We Palestinians lack any basis for nationhood

Born to a top Hamas leader and groomed for power, Mosab Hassan Yousef became a Shin Bet agent. Since October 7, he has emerged as a prominent pro-Israel voice abroad. In a special interview, the Green Prince defends Trump’s transfer plan and calls Islam 'violent'.

Mosab Hassan Yousef entered the world in 1978 in Ramallah, into a devout Muslim family. Nine years on, his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, aligned with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and others to found Hamas.

As the eldest son, Mosab was earmarked for a key position in the terrorist group. In his younger days, he fulfilled those hopes by hurling stones amid the First Intifada.

“When Israeli people meet me worldwide, many of them cry; it's not just ‘let's take a photo.’ I know that people love me, and I love them. We are together in this, and God willing, we will look back at this stage. We will be victorious because what Israel had to go through is unfair and unjust,” he shared with Ynet in an exclusive interview.

Once prepared to rise as an Islamist arch-terrorist, Yousef covertly served as a Shin Bet informant. He relayed crucial intelligence that thwarted many suicide bombings during the 1990s.

His extraordinary tale surfaced in his 2010 memoir, Son of Hamas, and the 2014 documentary The Green Prince, helmed by Nadav Schirman. These disclosures followed his move to the United States, where he secured political asylum. Since arriving, he has dwelled in seclusion, wary of reprisals.

Yet last month, Yousef made a return to Israel for a rare public outing at a dedicated gathering in Jerusalem’s International Convention Centre. "I like privacy. I like quiet. I like to be invisible. But I had no choice,” he remarked. “I love coming to Israel and being with the people. This has been a great privilege.

“I never thought I would enjoy returning to Israel and being recognised everywhere I go, getting invited to everything. I wish I could accept everyone’s invitation, of course, but you feel the sincerity. If only my people could understand that love and friendship are possible, we could build bonds far stronger than those based on religion. This is my main mission ,the coexistence that I was prevented from demonstrating.”

This plea for harmony clashes with much of his recent commentary, especially after the October 7 massacre and the ensuing Gaza conflict. Over recent months, Yousef has aired fiercely combative opinions against Hamas, Palestinians at large, and Muslims in general. Such positions might strike a chord with numerous Israelis more than his visions of unity.

“I have spent half of my life among the Jewish people, building deep relationships that went beyond anything I could have imagined. These people became my people," he stated. "When you live among people for 27 years of your life, you come to understand their culture, you understand their religion, their aspirations in life, what they’re looking for, their strengths and weaknesses. You identify with that on a personal level. So when October 7 happened, it felt like it was happening to me. This is my people. I may be Palestinian and have left Hamas, but that doesn’t change how I feel.

This is what many people don’t understand, especially considering the views I’ve expressed in the past. I took a gentle approach to the problem, but instead of being heard, I was cancelled, ridiculed and threatened. People said I was just confused. I was rejected completely, by my own family, by my host country, even by those who were supposedly on my side. They plotted to deport me. They tried to politically assassinate me. That’s when I decided to quit, about ten years ago.

Then October 7 happened, and I was proven right, Hamas is not good news. But by then, it was too late. Now we’re in global chaos, and the Palestinian cause has become a dangerous trigger. My purpose is to confront the world with the ugly truths of what’s called the Middle East conflict. Humanity must decide: which side are you on?

This is no longer a friendly dialogue or a cultural debate where people disagree and move on. This is a confrontation with evil, an ideology that justifies killing, raping, kidnapping and the ongoing attempt to ethnically cleanse a nation. So yes, you must choose. Are you on their side? Or are you on the side of truth? I’ve had to take a side, not because I want to carry all of Israel’s faults, and there are many, but because you can’t stand for nothing. Representing Israel means accepting both its strengths and its flaws. But in the end, I must take a side."

Yousef’s solidarity with Israel leaves no room for doubt. He differs from anti-Hamas Palestinian figures like Gaza native Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib and Hamza Howidy. While they denounce Hamas with vigour, they also recoil from the sheer loss of life and ruin in their childhood communities. Yousef, raised in the West Bank, professes scant pity for most Gazans. To him, decades of backing Hamas bosses leave them beyond compassion.

