| Mosab Hassan Yousef | |
| Birth Date: | 1978 5, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Ramallah, West Bank |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Citizenship: | United States |
| Occupation: | Spy, advocate, author |
| Employer: | Shin Bet (1997–2007) |
| Organization: | Hamas (1987–2007) |
| Known For: | Covert defection to Israel in 1997 and conversion to Christianity from Islam in 1999 |
| Notable Works: | Son of Hamas (2010), The Green Prince (2014) |
| Father: | Sheikh Hassan Yousef |
Mosab Hassan Yousef (Arabic: مصعب حسن يوسف; born 5 May 1978) is an ex–Palestinian militant who defected to Israel in 1997, thereafter working as an Israeli spy for the Shin Bet until he moved to the United States in 2007. His father is Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas. A New York Times bestselling author, he is known for his outspoken criticisms of Hamas and Islam and has been accused of Islamophobia at university campus talks and online.[1]
The Shin Bet considered Yousef to be Israel's most valuable source within the Hamas leadership: the information he supplied allowed Israel to successfully thwart dozens of Palestinian suicide attacks and prevent the assassinations of many Israelis; exposed numerous Hamas cells; and assisted Israeli authorities in hunting down Palestinian militants. His efforts also culminated in the incarceration of his father, who had served as a leading figure for Hamas operations from the West Bank.[2] [3] In March 2010, Yousef published his autobiography, titled Son of Hamas.[4]
In 1999, Yousef converted to Christianity from Islam, but did not disclose this fact to the public until 2008, triggering fears that his family members in Ramallah would become targets for religious persecution. In 2007, he left the West Bank and moved to the United States where he applied for political asylum and had his request granted by American authorities in 2010 following Shin Bet handler Gonen Ben Itzhak testifying on his behalf. Yousef has compared Islam to Nazism, and said he has "zero respect for anyone who identifies as Muslim". Palestinian students and community leaders at university campuses have accused him of Islamophobia, and his speeches have attracted protests.[5]
Mosab Hassan Yousef was born in Ramallah, a city 10km (10miles) north of Jerusalem. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is a Hamas co-founder who spent many years in Israeli prisons.[6] [7] His grandfather was an imam.[8] He is the oldest of five brothers and three sisters.[9]
When Yousef was growing up, he wanted to be a fighter because that was according to him what was expected of Palestinian children in the West Bank.[10] Yousef was first arrested when he was ten, during the First Intifada, for throwing rocks at Israeli settlers. As his father's eldest son, he was seen as his heir apparent. One of his brothers, Suheib Yousef, also left Hamas in 2019.[11]
Yousef said he saw the light after a stint in an Israeli jail during the mid-1990s. At Megiddo Prison, he witnessed Hamas inmates leading a brutal year-long campaign to weed out supposed Israeli collaborators. "During that time, Hamas tortured and killed hundreds of prisoners," he said, recalling vivid memories of needles being inserted under fingernails and bodies charred with burning plastics. Many, if not all, had nothing to do with Israeli intelligence. "I will never forget their screams," he continued. "I started asking myself a question. What if Hamas succeeded in destroying Israel and building a state. Will they destroy our people in this way?"[12]
Yousef said that his doubts about Islam and Hamas began forming when he realized Hamas' brutality, and that he hated how Hamas used the lives of suffering civilians and children to achieve its goals. Yousef was held by Shin Bet agents in 1996. While in prison he decided to accept a Shin Bet offer to become an informant.[13] [14]
Beginning with his release from prison in 1997, Yousef was considered the Shin Bet's most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname "The Green Prince" – using the color of the Islamist group's flag, and "prince" because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement's founders. The intelligence he supplied to Israel led to the exposure of many Hamas cells, as well as the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Jews. He has said that he did not inform for money, but rather that his motivations were ideological and religious, and that he only wanted to save lives.[15]
Yousef says he supplied intelligence only on the condition that the "targets" would not be killed, but arrested. This led to the detention of several key Palestinian leaders, including Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas commander in the West Bank, and Marwan Barghouti. Yousef also claims to have thwarted a 2001 plot to assassinate Shimon Peres, then foreign minister and later President of Israel. According to his former Shin Bet officer, "Many people owe him their lives and don't even know it."[15] Former Shin Bet Deputy Chief Gideon Ezra said "there are hundreds of collaborators like him. He is not unusual. He just decided to write a book about it", though many other Israeli officials have also praised his work.[16]
Yousef's brother Ouwais denounced a Haaretz report about his brother's activities, saying: "It was full of lies; it's all lies." Ouwais also revealed that the last contact between his family and Mosab took place more than a year before the news of his spying.[17] The Haaretz report on Yousef was described by Hamas MP Mushir al-Masri as "psychological war being waged against the Palestinian people... [it] did not deserve a response". Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mosab's father, while in an Israeli prison, disowned his son for spying for Israel.
