Mosab Hassan Yousef is an American author and former militant who defected to Israel in 1997, thereafter working as an Israeli spy for the Shin Bet until he moved to the United States in 2007. His father is Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas. A New York Times bestselling author, he is known for his outspoken criticisms of Hamas, the pro-Palestinian movement and Islam's treatment of non-Muslims. The Shin Bet considered Yousef to be Israel's most valuable source within the Hamas leadership: the information he supplied allowed Israel to successfully thwart dozens of Palestinian suicide attacks against civilians and prevent the assassinations of many Israeli civilians and soldiers; exposed numerous Hamas cells; and assisted Israeli authorities in hunting down Palestinian militants. His efforts also culminated in the incarceration of his father, who had served as a leading figure for Hamas operations from the West Bank. In March 2010, Yousef published his autobiography, titled Son of Hamas. In 1999, Yousef converted from Islam to Christianity, being formally baptised in 2004, but did not disclose this fact to the public until 2008 due to fears that his family members in Ramallah would become targets for religious persecution by Islamist groups. In 2007, he left the West Bank and moved to the United States where he applied for political asylum and had his request granted by American authorities in 2010 following Shin Bet handler Gonen Ben Itzhak testifying on his behalf. Yousef has compared Islam to Nazism, has said he has "zero respect for anyone who identifies as Muslim", and accused Muslims of using Palestine as "a device against Israel". Palestinian students and community leaders at university campuses have accused him of Islamophobia, and his speeches have attracted protests both in support of and opposition to his controversial views.
Early life and family Mosab Hassan Yousef was born in Ramallah, in the West Bank. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is a Hamas co-founder who spent many years in Israeli prisons as a result of his militant activities. His grandfather was an imam. He is the oldest of five brothers and three sisters; in 2019, one of his brothers, Suheib Yousef, also left Hamas. He has described his upbringing as traditional, noting that he initially supported Hamas's political stance before his later break with the group's methods. In an interview, Yousef stated he was raped when he was approximately 5-6 years old, and he did not speak up about it due to fear of an honor killing; he also stated that having to heal on his own from the rape was "a hell of a journey". Growing up, Yousef has said he wanted to be a "fighter" because that was expected of Palestinian children in the West Bank. Yousef was first arrested by the IDF when he was ten, during the First Intifada, for throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers and/or settlers. As his father's eldest son, he was seen as his heir apparent.
Defection to Israel Yousef said that his 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 decided to accept a Shin Bet offer to become an informant, on the basis that,Mosab observed firsthand the craziness of the cycle of violence. Mosab began to question who his real enemies were: the Hamas leaders who tortured their fellow Palestinian prisoners, or the Shin Bet, who arrested and imprisoned him. Over the 16 months that Mosab was in prison, the answer became clear, and this persuaded Mosab to go undercover for the Shin Bet. Gonen, whose code name was "Captain Loai," became Mosab's handler. Mosab's reports led to the arrests of several high-ranking Palestinian figures. As we worked together to prevent the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians, the two of us became friends.
Espionage career Beginning with his release from prison in 1997, Yousef was considered the Shin Bet's most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname "The Green Prince" – using the color of the Islamist group's flag, and "prince" because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement's founders. The intelligence he supplied to Israel led to the exposure of many Hamas cells, as well as the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Jews. He has said that he did not inform for money, but rather that his motivations were ideological and religious, and that he only wanted to save lives. Yousef says he supplied intelligence only on the condition that the "targets" would not be killed, but arrested. This led to the detention of several key Palestinian leaders, including Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas commander in the West Bank, and Marwan Barghouti. Yousef also claims to have thwarted a 2001 plot to assassinate Shimon Peres, then foreign minister and later President of Israel. According to his former Shin Bet officer, "Many people owe him their lives and don't even know it." Yousef's brother Ouwais denounced a Haaretz report about his brother's activities, saying: "It was full of lies; it's all lies." Ouwais also revealed that the last contact between his family and Mosab took place more than a year before the news of his spying. The Haaretz report on Yousef was described by Hamas MP Mushir al-Masri as "psychological war being waged against the Palestinian people... [it] did not deserve a response". Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mosab's father, while in an Israeli prison, disowned his son for spying for Israel. In May 2016, talking to a Jerusalem Post conference in New York, Yousef said that at one point, he was simultaneously working for and being paid by Israel, the United States, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas.
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