“I see Gaza as an old, giant refugee camp that was supposed to be dismantled some 50 years ago,” he explained. “Instead, the UN, the international community, the Arab world and con artists all benefited from the suffering of the refugees. This is where they spread their ideologies and hatred, and where they recruited people, mostly from the refugee camps.

And I’d be lying if I told you that it was a peaceful place before October 7. It’s a very dangerous and unpleasant place. I grew up going into refugee camps, this is where 90 percent or more of terrorist attacks and terrorists are bred. That’s why I believe what Israel is doing now in the West Bank, demolishing refugee camps, is the right move. These camps aren’t just a threat to Israel; they’re a threat to any civil society. When your own society allows such overcrowded places to exist, where people live in despair with no resources, and are ruled by con artists and warlords, the cycle continues indefinitely.

From the very beginning of the war, I called on the United Nations, on presidents and prime ministers: open the border with Egypt. It was the simplest step, just open the border, get the women and children out of the picture. That way, you can help them, provide food and medicine, and remove them from the humanitarian crisis. Then you’re left to confront only the combatants. But no one listened.”

What blocked this idea from taking hold?

"They listened, maybe for two minutes, and then said, 'What about our peace agreement with Egypt?' But where is that peace agreement now, with all this chaos? Egypt refused to take responsibility and, in fact, has been complicit to a great degree in Hamas’ growth. At one point, I even offered someone in Egyptian Rafah $10,000 to break through the fence and let people out. It sounds ridiculous, but this is out of despair."

"I knew it was going to be a disaster. I know Hamas’ game. I know Israel’s limitations. I knew exactly what was coming. That’s why, in my very first interview after the war, I said: evacuate the civilians. If I had been Israel, I would have made that a condition from the start of the war: the most vulnerable civilians must be allowed safe passage, because we are going to burn Gaza to the ground. I would have made it clear to the entire world, we’ve been attacked, we cannot tolerate Hamas on our border, and we will destroy them. Give civilians two weeks, ten days, a month, whatever it takes. And after that, unleash hell. But that wasn’t the approach. We missed so many opportunities, and Hamas dragged us into this rabbit hole. That’s their strategy, and they knew it would ultimately delegitimise Israel."

You raise political accountability, yet Gaza lies in ruins, with hundreds of thousands bearing profound physical and emotional scars. How can one overlook that human dimension?

"I've seen death, lots of it. Not just since October 7, but throughout my life. I’ve seen human skulls with no brain inside, a human face without anything behind it. I've seen the worst of what war can do. Not just the aftermath of suicide bombings, I’ve seen all of it. I was the first to receive the photos. I know what happens. I’ve seen horrific things. And what you’re seeing now, let me tell you, is not the worst.

Just compare: take footage of suicide bombings and compare it to buildings collapsing because Hamas dug tunnels beneath them. Two completely different realities. These are combatants hiding behind women and children. So what am I supposed to feel? Why should I bear the moral responsibility, when their own parents don’t care about their well-being? When they’re ready to sacrifice their children for Allah? That’s another problem entirely.

Emotions can be manufactured. I can empathise with the truly meek, not with a woman who has supported Hamas, and the majority of women in Gaza have done so for 36 years. They’ve been praising the slaughter of Jews, spreading hatred and repeating false narratives about the Jewish people, distorting their history and image with myths and conspiracies from who knows where.

This didn’t happen overnight. Hamas has spent 37 years building momentum, and people seem to forget they voted for them. They forget they funded Hamas from their own pockets, not just Iran. You need to understand: Hamas members pay out of their own pockets. It’s part of their religious obligation. Businessmen too, all under the table. How do I know? Because I was in Hamas leadership. I saw where the finances came from. Average people would walk into the mosque with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars or dinars and slip it into my father's pocket or the back seat of his car.

So basically, they contributed to Hamas, they built Hamas, they invited Hamas in, and they legitimised it. And when my voice came out from within that world to say, ‘Hey, this is madness’, how many times do you think I’d be killed if I went back to Gaza? How many times? And for what? I never killed anyone. I don’t have the blood of their tribesmen on my hands, thank God. But they still want me dead a thousand times over.

