evidence comes directly from the DOJ. According to the DOJ’s survey of crime victims, last year, less than 50% of “violent victimizations” were reported to the police. Less than 33% of property crime victimizations were reported. Only 43% of robberies were reported. A relatively large number of auto thefts were reported — more than 70% — presumably because people needed to file those claims in order to get an insurance payout. Otherwise, we can assume no one would’ve reported those crimes either, because no one expects prosecutors or law enforcement to do anything at this point. WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show But the DOJ’s survey of crime victims doesn’t include murder victims, for the obvious reason that murder victims can’t answer the survey. So last month, on this point, I conceded that the FBI’s murder data — and only their murder data — was probably accurate. After all, how could the FBI and local law enforcement agencies possibly be undercounting the amount of murders that are being reported? These are not easy crimes to cover up. Well it turns out that I shouldn’t have conceded even that point. Even on this basic, straightforward statistic — which measures how many people are getting killed in this country — our federal government has been cooking the numbers. And they’ve been doing it in a way that makes it very clear they’re trying to hide information from the public. This is not an innocent error. It’s deliberate, purposeful and malicious. Real Clear Investigations has just reported that, without alerting anyone, the FBI has just revised its violent crime statistics for 2022. And the new data shows that thousands more rapes, robberies and murders occurred in that year, as compared to what they previously told us. The FBI’s original claim — which was that violent crime had fallen by more than 2% in 2022 — has now been revised. Now they say that violent crime actually increased by 4.5% that year. Specifically, somehow the FBI now says that it missed nearly 8,000 rapes, 33,000 robberies, 37,000 aggravated assaults, and 1,700 murders in 2022. How did that happen, exactly? These are massive revisions, but the most incredible one is that last figure. How do you miss 1,700 murders? This isn’t one or two cold cases that slipped through the cracks. These aren’t people who just disappeared and the FBI found their bodies six months later. People were killed and the police were alerted. And they just weren’t included in the initial count we received from the FBI — the same count that was used to discredit Donald Trump as a liar during the debate Here’s how Real Clear Investigations explained what happened:  The FBI’s crime stats revisions reveal how much guesswork is involved in even the ‘final’ numbers often seized on by politicians. The FBI doesn’t simply count reported crimes. Instead, it offers estimates by extrapolating data from police departments that report only partial-year data. The Bureau also makes estimates for cities that report no data. The FBI’s method of generating these estimates changes over time, and it affects the figures they report. Yes, you heard that correctly. The FBI “extrapolates” from partial data. And they also just make up estimates from cities that report no data at all. According to Jeffrey Anderson, who ran the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2017 to 2021: The [FBI’s] processes, such as how it tries to ‘estimate’ unreported figures, has long been a black box, even to the Bureau of Justice Statistics – the Department of Justice’s actual statistical agency. We’re meant to assume that this is one of those innocent mistakes — that only ever goes in the same direction. It’s like that jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics just a few weeks ago — the one that over-estimated job growth by about 800,000 jobs. We’re supposed to conclude that these statistical errors aren’t deliberate, and that the federal government isn’t trying to cook the books in order to help Kamala Harris’ failing campaign. But there’s a very clear reason to doubt that explanation, especially in the case of this FBI revision. That’s because the FBI’s revised data — which shows all the violent crimes they missed — wasn’t announced anywhere. The FBI did a stealth edit on their own report three weeks ago. And it’s only coming to light now because investigative journalists at Real Clear Investigations noticed this line at the bottom of the FBI’s data: The 2022 violent crime rate has been updated for inclusion in C.I.U.S., 2023. Nowhere did the FBI explain what the update showed, exactly. They didn’t hold a press conference and explain why they undercounted tens of thousands of serious crimes that impacted very real victims. Instead, on a hunch, Real Clear Investigations had to pull up the charts and graphics and do a comparison. Even when the FBI released a press release last month, claiming that violent crime had fallen again in 2023, they didn’t mention that their statistics from 2022 were completely wrong. So obviously, this looks a lot like malice. And of course, we have no reason whatsoever to trust that their data from 2023 is remotely accurate, either. We are at the point now where the government can’t be trusted to tell us anything — even information as basic as the number of Americans who are being murdered every year. If they can’t even get that right — or if they’re willing to lie about it — then there’s absolutely no reason to trust these people when they say things like the Earth is getting too hot, or that illegal immigrants don’t really commit that many crimes, or anything at all. We are ruled by people who are constantly finding new ways to discredit themselves. MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 If there’s anything amusing about this whole situation, it’s that there is *one* crime statistic that, according to the FBI, keeps going up, like clockwork. That’s the number of hate crimes in this country. When I looked into the hate crimes reporting system earlier this year, I found that it’s completely meaningless. There are no standards at all. The reported incidents don’t even have to be crimes, in some cases. And yet, the figure always manages to go up. It’s never undercounted. And we all know why that is. The federal government can use “hate crimes” as a political tool. They want to report more hate crimes, so they can punish all those dreaded MAGA Republicans who are beating up Asians at 2:00am in San Francisco. But in an election year, they want to say that violent crimes are going down. So they just make up those numbers, too. That means, among other things, that the so-called “fact-checking” industry needs to end immediately. It’s no use citing government reports when they’re worse than useless. We should never have another “fact-check” during a live presidential debate ever again. And it also means that, if Democrats really care about “misinformation” — as they so often claim to — then they should demand the immediate dismantling of these government agencies that are apparently incapable of telling the truth. The misinformation, as always, is coming from inside the house. To be very clear about this: They just tried to memory-hole the murders of nearly 2,000 Americans. That’s what they were just caught doing. And even if you think it was unintentional, it’s still very clear that they tried to cover up their alleged “mistake.” That is how little they care about American citizens.They’ll deny you police protection and then lie to the public about your death if you’re murdered. Some people might call that depraved. They might call it treasonous and immoral. But for the Biden-Harris administration, it’s just the cost of doing business in an election year.

