(JNS) Hamas’s embrace of “death culture” is beyond comprehension for much of the world, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the founder of the terrorist group, told JNS on Tuesday.
Yousef spoke at a closed-door 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 Israel Defense Forces operation in February 2024, and JCFA President Dan Diker. The discussion was moderated by JCFA Director of Content and podcast host Sarah Martinez-Amir.
“It is not just the West, it’s also the East. 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. My father had to choose between his eldest son and the cause and he chose the cause,” said Yousef.
“There is no parent in the world that would go into a fight that would put their own children in harm’s way. Hamas did the opposite. They went and dragged Israel in the most brutal fight of our time, knowing children would pay the price. This shows you their hypocrisy,” he continued.
“It’s the same game with pro-Palestinians worldwide. Everybody cries for the children on one hand, and on the other they are pushing Palestinian indoctrination which leads to the death of children. And then when children die, they blame Israel,” he added.
According to Yousef, understanding Hamas’s and the Muslim Brotherhood’s “death culture” and their strategy of weaponizing civilians will help the world see more clearly the importance of separating religion from politics.
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’s 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.
“My journey didn’t start after Oct. 7,” said Yousef, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “I’ve had 15 years of fighting against Hamas’s ideology and operations—knowing if Hamas succeeded and destroyed Israel, they would come after the Arabs, after Muslim sects and after the West,” he said.
“Jihad has no limit. Even though Hamas uses the Palestinian cause as a device. This is how they guarantee continuation in the name of nationalism, but in its essence, it’s a one-sided religious war. On Oct. 7, Hamas did not kill and kidnap innocent people in the name of nationalism or Palestine, they killed in the name of Allah,” he noted.
Hamas, he said, does not believe in nationalism or political borders but uses the Palestinian cause as a more appealing banner than Islam.
“When ISIS [Islamic State], Al Qaeda, Salafi jihadists and other terrorist groups declared war on civilization, it was much easier to counter them and deconstruct their operation. We have been fighting against the Muslim Brotherhood for almost a century and we cannot defeat them because they have a totally different strategy,” he said.
“They build infrastructure, schools, they take on national causes like Palestine, Afghanistan, like Kashmir, and the world is fooled,” he added.
“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. The state illusion is not going to lead to guaranteed prosperity, especially with this mentality of going after Israel on a global campaign to delegitimize it. I don’t understand how this will lead to peace,” he said.
“I don’t want political borders. 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,” he added.
A survivor of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Kibbutz Nirim, Adele Raemer, who has since returned home, told JNS that hearing Yousef gives her hope.
The destruction caused by Hamas terrorists when they infiltrated Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, 2023. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90
“It’s really important to hear his voice. Talking about a positive way to the future about what Arabs want and need, this is something you don’t often hear,” she said.
“They’re saying they want a Palestinian state, the world thinks that’s the only solution. He discusses a different option, and that’s really important for people to hear,” Raemer added.
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, with 50 hostages still languishing in the terror tunnels of Gaza,” Diker said. “Israel’s plan, urged by President Trump, is to launch a major offensive in order for Israel to take full control and be able to mobilize its intelligence about where the hostages are,” he continued.
“They know where many of the hostages are, but they must have full control in order to rescue them. They know where many of the bodies are. There are 30 people who have been murdered by Hamas in captivity—unknown in modern political history—and 20 that are still alive. The partial deals have not worked,” said Diker.
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 added
He also 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 crowd.
“We are talking about, in the aftermath of the worst 24-hour massacre in modern political history, since the Second World War and the Nazi period, establishing a second Palestinian terror state overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport and this hotel. I wonder who in their right mind would allow that in their country following the events of October 2023, and as they continue today,” he added.
Former Hamas captive Luis Har bore witness to the terror group’s atrocities, recounting his kidnapping and months in captivity to the crowd of diplomats and journalists. He urged the immediate release of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza.
Portrait of former Israeli hostage Luis Har. January 21, 2025. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90
On Oct. 6, Har was staying at the Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak home of his partner, Clara Marman. At 6:30 a.m. 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.
“I received my life back thanks to the Yamam, and I think I received this mission too—to support people, give them strength, bring light. It strengthens me as well to give hope to everyone and not lose faith so that we can continue onwards,” he added. Yamam is the Hebrew acronym for the Israel Police’s National Counter-Terrorism Unit, which conducted the rescue operation in Gaza that freed Har.
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