So yes, I feel sympathy. I feel compassion. But I cannot get emotional about it, because I’m not responsible for this. Israel isn’t responsible for this. The people who are must be held accountable. If I had a hand in the suffering of innocent people, I’d feel guilty. But it’s not on me.

This is the responsibility of the Egyptian president, the U.S. president and the world’s top leaders. From my perspective, I just want the lies to end. I want the suffering to end, because false narratives always lead to suffering."

(Photo: Liron Milo)

“But I also can’t stop the war in my head. I don't want this to ever be repeated, not only against Israel, but against Gaza as well. In fact, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t want any Arabs near Israel. I’d want a full separation until people realise that coexistence, under current circumstances, is impossible.”

Yet a pushback against Hamas stirs in Palestinian circles, even in Gaza, where folk risk death to protest in the streets.

"If now the Palestinian Authority starts to play this game, to show loyalty to Abbas and opposition to Hamas because Hamas is weak, suddenly we see all the hypocrites who celebrated on October 7 and 8, the kidnapping of Jewish people, now going out to the streets saying, 'F*** Hamas,' etc. Are we supposed to start believing them right away?

Of course, there are people who suffered under Hamas’ iron grip in Gaza. I'm not saying there aren’t. But are they any better? They all still see Israel as the common enemy. They may not agree with what Hamas did on October 7, not because they love Israel, but simply because they hate Hamas and want Hamas to be proven wrong.

So it's not like they weighed it on a moral scale and said, 'What you did was wrong.' No, they’re saying, 'It wasn't worth it.' On the one hand, they agree that October 7 was justified as resistance to occupation. On the other hand, they think it was bad because Hamas carried it out. So, you’re dealing with these two-faced people. I wouldn’t count on it too much, and it shouldn’t change anything."

Hamas revelled in its armed stand against Israel, setting it apart from the Palestinian Authority. Historically, October 7 likely shines as a triumphant milestone for Hamas’s terror route.

"We don’t know the final outcome of this, which in my opinion will be the defeat of Hamas. Hamas is already much weaker. They've lost many of their cards, and they know that the hostage situation, and all the psychological warfare they launched from day one to try to force Israel to surrender on October 8, didn’t work. The result so far: the deaths of most Hamas leaders in Gaza and abroad, and the destruction of Gaza.

But for Hamas, it’s still too early. They’re waiting for the moment when Israel might bend and agree to end the war, allowing Hamas to survive. That’s what Hamas wants. If they reach that point, they will declare victory, absolutely. That’s what they aimed for when they took the hostages. The hostages were their most sensitive card. This was their original plan: to force Israel to the negotiating table.

What the rest of the world doesn’t know is that some of the most dangerous Hamas terrorists, the mass murderers, the bomb-makers, the masterminds are in Israeli prisons. In my opinion, they are even more dangerous than those outside."

Crowds gather as hostages are released from Gaza captivity (Photo: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

"The world doesn’t understand this dynamic. They just see hostages and ask, “Why doesn’t Israel release them?” Meanwhile, Hamas’ propaganda machine keeps pushing the same narrative: violence for violence, a bullet for a bullet, an eye for an eye."

Hamas seems to have honed this tactic over years: strike via terror, then cloak in victimhood for worldwide sympathy.

"This is what the world is trying to impose on Israel, but let me tell you something: in Islamic culture, in Middle Eastern culture, in Arab culture, these are all intertwined, there is no such concept as defeat. You have to understand this: it’s victory or death.

When they lose a war, they don’t see it the way the West does. We were conditioned from an early age. Our ancestors told our parents that the Jewish people came and took our land, and that it’s our sacred duty to fight the occupation. We weren’t there, we didn’t see it. Just like today, even when we have access to footage from Gaza and can see everything that led to this madness, most still don’t understand what’s really happening.

