The son of Hamas knows best - editorial

Wednesday’s announcement that Museb Hassan Yousef, known as The Green Prince, is joining Israel’s National Public Diplomacy campaign is a welcome development. It’s a fine example of diplomatic creativity, innovation, and thinking outside the box – something we’ve all yearned for.

“This week, Israel’s public diplomacy efforts received a significant boost: The Green Prince, Museb Hassan Yousef, arrived for an interview with the prime minister’s Arabic Media spokesperson, Ofir Gendelman, and toured the areas of the October 7 massacre in the Western Negev,” the Government Press Office said in a statement.

“The Green Prince, together with IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee, also toured the Western Negev and visited the kibbutzim that were attacked during the October 7 massacre, as well as the area of the party at Re’im.”

The GPO published a link to the interview, which is being broadcast and promoted globally – especially to the Arab world – on digital platforms.

In the interview, conducted in the National Public Diplomacy studio, Yousef talks about his childhood in Ramallah, as the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and his studies at a UNRWA high school, where he was educated to hate.

• Referring to Hamas’s exploitation of UNRWA institutions to sow hate, he said, “In the mosques, the schools, the streets, and at home, everywhere you go, there is hatred of Israel and of the Jewish people.”

• Referring to the Hamas Covenant, which calls for the killing of Jews, he said, “The people that wrote the Hamas Covenant are a bunch of lunatics.”

• Referring to what is happening in the Arab world today, he said, “The Arab world needs to pay attention to the dangers within; Hamas does not care about people. In effect, they are sacrificing the lives of children and non-combatants to achieve cheap political goals.”

• In conclusion, he said, “The concept of jihad must be stopped, and it must be stopped now.”

Yousef, 45, became well-known in 2010 when he published his autobiography, Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices, written with Ron Brackin. A video of his eloquent address in English to The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York in 2016, in which he told his fascinating story of defecting from Hamas and becoming a Christian supporter of Israel, went viral on social media.

How Yousef left Hamas

After becoming involved in Hamas activities as a youth, Yousef was viewed as a successor to his father. However, while serving a jail sentence in Megiddo Prison, he began to question Hamas’s ideology and tactics. Eventually, he became known as The Green Prince (the title of a 2014 documentary) for serving as a reliable source for the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for over a decade.

In media briefings and video messages in November, Yousef called on Israel to set a time limit for Hamas to release the remaining 136 Israeli hostages and, if they don’t, to kill his father and other senior Hamas leaders. “Hamas must have a time frame – a month, two months, or six months – to return the hostages, and if they don’t return the hostages within the time frame, Israel must execute top Hamas leaders in prison, especially the mass murderers,” he said. “When I say execute top Hamas leaders, I mean no exceptions. That includes my father, the co-founder of the Hamas movement.”

Yousef warned that Hamas was dragging out negotiations on purpose. “Hamas is going nowhere, and if we continue to negotiate with them, they will continue stretching these negotiations, taking us into a rabbit hole that will never end. And this is their goal: to get away with their crimes. We cannot allow this to happen,” he said.

October 7 proved that Hamas had reached the “peak of their evil,” he continued. “If we don’t eradicate them, if we validate them, if we give them power or legitimacy, we are in real trouble.”

Israel and the world should listen carefully to Yousef, a man with integrity who knows what he’s talking about. A charismatic personality with whom Israel and the international community can engage, he might even be a possible candidate to lead a new, post-Hamas Gaza Strip. The government’s decision to bring The Green Prince on board to explain the true colors of Hamas is an intelligent step in the right direction. May other courageous Palestinians follow Yousef’s lead.