Mosab Hassan Yousef

This is an autobiography Mosab, Hassan Yousef the eldest son of the father of Hamas. It is riveting, dramatic and clearly gives the reader a look into the heart of both the Israelis and Palestinians. Mosab grew up in an Islamic home with devout but not radical parents. Mosab clearly adored his father who is Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its's most popular leader. His father was respected, being dedicated to self rule, and was like a Martin Luthor King to fellow men. show more According to Mosab, his dad wanted peace, justice and had the ability to make his enemies , into friends. He is depicted so Godly, I thought , this must be a ruse... his dad is probably behind all the suicide bombings. I was wrong. However, Masab at the age of 17, was becoming more radical with every Israeli raid where Palestinians were killed. He and his friend started throwing rocks at Military vehicles and were actually being shot at but not caught... until one day, Masab was captured, beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers at a prison. It is lawful to pick up people on suspicion to "interrogate" them and hold them until their captors are sure the prisoner is not involved in the suspected crime. When reading the account, it was easy to see why hatred would well up in the Palestinian's mind from unfair and inhumane treatment which seems very cruel.... but from the Israeli point of view, they are avoiding another massacre of innocents by, arresting and asking questions first, then release months later, so ... good.

He was put in prison with other Hammas members and he saw how the organization treated it's members. Hammas ruled the prison with terror and rigorous hypocrisy. The strongest leader in the prison, could accuse anyone on a whim, no evidence, take them too a "secret" tent, and interrogate /torture them until they confessed to sins of collaborating with Israel for which they deserved to be tortured. One of Masab's friends, of which he had few in the prison, was accused such collaboration and was taken to the tent and had needles shoved up his fingernails, beaten etc until he "confessed" to having sex with everything and everyone, then Hamas would send a tape of his confession to all his relatives and he would be shunned and denounced by his family. The poor man was innocent and Mosab saw the horrible hypocrisy within his own organization and indeed , within Islam.

These events he witnessed set his feet on a path to the true light, a relationship with Jesus Christ. It took several years and more adventures as he was recruited after prison by the secret investigative police in the Israeli government. His code name was , The Green Prince. He worked as a double agent for about 10 years, all the while negotiating with the Israelis the safety of his peaceful father. Mosab no longer supported Hamas and saw how an eye for an eye left them , as we heard in Fiddler on the Roof, all blind and toothless. That's what was happening as the Palestinian body count mounted and the terror attacks continued. Mosab had to get off the ride and get his life back. Mosab was introduced to the New Testament, the words of Jesus, and found that Jesus's words were very different than Mohammad's. He later met a Christian girl who offered to Baptize him, and Mosab became not just a follower of the teacher Jesus, but of the Messiah Jesus. He clearly states that Jesus is God and publicly shares his new faith. He tells his father who weeps and bemoans Mosab's decision, but true to his core values, he won't ostracize his son. Wonderful book. show less

I do not know how to rate this book. The story is gripping and the author paints what I suspect is a true picture of the complex ties between different factions among the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as their supporters in Arab nations and in the U.S. The violence and waste of humanity is clearly set out. The IDF does one thing, the Shin Bet another. The CIA does one thing, the PLO does another, Hamas does another. Such a waste of money, effort and humanity. Yousef's story of show more working for Shin Bet is so amazing that it is difficult to believe, but I know of no evidence to discredit it. His conversion to Christianity is not well-described, but appears to be genuine. Alas, I fear cloaking oneself in another religion will not help. His perspective on Islam seems to be similar to that of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Being Jewish, I know very little about Islam, but I know many Muslims would disagree with his perspective, which is entirely the Hamas perspective. I have always felt that every religion has been used as a weapon at one time or another. The level of damage is simply proportional to the amount of power that religion happens to have at that time. But back to the subject: I really, really enjoyed reading this book. Yes, the historical details may not be quite accurate, as some have pointed out, but digging out the historically accurate picture is not easy. The details about current events in the occupied territories are better explained, probably because they were directly experienced by the author. Overall, I guess I hope this book is true and that the author finds peace in his life. As for the Israelis and Palestinians, I hope peace comes someday, but no one can predict when that will happen.

By the way, some of the 1- and 2-star reviews on Amazon fault him for being too pro-Palestinian, while others accuse him of being too pro-Israeli. Maybe that makes his book balanced. show less

This book was one of the best biographies I have read in a long time. First, it helped me understand the massive complexities in the Middle East. Understanding the history and motivations of groups like Hamas, the PLO, and the PA make the news more understandable, and reveal a very gray situation with good and bad on both sides of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

But the book is about more than politics. It is also about a boy who becomes a man, caught up in events bigger show more than himself, all the while unsure of his conflicted feelings about his father, Hamas, and the people he is supposed to hate. All of this is compounded by his exposure to the teaching of Jesus which also begin to transform his thinking and character, while he is simultaneously serving as a leader to his people and a spy to Israel Shin Bet, trying to save lives on both sides.

Overall, a gripping tale that is more interesting than most works of fiction. show less

A wild story, but it comes across as quite self-serving, leaving a lot of doubt as to the veracity of some of the events depicted and the author's role in them. Of course everyone wants to be the hero of their own story, but reality isn't always quite so accommodating.

The writing is a bit rough around the edges, which I would normally forgive for a non-native English speaker with no writing experience, but there is a co-author listed who should have done a better job at translating and show more conveying the story.

The other thing that irked me was the self-righteousness of the newly converted. I get it, he found solace in embracing Jesus the Messiah as his own Personal Path to Salvation, but repeating it a dozen more times doesn't make it any more meaningful for the reader. A better use of the space would have been to examine his thoughts on what impact his conversion would have on his family, and/or the political ramifications. But he seems too excited and self-centered to look past his own experience to see how his decisions affect anyone else. show less