Now imagine a time with no cameras, no evidence. Just stories, stories of massacres, of Jews slaughtering people. These stories became the foundation for a refugee identity passed down from the first generation to the second and third. All of it built on a refusal to accept what really happened, that our forefathers initiated the war against Israel’s independence, and they lost.

But in this culture, defeat is too shameful to admit. Everything is based on honour and shame, not on right and wrong, as in Western culture. In the Middle East, it's about honour. Better to die than lose face. There’s no space for failure. We were raised to believe that our land was taken, that we were weak, that the Jewish people had the support of the world and stronger weapons, and that they killed our forefathers. We were taught never to forgive, never to forget, and that it is our national duty to fight back."

They battle for an illusion, not the nuts and bolts of statehood.

"First of all, Palestine is a colonial construct. It's not even part of our traditional vocabulary, it’s not in the Arab dictionary. 'Palestine' was a name for a region at best, not a country. As for so-called Palestinians, we don’t actually have anything concrete to support our existence as a nation or an ethnicity, nothing except for this ugly flag and the keffiyeh, a scarf actually coming from Iraq. And yet we claim these as our national symbols. That’s all we have. But then I ask myself: am I really supposed to die for this falsehood? For the madness of people who thrive on corruption and violence and expect everyone else to join them?

This brings us back to Hamas. Hamas has succeeded in creating chaos because chaos is where their ideology thrives. They’re not fighting for land. They’ve recruited millions of people around the world to their sick cause, and they’ve gained legitimacy by claiming to resist Israel. So if you ask me who’s winning or losing, everyone is losing. But again, this is temporary. Over time, things will become clearer, because the truth must prevail."

"Israel is a nuclear power, the most powerful army in the region, but that’s not what I’m betting on. I’m betting on a very, very long history: 5,000 years of survival. When you think about how many ethnic minorities have survived the brutality of human history, the list is short. Israel is remarkable. It’s a miracle that such a small people have endured and made such an impact worldwide. So for me, the truth of the Jewish people goes far beyond this temporary political debate."

Pro-Palestinian rally in New York (Photo: KENA BETANCUR / AFP)

"Trying to wipe out that truth, trying to deny an entire people their right to exist, is like saying the Creator made a mistake by creating them. It’s disgusting. It’s racist. It’s violent. And this kind of conditioning has to end. You see, the moment you oppose these ideologies, they turn against you. They claim the right to self-determination, but they won’t recognise anyone else’s right to exist. That’s the reality. And I’m supposed to play along with that? I’m supposed to pick up a rifle and commit suicide on their behalf, for this madness?"

'No peaceful Islam, only peaceful human beings brought up in that culture'

Yousef’s fierce rebuke of Hamas’s battlefield deeds ties closely to his aggressive posture on the faith fuelling the outfit. He levels a bold charge, insisting Islam carries violence at its core, not just among Palestinians but across the globe.

Having forsaken the faith of his youth, Yousef delved into the New Testament after his 1999 release from an Israeli jail. In 2005, aged 28, he underwent Christian baptism. That shift, he posits, might underpin his bond with Jews and his disdain for Muslims.

“This is not about Palestine,” he asserts. “This has been an Islamic global assault on the Jewish minority.” He continues, “From the perspective of your politicians and the IDF security guys, they think they have the upper hand when it comes to security. For me, I calculate it differently. I see 2 billion people versus 15 million people around the world."

That strikes as overly broad.

"I call out the Muslims, the double-faced people who celebrated in the first week of the war the attack and the devastation among the Jewish people and as the Jewish people were still mourning, that’s on one hand. On the other hand, immediately after that, the same group started blaming and complaining: 'genocide, genocide.' I’ve been saying this for a long time: Islam is not a religion. And this is not about radical Islam, it’s not like, there’s radical Islam and there’s peaceful Islam. There are peaceful human beings brought up in that culture, okay, that’s a possibility. But the religion itself is violent.

