‘Son of Hamas’ Speaks at Chabad

Canadian Jewish News

MONTREAL — Islam, not Israel, is the enemy of the Palestinians, says the son of a prominent Hamas leader who renounced terrorism and became an undercover agent of Shin Bet for 10 years.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, 33, who now lives at an unspecified location in California after obtaining political asylum in the United States last year, spoke to a standing-room-only audience of more than 1,000 at the Crowne Plaza hotel on May 25.

He was brought in by Chabad of the Town (of Mount Royal), whose director, Rabbi Moshe Krasnanski, hailed Yousef as a “hero,” for having put his life at risk to save others, as did Mount Royal member of Parliament Irwin Cotler.

This was Yousef’s first time in Canada, and he had difficulty obtaining a visa, he said, and his trip from California took 24 hours. “It took lots of work to get me here. It seems governments are not comfortable having me on their soil.”

The Palestinians are being “held captive” by a religion that is fundamentally violent and Jew-hating, Yousef said. The great majority of Palestinians on the West Bank would prefer to become Israeli citizens than live under the Palestinian Authority, he believes, but they are afraid to say so.

He also thinks Jews have a historic right to the West Bank and Jewish settlements are legitimate.

Yousef believes a Palestinian state should not be created, because the Palestinians would ultimately “destroy themselves.

“There is no room for another state in that small country, whatever the borders… We do not need one more corrupt Arab regime,” said Yousef, whose father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was one of seven founders of Hamas in 1986. He has been in an Israeli prison for the past six years.

As the eldest son, Mosab had been groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps, but while a teenager imprisoned in Israel, he was recruited by Shin Bet, the country’s internal security service.

Yousef was never directly involved in terrorism, but he was being trained to be a Hamas militant. He was ready to take up arms because, he said, he hated Israel, which he was convinced was the cause of Palestinian “suffering.” Being beaten by Israeli soldiers only stoked that animosity.

Yousef revealed his past in an autobiography published last year titled Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices. The native of Ramallah spied for the Shin Bet from 1997 to 2007 and the information he supplied, he says, helped avert suicide bombings and other terrorist acts against Israelis.

He also became a Christian during that period.

The event was under heavy security, with every attendee being screened by professional guards. One shadowed Yousef throughout the entire evening.

Yousef said he knows he is a marked man, and that if he entered an Arab or Muslim country, he would be summarily executed.

His initial motivation was “revenge”, he admits, not any noble principle. Yousef thought he could infiltrate Shin Bet to aid Hamas. Gradually, he became “curious” about the Israelis, as he became persuaded they were not really his enemies.
Yousef said he turned against Hamas for good after witnessing fellow inmates, Hamas members, torturing other Hamas members, over the 16 months he spent in one prison.

“If I felt for a second that I was betraying my people, I would not have been able to do it. I felt I was saving Palestinian lives, as much as those of Israelis,” he said.

“The Palestinians’ problems began 1,400 years ago [with the founding of Islam] and not in 1948 or 1967,” he said.

One condition Yousef placed on his work for Israel was that none of the terrorists captured as a result of his intervention be killed.

Yousef affirmed that he has no regrets and sleeps well because he believes he did the right thing. He does not feel like a traitor, says he cares deeply for the Palestinian people and still loves his father, who is due out of prison this month. The family has, of course, disowned him, but he hopes for reconciliation someday.

In fact, he believes that his father could become a proponent of peace if he abandoned the Islamic ideology that, the son believes, motivates the Arabs’ perpetual belligerence toward Israel.

“I’m not a bloody terrorist who suddenly became a good person… I’m not a hero, but I have paid a very heavy price,” Yousef said.

His faith in Christianity’s message of “unconditional love for one’s enemies” keeps him at peace. An Arabic translation of Son of Hamas is being made available free of charge, he said.

His only regret is that his Shin Bet handler, the man to whom he grew very close for their 10 years working together and still calls his “brother,” lost his job apparently because he was willing to testify on Yousef’s behalf in the United States.

Yousef, who has lived in the States since 2007, was facing deportation until Gonen Ben-Itzhak revealed his own identity and testified that Yousef “risked his life every day in order to prevent violence.”

Despite his acceptance by U.S. officials, Yousef said he realizes some people suspect he is still some kind of agent for “Palestinian propaganda, who is trying to infiltrate western society.”

On the other hand, many people have wanted to support him, and he received, unsolicited, “tens of thousands of dollars.”

“But I returned it all because I do not want to be obligated to anybody, or limited by any political agenda,” he said.

The evening, which included a talk by Yousef, an interview between him and former CBC television chief political correspondent Jason Moscovitz, and written questions from the audience, was videotaped. The DVD will be made available by Chabad.

A dvd of the event can be ordered at www.chabadtmr.com.