Check It Out: One man’s unique perspective

By Joan Janzen

Everyone sees things from their own unique perspective. For example, an elderly Alzheimer’s patient said, “It’s wonderful. I’m making new friends every day!”

During the past month or so, Mosab Hassan Yousef has been sharing his perspective of being raised in Palestine. He is the eldest son of one of the founders of Hamas, and worked alongside his father. He eventually parted ways with Hamas, and is now an American citizen residing in an undisclosed location in order to maintain his safety.

While being interviewed by Piers Morgan, Mosab said as a child, he asked his father about the brutality and abuse of power, but his answers didn’t satisfy him. “He justified their position,” he said.

As a young man, Mosab was incarcerated for 27 months in an Israeli prison. “At the time, I told Hamas my agenda for working with Israel was to get revenge. I told them the truth, but they didn’t believe me. That was the moment I saw their true face and realized I can be their enemy if I tell them the truth, but it isn’t their truth.”

While in prison he was brutally tortured by Hamas. When he was released he worked for Israeli internal security service from 1997 to 2007 and was considered a valuable source of preventing many suicide bombings and casualties.

“I learned how to swim against the current,” he said. It came at a great personal price, as his father disowned him and vowed not to protect him from physical harm. Nevertheless, he continues to love and honour his parents, no matter what they believe.

He began to ask himself what would happen to his people if Hamas were to become the ruler of Gaza, which they did in 2007. “I wasn’t surprised by their brutality,” he said, concerning the attack on October 7th.

“They are willing to sacrifice the entire Palestinian people to achieve their ideological agendas. It’s a fact that Israel warns civilians to evacuate buildings before they strike them. In the meantime, Hamas puts up roadblocks to stop civilians from evacuating.”

He said it’s no secret they want to destroy the state of Israel. “If Hamas is not removed from power, they will build more military, and the next war is going to be deadlier,” he advised.

“Your passion is very palpable and very different from the pro-Palestinian voices I’ve heard,” Piers Morgan observed. Mosab offered his passionate response.

“I don’t want someone coming from the other side of the world to tell me what is the struggle of the Palestinian children. I am the legitimate representative of the Palestinian children, who need education, security. They need life. They don’t need another corrupt Arab regime.”

That concludes the perspective of Mosab, and I’ll end by giving a brief history of Israel, for anyone who may be interested. Perspectives change when we are aware of historical facts.

The land of Israel has been populated by the Jewish people ever since Abraham was called the Father of the Jewish Nation in Biblical accounts. Since then, the Jewish people have continued to live in Israel. There were more or less of them depending on the centuries, but there was never a time when the Jews didn’t live in the land.

In 1947 the UN Partition Plan proposed dividing it into two independent states, a Jewish state and Arab state, but the Arabs said no. War broke out between the newly born State of Israel against seven Arab armies; two years later, Israel won. Gaza wasn’t part of Israel but was under Egyptian rule. In 1948, the UN established the State of Israel.

In 1967, the six-day war broke out, and five Arab armies attacked Israel. Israel was successful in defending itself.

Between 1967 and 1988, people moved freely between Gaza and Israel.

Then, acts of violence occurred against Israeli civilians. At that time, in 1987, Hamas was established and initiated many of those atrocities. Israel built a fence to prevent terrorist attacks from Gaza, and construction was completed in 1996.

In 2005, Israel fully withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The IDF oversaw the relocation of over 9,000 Israeli civilians from Gaza in hopes this would lead to peace. In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election and forcefully took power in 2007. No elections have been held since.

Gaza was still accessible from both Israel and Egypt. Israel continued to assist with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through two crossings, which tens of thousands of Gaza people crossed every day on their way to work in Israel.

Mosab wrote a book about his life entitled “The Green Prince”, which was later made into a film. It’s an interesting read and offers a unique perspective.