Allah has an open account with the Jewish people. That’s something you need to understand, and Muslims take Allah seriously. So if Allah dehumanised the Jewish people, degraded them to animal, sub-animal status, literally, this is what the Quran says, then we have a problem. We’re talking about 2 billion people, with oil money behind them, with all the influence they have in Europe, in Western governments and over compromised politicians. It’s also the sheer number. We're talking about 20 percent of humanity. How could this even be possible, and nobody wants to accept that, actually, yes, we have billions of clowns living among us, whose consciousness is, frankly, sub-animal. And this is the ugly truth politicians won’t touch, and the media won’t talk about. Because immediately you’re labelled Islamophobic, or extreme, or told, 'Not everybody...' and so on. Then you get lost in their game."

So it feels bleak, does it not?

"Anyone who identifies as a Muslim is a problem to me because why do they feel the need to identify as a Muslim to begin with? Why do they need to pray in demonstrations, in the thousands, out in public? Why are they mixing politics and religion in the mosque? And why are we not doing anything about it, to tell them, 'Okay, you can worship the stone. We don’t have a problem with that. We won’t laugh at you. Do whatever you want, but don’t throw the stone at me.'

This is where it gets too far. You cross the line. I think this just needs to be communicated. Hopefully, we will have a new generation of leadership coming out of the West, coming out of this war, even in Israel, to tell the Muslim people: 'Listen, we don’t have a problem with you. We’re not after you. We are willing to work with you. But if you choose violence, we are going to counter that with violence. And everyone will lose. But at the end of the day, we love you. You’re part of the family.' And I don’t know what’s so wrong about that."

A Quran (Photo: Shutterstock)

"What you need to understand is: the Jewish people suffered the worst religious attack. The Hamas attackers were shouting 'Allahu Akbar.' They didn’t say 'Free Palestine' when they attacked. It was in the name of Allah, not in the name of Palestine, but in the name of Al-Aqsa Mosque. So this is basically what we’re dealing with. Denial won’t help us. At the very least, we need to be aware. Even though I’m not calling on Israel to act on my perspective, or to start a war with the Muslim world, that’s not what I’m saying. I am not declaring war on the Muslim people, okay? But I am aware, every day of my life, that many among the Muslim people want me dead. And I have to take that into account. I cannot let down my guard. I know the threat exists. What I’m saying is that we need to recognise that the threat exists. And then, I hope, we’ll be able to work with hundreds of millions of people to create a new generation that can lead them out of the darkness."

To back his assertion on the perils and duplicity of Islamist thought, he highlights fresh shifts in Syria under Ahmad al-Sharaa’s regime. He claims it courts the West and Israel to stall, biding time for a terror foothold on Israel’s northern flank.

"Today, we have a terrorist as the president of a major Arab country next to us, and he's hostile to Israel. A guy like this can build an army of millions, and this is what he wants to do in a world where everyone is dependent on machines. In a world where you can't even recruit new people. What's happening in Israel is a miracle, because everyone understands this is an existential war. But in the United States, we actually have a problem recruiting people to the army.

So with that said, this guy comes in, and we know his true face, and we know he's handcuffed right now, like he can't throw a punch. But we know that if he had the opportunity, he would. So what are we doing about this situation? We're not doing anything. We just go on threatening, we’ve become like the Middle Easterners: just threats and more threats. Like any ruler, you need a front. You need a governing authority of some kind that keeps things in order, even if it’s hostile. That's when you open a third channel, or you open indirect channels."

Israel casts itself as Western civilisation’s bulwark, handling the grim tasks, yet faces scorn from global quarters.

"It is a religious war. It’s motivated by a belief system. A totalitarian system. It’s not even a religion. It’s very dangerous, and it’s not only against the Jewish people, it’s against Christians, Buddhists, Hindus. It’s against everyone who does not believe in Islam. This has been my message to the world: today you think it’s about occupation, but you’re not paying attention to the origins of the problem. It’s 1,400 years of continuous assault and attempts to ethnically cleanse the Jewish people from the entire Middle East. It started in Arabia, according to Islamic sources, and it spread everywhere. It’s not ending in Israel.