In May 2016, talking to a Jerusalem Post conference in New York, Yousef said that at one point, he was simultaneously working for and being paid by Israel, the United States, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas. He went on to say that Islam as a whole is comparable to Nazism, and must be defeated.[18]
Yousef met a British missionary in 1999 who introduced him to Christianity. Between the years 1999 and 2000, Yousef gradually embraced Christianity. In 2005, he was secretly baptized in Tel Aviv by an unidentified Christian tourist. He left the West Bank for the United States in 2007, and lived some time in San Diego, California, where he joined the Barabbas Road Church.
In August 2008, Yousef publicly revealed his Christianity, and renounced Hamas and the Arab leadership, thereby endangering himself and exposing his family in Ramallah to persecution. Yousef has also claimed that his aim was to bring peace to the Middle East; he hopes to return to his homeland when there is peace.
For a time, Yousef was threatened with deportation from the U.S., after his request for political asylum was denied, since statements in his book about working for Hamas were interpreted as "providing material support to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization", despite Yousef's explanation that they were "intended to undermine the group". His case then proceeded to the deportation stage, despite Yousef's advocates' warning that he would likely be executed by the Palestinian Authority if deported to the West Bank.[19]
On 24 June 2010, Shin Bet handler Gonen Ben Itzhak, who for 10 years worked with Yousef under the cryptonym "Loai", revealed his own identity in order to testify on behalf of Yousef at an immigration hearing in San Diego. Ben Itzhak described Yousef as a "true friend", and said, "he risked his life every day in order to prevent violence".[20] [21] Partially as a result of this, Immigration Court Judge Richard J. Bartolomei, Jr., ruled on 30 June 2010, that Yousef would be allowed to remain in the United States after being fingerprinted and passing a routine background check.[22] On 23 October 2023, Yousef stated that he holds United States citizenship while speaking to American journalist Jake Tapper in a televised interview.
In 2016, Youssef said Islam as a whole is comparable to Nazism, and must be defeated. At a 2012 event, Youssef said "Islam is not a religion of peace." Youssef tweeted "If I have to choose between 1.6 billion Muslims and a cow, I will choose the cow.”[23] He has stated: "I have zero respect for any individual who identifies as a Muslim." In 2021, the Council on American–Islamic Relations labelled Youssef Islamophobic, citing several past statements.[24]
Amidst the Israel-Hamas war, Yousef said the cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not the occupation or land, but Hamas' "Islamic, religious identity" that causes antisemitism.[25]
In March 2024, Indiana University Hillel invited Yousef to speak, provoking a backlash from student groups who accused Yousef of Islamophobia. The event was postponed. In April 2024, Students Supporting Israel hosted Yousef at Columbia University, amid allegations that Yousef promoted Islamophobia, such as saying that Islam is "the most dangerous religion".[26]
In May 2024, Yousef spoke at UCSD, where he said that the IDF should "burn" the city of Rafah. At the event, Yousef said he never advocated for killing Muslims, while also Yousef describing Muslims as "2 billion people who are aggressive, who are violent".[27] The speech was protested by students who accused Yousef of Islamophobia.
The next day, Yousef tweeted a photo of a Muslim religious leader on campus with the sentence "Can someone do me a favor and remove him from campus so the students can focus on their education?" An open letter signed by Christian and Muslim religious leaders interpreted that statement as a threat and incitement to violence.[28]
Yousef admits that his views on Islam have caused him issues:
Yousef's co-authored autobiography, Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices, written with the assistance of Ron Brackin, was published in March 2010.[29] Son of Hamas was on The New York Times Best Seller list for two weeks in March 2010.[30]
Yousef collaborated with US-based actor and film producer Sam Feuer in the production of two films: a feature film adaptation of Yousef's book Son of Hamas and documentary The Green Prince, and a historical depiction of the life of the Muslim prophet Muhammad based on the accounts of eighth-century historian Ibn Ishaq.[31] A documentary adaptation of Son of Hamas titled The Green Prince, directed and written by Nadav Schirman, premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival,[32] where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema: Documentary. The Green Prince will be re-made into a live-action feature film.[33]