Hamas son calls ‘death culture’ incomprehensible

Hamas’s embrace of “death culture” is beyond comprehension for much of the world, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, founder of the terrorist group, told JNS.

Yousef spoke at a briefing hosted in Tel Aviv by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), titled “Exposing and Expelling Hamas — The Ideology Behind October 7 and Hostage Warfare.” The event featured Yousef alongside Luis Har, a former Hamas captive rescued in an IDF operation in February 2024, and JCFA President Dan Diker.

“It is beyond understanding that some people are willing to sacrifice human life for political gains, or worse for financial gains. I am a living example of this,” said Yousef. “My father had to choose between his eldest son and the cause and he chose the cause.”

Born in Ramallah in 1978, Yousef grew up within the Hamas movement, and was imprisoned several times by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). While in an Israeli prison, he was approached about becoming an ISA informant. 

He agreed, initially intending to act as a double agent to protect his father and family. Over time, however, disillusionment with Hamas’ ideology led him to embrace Christianity and work with Israel to save lives on both sides. He served as an undercover operative for nearly a decade.

Yousef said he understood that “if Hamas succeeded and destroyed Israel, they would come after the Arabs, after Muslim sects and after the West.”

Hamas, he said, does not believe in nationalism or political borders but uses Palestine as a more appealing banner than Islam.

“When I see the moral decay within the Muslim population, the slaughter of toddlers, kidnapping of Holocaust survivors, of innocent civilians who were actually mostly pro two-state solution, I feel we have betrayed them,” he continued.

“I am afraid that if we betray the Jewish people after all its contribution to life — sharing all the innovation, science, literature, morality, ethics and values with the rest of the world — and then punish them for being successful for the sake of the Muslim majority, this means that we are in big trouble.”

“The more we show tolerance, the more it will be perceived as weakness and ignite their bloodlust,” he warned.

In lieu of a Palestinian state, Yousef suggested an Arab federation and cooperation with the State of Israel.

“I prefer for my people economy, education, infrastructure, cooperation with Israel and to start mending bridges,” he said. 

“I would like Israel to assume security and I would like the rest of the world to give our people an economy. This will guarantee the creation of a new generation and cut the weight of all these opportunists who use the name Palestine as a device to harm Arabs and Jews.”

JCFA President Diker told JNS that the timing of the center’s diplomatic and foreign media event was deliberate.

“It’s a critical moment because of the real urgency of where we are in Gaza. … It was crucial for the JCFA “to point out the security dangers that Israel and the free world face together, as well as the Middle East, from Hamas — as Mosab [Hassan Yousef] mentioned.”

He warned of the upcoming UN General Assembly vote on a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood, calling it the “death nail to peace and security in the Middle East and around the world.”

“The implications of jihad by Hamas are not only for Israel,” he said. “As [former Al Qaeda leader Osama] Bin Laden stated, it is not only the far enemy — America and Israel — but also the near enemy: secular or more amenable, western-minded regimes in the Middle East. This moment has international consequences and implications.”

Diker cautioned that recognizing Palestinian statehood in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities would send a dangerous signal.

“If we wanted to give a prize for [Hamas’s] Al-Aqsa Flood invasion — mass murder, mass rape and mass kidnapping of nationals from 20 countries, almost all of them represented in this room — the prize for Hamas would be the recognition of a Palestinian state. The message that conveys is that mass murder, invasion, kidnapping, rape and torture pays,” he told the gathering.

Former Hamas captive Luis Har bore witness to the terror group’s atrocities, recounting his kidnapping and months in captivity.

On Oct. 6, Har was staying at the Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak home of his partner, Clara Marman. At 6:30 am the next morning, rocket sirens sounded, and the family sought shelter. Inside the house with them were Clara’s brother Fernando, sister Gabriela, niece Mia and their dog, Bella.

When Hamas launched its invasion, all five were abducted, forced into a Toyota pickup truck, and driven into Gaza, where they were held in Rafah. Clara, Gabriela, Mia, and Bella were freed on the 53rd day of the war. Har and Fernando were rescued by the IDF on day 129.

Speaking to JNS, Har stressed the importance of testifying about his ordeal, urging people “not to forget Oct. 7.”

“People tend to put it aside. It’s very important to remember what happened so that it will not happen again, or so that we will be ready in case something like this ever happens again,” he said.

The discussion was moderated by JCFA Director of Content and podcast host Sarah Martinez-Amir.