But it’s not the end of the world. It’s not like we’re going back to the Dark Ages in Europe. We’ve been through this. Unfortunately, we’ve read about it in history, but we didn’t learn anything. Now we’re repeating the same mistake. And you’ll see, soon, after the dust of this war settles, people will look around and say, 'What the heck was going on?' It’ll seem like madness. And maybe people will come together. Hopefully, people will heal. You’ll see that our generation will learn from the mistakes of this generation. But the next generation won’t learn from the mistakes we make. That’s why I think it’s a vicious cycle. Like today, for example, you don’t hate Germany just because it gave birth to the Nazis, right? But it’s a different mentality when it comes to the Palestinians."

'Now I’m called a traitor, a sellout, working for the Zionists'

Yousef resolves to broadcast his alert via Western outlets. Post-October 7, he draws crowds on American TV and forums, akin to his Jerusalem panel this summer. His outlook spans wider than the Israeli-Palestinian rift, but for Gaza’s woes, he pins faith on Donald Trump’s evacuation blueprint.

"I hope it's a real plan and that we can just finish with these guys and close this chapter. After October 7, flashes of thoughts crossed my mind that this could actually be the end. I wasn’t sure. But now, here we are, still living. And now there are superpowers getting on board, saying: you know what? It’s just one long-lived refugee camp, let the people move on. Because if you keep them under Hamas rule, they’ll just keep this cycle, and this has to come to an end."

Pro-Palestinian demonstration at Yale University (Photo: REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin)

This idea draws global backlash, even Trump has quieted on it.

"It’s not even about Hamas anymore. The liberal world doesn’t want to hear about it. You’re kind of contradicting their beliefs. Well, look, if it stopped at the level of not listening, I wouldn’t be bothered. The thing is, they don’t understand that there is an army of historians, artists and their own kind of people coming from the West who basically attack anything that now contradicts their narrative, even though they’ve never been there, and they’re not familiar with the culture. They don’t understand that this is a different culture. And they don’t realise they’re cutting off the hand that’s helping them. They’re actually going against their own beliefs, against their own principles. But the paradox can appear different from every angle, and I don’t know how to convey that to them. Because they haven’t lived the pain. They haven’t experienced the vicious cycle of violence. What we’re trying to do, you and I, is break that cycle by cutting off the head of the snake, so to speak. To bring things back to their natural state: where do you stand, where do I stand, and let’s figure out a middle ground. And that’s fine.

But right now, they’re recruiting millions of people around the world. And we’re helping them spread the victim narrative. That’s a very dangerous state, especially when it starts getting recognition from everyone. Then who’s going to pay the price? You’re legitimising violence. In other words, the anti-war movement. That’s actually something I respect. We have it in Israel too. I don’t think there’s any modern Israeli who wants their child to go to Gaza and risk their life. So with that said, I’m not against people who engage in anti-war activity. But when it becomes anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-nation, a blood libel, that’s where it crosses the line.

When I see many people projecting their hatred, even their own hatred that has nothing to do with the Middle East, onto the Middle East through social media, they become advocates. At least for me, I have a reason to be angry about the situation. You have a reason to be angry. But I don’t understand why a white American spoiled boy, why is he angry about this situation? It’s frustrating because they don’t understand.

When I escaped to the U.S., I went there believing I could survive, escape for my life. Because I know I could be executed in any Muslim or Arab country. If I’m caught, I’ll be executed. And I know my point of view is very dangerous to many. It pushes them out of their comfort zone, and that’s why they want me hurt. They want me to disappear. At least in the United States, the majority of people don’t see that as treason. They don’t consider it shameful. In fact, it’s the opposite. People in the U.S. see that you stopped terrorists from blowing up civilians, they say, 'Good job. We love you.' But right now, it’s the opposite. Now I’m called a traitor, a sellout, working for the Zionists. This is where it gets disturbing. Of course, many of them are named Muhammad or Mustafa, but go by the cover name 'James.' And when there are two billion of them, and just a handful of us, then it becomes overwhelming. They can put all kinds of drama on it, from the images, to the poetry, to the sad songs. It’s the victim narrative again.