Israeli forces claim to have killed Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader, in a military operation in Gaza, but definitive DNA confirmation is still awaited. Sinwar, one of Hamas' most senior leaders and the architect behind the deadly October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, had been a prime target in Israel's ongoing campaign against Hamas. This strike comes after weeks of intense conflict between Israel and Hamas, following the unprecedented assault by the militant group that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis. According to Israeli military sources, bodies were retrieved from Gaza and are undergoing DNA analysis to verify if Sinwar is among the dead. The bodies were sent to Israel's Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, where efforts are being made to match the DNA with Sinwar’s profile. Initial results have been inconclusive, leading to some debate within Israel's defense circles. While some military officials believe that Sinwar is dead, others, including the Shin Bet (Israel's internal security service), remain skeptical until concrete evidence is provided​. BREAKING: Isreal defence forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. This War is not going to stop.Let's see what IRAN will taken action.#Isreal #YahyaSinwar #Gaza pic.twitter.com/6aptZWKvGl — BHARAT Today (@BharatToday247) October 17, 2024 Sinwar, who had long evaded Israeli intelligence, has been Hamas’ de facto leader in Gaza since 2017. Under his leadership, Hamas intensified its rocket attacks on Israel and fortified its control over the Gaza Strip. He is widely considered the mastermind behind Hamas' strategy of using a network of underground tunnels to shield leaders and key militants from Israeli airstrikes. Sinwar's death, if confirmed, would mark a significant blow to Hamas’ operational capabilities and could potentially alter the trajectory of the ongoing conflict​. The Israeli government has been clear about its objective to neutralize the Hamas leadership in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is dead. This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world. Here’s my full statement. pic.twitter.com/cSe1czhd9s — President Biden (@POTUS) October 17, 2024 Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recently emphasized that removing figures like Sinwar would be key to dismantling Hamas' infrastructure and preventing future attacks on Israel. This operation is just one part of Israel's larger military offensive, which has involved thousands of airstrikes across Gaza​. International reactions to this potential development have been mixed. While many Western nations continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself, concerns have been raised about the humanitarian impact on Gaza’s civilian population. Since the war began, Palestinian casualties have soared, with Gaza’s health ministry reporting over 39,000 deaths, many of them civilians​. Hamas, meanwhile, has remained largely silent about Sinwar’s fate, refusing to confirm or deny reports of his death. Sinwar, known for his strategic cunning, has a history of vanishing from public view during high-stakes military operations, making his current status difficult to ascertain. However, Israeli officials are hopeful that Sinwar’s death could lead to a breakthrough in negotiations to release Israeli hostages held by Hamas​. This incident underscores the ongoing volatility of the Israel-Hamas conflict, with both sides locked in a battle that shows no signs of abating. While Israel continues its military campaign to weaken Hamas, the group's deep entrenchment in Gaza poses a formidable challenge. Should DNA tests confirm Sinwar’s death, Israel will likely tout this as a significant victory in its broader effort to dismantle Hamas leadership and restore security to its southern borders. However, it remains to be seen how this potential power vacuum within Hamas will affect the organization's future operations and whether it will spur new leadership to emerge. The post Israel Believes It Killed Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar, DNA Confirmation Pending appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

'Tim Cook called me up directly'