Mosab Hassan Yousef was born in Ramallah. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was one of the founded of Hamas and it’s leader.
As his father’s eldest son, he was seen as his heir apparent and became an important part of the Hamas organization. Yousef’s 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 was shocked by Shin Bet’s interrogation methods, which he considered humane, when compared to how Hamas operatives tortured imprisoned suspected collaborators. He decided to accept a Shin Bet offer to become an informant.
Shin Bet considered him its most valuable source within the Hamas leadership: the information Yousef supplied prevented dozens of suicide attacks and assassinations of Israelis, exposed numerous Hamas cells, and assisted Israel in hunting down many militants, including the incarceration of his own father, a Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef. In March 2010, he published his autobiography titled Son of Hamas.
In May 2016, talking to a Jerusalem Post conference in New York, Yousef made a claim that at one time he was working for and being paid by Israel, the United States, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, all at the same time. He went on to say that Islam as a whole is comparable to Nazism and must be defeated.
Below is the full transcript of Mosab Hassan Yousef’s speech to the U.N.
Statement by United Nations Watch
36th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council
Delivered by Mosab Hassan Yousef
Thank you, Mr. President.
I take the floor on behalf of UN Watch.
My name is Mosab Hassan Yousef. I grew up in Ramallah as a member of Hamas.
I address my words to the Palestinian Authority, which claims to be the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people.
I ask: where does your legitimacy come from?
The Palestinian people did not elect you, and they did not appoint you to represent them.
You are self-appointed.
Your accountability is not to your own people. This is evidenced by your total violation of their human rights.
In fact, the Palestinian individual and their human development is the least of your concerns.
You kidnap Palestinian students from campus and torture them in your jails. You torture your political rivals. The suffering of the Palestinian people is the outcome of your selfish political interests. You are the greatest enemy of the Palestinian people.
If Israel did not exist, you would have no one to blame. Take responsibility for the outcome of your own actions.
You fan the flames of conflict to maintain your abusive power.
Finally, you use this platform to mislead the international community, and to mislead Palestinian society, to believe that Israel is responsible for the problems you create.
Thank you.
