Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices by Mosab Hassan Yousef

Buy on Amazon: Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef
The title of this book describes exactly what it is. It is a gripping, powerful, terrifying tale of unbelievable choices, political intrigue and betrayal of the most potent sort.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, known as the “Green Prince” to the Shin Bet (an Israeli intelligence service comparable to America’s FBI), is the oldest song of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a cofounder and leader of Hamas since 1986. What is Hamas? It is an Islamic resistance movement in the West Bank and Gaza, listed by several organizations and governments as a terrorist organization.

My Aunt bought this book and read it quickly and I couldn’t resist the pull of it. I remembered reading about Mosab (Now Joseph) in an article a few months back and thought how fascinating his story must be. Fascinating doesn’t even begin to describe this journey.

There are facts and facts laid bare in this book. I don’t even know where to begin writing about it. The relationship Mosab has with his father is one that defies all typical American assumptions when it comes to terrorist relationships. Despite his father’s heavy involvement in Hamas, he proves that the line is not always black and white and that there is a wide expanse of gray there in the middle. While his father does not participate first-hand in the terrorist acts nor actively condone them he does nothing to stop them which causes Mosab to have one of many second thoughts as to his place in the conflict.

Most of all, this is a story of salvation – although it begins to get a bit lost. This is not a book that preaches to you. It’s a simple statement of fact from a man raised in a deeply religious, Muslim family and lifestyle and how he struggles with the differences between the God of the Bible and the God of the Qur’an. An example is this paragraph:

“Somehow, I seemed to always benefit from divine protection. I wasn’t even a Christian yet, and al-Faransi certainly didn’t know the Lord. My Christian friends were praying for me every day, however. And God, Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” This was certainly a far cry from the cruel and vengeful god of the Qur’an.”

One of the parts of the book that struck me the most was the following passage. In this section of the book Mosab is speaking of an Israeli man, a Jewish man (Amnon) who refuses to serve in the military despite it being a required 3 year term. The reason for Amnon’s refusal? He cannot justify killing.

“When he still refused to serve, Amnon was arrested and imprisoned. What I didn’t realize was that Amnon was living in the Jewish section of the prison the entire time I was at Ofer. He was there because he refused to work with the Israelis; I was there because I had agreed to work with them. I was trying to protect Jews; he was trying to protect Palestinians.

I didn’t believe that everybody in Israel and the occupied territories needed to become a Christian in order to end the bloodshed. But I thought if we just had a thousand Amnons on one side and a thousand Mosabs on the other, it would make a big difference. And if we had more … who knows?”

Mosab is now currently living in California. EDIT: Since I wrote this post I’ve received information (in the comments) that Mosab’s family has denounced him. His father denies that Mosab ever had any information about Hamas and was not a member of the organization. I don’t know whether this is the truth or not, but I do know that what I have read in this book sheds a definite light on some things and made me think long and hard about a situation which, up until this point, was dark and mysterious.

I applaud Mosab’s courage in telling his story and I am thrilled at the message that he conveys through it. If only we had a thousand people to listen and take up his way of thinking just think what we could do. And like he said in this book, “if we had more… who knows?”

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