You may have noticed, every time I debate them, the first thing they do is attack me. They try to delegitimise me, discredit me, before the debate even starts. And by doing that, they’re basically agreeing with Hamas, that I should have my throat cut for what I did. And what did I do? I saved seven human lives. So if you ask me, 'Is it frustrating?', frustration is not even the word. It’s a very, very dangerous state we’ve arrived at, where everything has been flipped upside down. They even want me to apologise, or to doubt what I did, to believe that preventing suicide bombing attacks was somehow the wrong thing. That it was against the people of Gaza, or against the underdog, the oppressed. That I was helping the colonising Zionist enemy. That’s what it’s come to. So it’s not just frustrating, it’s actually life-threatening for me. And many people still don’t understand my position."

Yousef concedes that, despite the ease of his overseas routine, distant from the Middle East’s scorching blaze, a shroud of secrecy, societal isolation, and perpetual safety fears exact a steep toll for his Israeli security ties, however warranted.

"Unfortunately, I can’t say much about my life now, for security reasons, and also for privacy reasons. I know many people are curious. They want to know: how can you survive, being totally alone, on your own, with all the opposing forces? I don’t know how I made it this far, and that’s what really matters. Sometimes the mind tells you things. Suicidal thoughts. Then you make irrational choices that contradict logic, contradict your own security," he discloses.

"It’s an embarrassment. There are so many things that any human being wouldn’t want to become, no matter what. To disappoint your parents. To break their hearts. To attract so many angry people who don’t even know why they’re angry. To have people come after you, even though they don’t know you, just because of your opinion. I was aware, even back then, that what I was doing was, by the standards of what’s called 'Palestinian society,' a prison sentence, or worse. It’s not that I was fooled or was just a clueless young man. I knew exactly that it would be a death sentence, just to bring in one piece of information that could stop a suicide bombing attack. I was taking a risk on behalf of people I didn’t know, against the interests of people I loved, but I disagreed with them."

Anti-government protest in Tel Aviv (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

Such resolve demands boundless bravery. Some might deem it folly.

"The complexity of all this, where the rational mind doesn't count in such a reality. With all the randomness, the decisions and the chaos of my life, I ended up in a place of equilibrium. It's a very, very balanced state. I left the Middle East problem a long time ago. I don’t think about it anymore. The madness of people killing for dirt, or not even accepting that we are all children of God, children of life. And we cannot generalise, like saying 'Israel,' as if it’s one thing. Because Israel is diversity. It includes many things, including Arabs, by the way. So to deny Israel's right to exist and keep this vicious cycle going for eternity, that’s something I lived through, and then I exited.

But for me, after 10 years of moving on, of establishing a completely new life far from the Middle East, to find myself dragged back into it, with the same mindsets, the same mentality that believes violence is justified... but that logic leads to things like October 7. Suicide bombings. Kidnappings. Rapes. Dehumanisation. Attempts to wipe out an entire nation. And they call that a 'fight.' But we’re the ones who have to live with it. Today it’s Hamas. Tomorrow it could be Iran. The day after, the Nazis again, I don’t know. So, in principle, I reject all of that. That’s where I stand.

Up until October 7, if I were still in the Middle East, I’d probably be speaking a different language. But I went far away, and I thought, maybe, after 10 years, people would have learned something. And then, we’re back at square one. There are still people out there who want me dead. And somehow, I survived, against so many odds, for many years. Even my own parents, especially my father, literally threw me into the mouth of death. For what? For reporting a suicide bombing attack. Which is madness. It is madness. Anyone who thinks that blowing up buses, schools, hospitals, universities, beaches, killing people indiscriminately, is okay, they need to be locked up in a mental asylum. And honestly, I don’t have the patience to talk to people like that. How can you negotiate with them? How can you reason with them? What language are you going to use when they’re pointing a gun at you and ready to pull the trigger? At that point, it doesn’t matter what you say. It doesn’t matter what you do."

'I don't know what it's like to be in the position of any decision-maker in Israel since the beginning of the war'

For Yousef, as for every Israeli and countless global Jews and non-Jews alike, October 7 marked an inconceivable, world-shaking pivot. Even with his Hamas intimacy, he grappled to absorb it from overseas.

"So then [the reports] start coming in, and what appeared at the beginning was a military operation against military targets. That’s what it looked like at first, and I thought to myself: Israel has a massive problem because it looked like Hamas knew how to strike very, very hard, and be very successful at it. If this had been Hamas' true objective, if they had succeeded in containing the events of that day, they could have framed it as a one-way, suicidal strike," he recounted.

"But they miscalculated. The public in Gaza began pouring in and joining, finishing the job. And that’s where most of the atrocities happened, what are called 'Gazan civilians', we saw them going in. They’re the ones who committed much of the destruction. That’s not to say Hamas didn’t do it, but imagine, God forbid, if Hamas had attacked only military bases, kidnapped only soldiers and returned to the populated areas of Gaza. Israel would have been in really, really deep trouble. And the truth became so elusive, you don’t know where it lies. They couldn’t contain it, because that’s the nature of their society.

At first, the situation looked one way, but a few hours later, when we learned there were hundreds of hostages, civilians involved, entire communities being wiped out, moshavim and kibbutzim, it became something else entirely. It’s a mix of emotions: failure, anger, rage. I don’t want to say 'laughter,' because that’s not the right word, but a reaction like, 'What the heck?' Like, the establishment just collapsed. It was very, very mixed. I didn’t have clarity. And of course, everything changed when I saw the massacre firsthand, when I was briefed by Israeli intelligence and saw much of the evidence myself. I couldn’t help but cry. It was just overwhelming."

Per the writer and speaker, the Hamas raid validated his alerts on the group’s Gaza buildup, yet even he reeled from the IDF and Israeli bodies’ breakdown. Still, on Israel’s camp, his trademark forthrightness stays tempered. Despite his security ties, the Shin Bet, and ex-handler Gonen Ben Yitzhak, now a protest mainstay, the “Green Prince” shuns outright barbs.

"Regarding the Shin Bet, there are things to say, regarding some of the politicians too. But in my opinion, I prefer to keep them to myself. Why? Because any alternative would have to deal with the same dilemma, and nobody is above making mistakes. Everybody would make a mistake, especially when leadership is surprised by such a brutal, barbaric attack. They had to fight with a broken sword because of the hostage situation, the chaos that came with it, and the immense pressure coming from France and from everybody," he outlined.

"I don't know what it's like to be in the position of any decision-maker in Israel since the beginning of the war. It's very easy to sit on the outside and start making judgments without seeing all the angles of such a reality. There are things I know personally, things that were mistakes. Grave mistakes. Even prior to October 7, throughout my career. But again, I’m not afraid to say them. Just, not now. I don’t think this is the time. Right now, I believe Israel’s current decision-makers are doing everything within their ability to bring the hostages back and to defeat Hamas. And those are the two main tasks. There’s no way around them.

As long as the decision-makers in Israel are working within that framework, I don’t have a problem with them. Neither should you. Neither should anyone in Israel, because now is not the time to be divided. It’s good to protest. It’s good to have opinions. All of that is amazing, it’s the strength of democracy. But if we don’t know everything, we shouldn’t take sides right now. We should focus on the main task. And after all this, some people will always carry the stain of having been asleep on the night of October 7, when that happened to the Jewish people."

It rings a bit like Netanyahu’s team playbook, I must say.

"Many times, I avoid giving an opinion because I really don't know what's on the prime minister's table, what all the facts are. And if I were in his shoes, I don't know what kind of decision I would make unless I knew all the things he knows," he replied.

"Israel couldn’t stay on high alert for 17 years, taking all the manpower from advanced industries and putting them in uniforms, telling them: 'You have to stay at the Gaza border because something may happen.' It’s exhausting for any democracy. Look at Israeli society, even with much less than that, it’s psychologically devastating for the people. You destroy the society. People cannot be at war all the time.

And if it comes to my extreme views, I would say, from the very beginning: never let Hamas have a break. It’s a very dirty war. Many of Hamas’s leaders should have been eliminated a long time ago. With all the capabilities of the Mossad, you must trim them. And if necessary, even cut the trunk. But you cannot just give them everything they ask for. And I think this is where the strategy went wrong."