Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of the founding leader of Hamas, the terror organization that bombards Israel with rockets hidden in the schools and homes of Gaza. Despite being raised in the heart of Islamic extremism, Mosab turned away from the teachings of his father and now sounds the alarm against the untold evils of radical Islam. He shared his incredible with Glenn and TheBlaze audience on Monday's 'Glenn Beck Program'.
Glenn: Like it or not, the Middle East is changing. If we don’t decide now who our real friends, or as the case may be, friend, is and become a nation of principle, things are going to get much worse. Joining me now is Mosab Hassan Yousef. He is the son of Shiekh Hassan Yousef. He is the founding leader of Hamas. Mosab is also New York Times best-selling author of this book called Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices
, has an absolutely amazing story. How are you?
Mosab: I’m good. Thank you.
Glenn: Good. Tell me your story. You’re raised by a guy in Hamas, leading Hamas, and you’re captured by the Israelis. They flip you to the good side, but it’s my understanding because you knew what your dad was doing was wrong.
Mosab: Well, I didn’t know at that time. You know, I was brought up in a state of delusion, you know, believing the Islamic theory that once we control the globe and build an Islamic state we can bring humanity, justice, and happiness and solve the human condition. So, this is what I used to believe.
Glenn: Hang on just a second. Nobody in our country is talking about that. They will say that that’s not what we’re fighting, because they’ll say, you know, Muslims are just like us, the Muslims in the Middle East. They mocked me for saying they wanted a caliphate. Now, you’re saying they want to control the whole world.
Mosab: Right. Well, they have been mocking me for the last seven years also, so, you know, when you face humanity with a truth, people prefer to stay in their comfort zone chasing after their short-term interest, and they don’t see the higher interest of humanity and the evolvement of the human consciousness. Islam is a very dark theory, you know, and we need to face this reality.
Glenn: You were Muslim.
Mosab: I was born a Muslim.
Glenn: You’re raised Muslim. You practiced Islam.
Mosab: Yes.
Glenn: Okay, and you’re telling me—are we at war with Islam?
Mosab: No, absolutely not. I believe that Islam is at war with everything that is not Muslim. Islam has been in a war against the West and its foundations for the last 1,400 years. This is a fact. The Islamic phenomena that we see in ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Taliban, this is not just a new phenomenon. It has been out there for the last 1,400 years, and I think this is the time for humanity to have the courage and to say no to the Islamic theory.
Glenn: Do you think people can in the Middle East be woken up like you were woken up?
Mosab: Yes, I believe every human being is capable of awakening if they are willing.
Glenn: Correct. If there was a group of people that wanted to wake people up, would you be willing to help them?
Mosab: You know, I’ve been trying as much as I can.
Glenn: Right, I know.
Mosab: You know, writing the book was at the expense of losing my identity, my family, everything, and that was the reason, to help people see a different reality.
Glenn: Have you ever been contacted by Grover Norquist?
Mosab: No.
Glenn: No, okay, I just wondered because that’s his stated goal. I would think that he would reach out to somebody like you instead of the Muslim Brotherhood. Okay, so you did write this. How difficult is your life? I mean, when you said I want to tell the truth, and I’m going to put my face on it and you live here in the United States, how scary is that?
Mosab: You know, it was not an easy decision, most importantly not to disappoint people you love, which, you know, they don’t see your reality. You see theirs, but they are not capable of seeing beyond theirs. It meant losing your friends, your family, identity, and heading towards the unknown.
Glenn: Have you talked to your father? Is your father alive?
Mosab: He is alive. He’s in an Israeli prison today.
Glenn: Have you talked to him?
Mosab: Since publishing the book, he publicly disowned me and has not spoken to me since then.
Glenn: When you were taken with the Israelis or by the Israelis, what was it that opened your eyes? What changed you?
Mosab: Well, you know, many events happened that helped me evolve consciously. One of them was the important thing to see the Israeli Constitution, the Israeli law, and the Israeli democratic model versus our society where, you know, we still live in the dark ages of Islam. When I start to see the Israeli model, I came to realize that our problem is within, and we need to change our way that we see life.
Glenn: Living here in the United States, you think you guys are living right on top of each other. You’re living right there. How do you not see that when you’re over there?
Mosab: You know, because people believe in lies, not in the truth. It’s easier for them to listen to the leader who’s blaming all the social problems and many other problems on Israel and the United States of America.
Glenn: Boy, this sounds familiar.
Mosab: For example, I was brought up believing in the conspiracy theory that the United States of America and the West, including Israel, is plotting day and night to destroy Islam and destroy the Muslim world, which is, you know, a lie. This is how, you know, terrorist organizations kept pushing the average person to fight on their behalf and against the United States of America and against Israel. While I believe, you know, Israel as a Democratic model in the region is a solution for that region.
Glenn: It is.
Mosab: It is not the problem, but I think today Middle Easterners see that the enemy is within. They see ISIS, they see their brutality. Even the Palestinians in Gaza, they see the brutality of Hamas and their absolute control over their lives. This is for the first time they come to realize that this is the Islamic theory in action. This is the Islamic theory manifestation.
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Glenn: You are fascinating. I hope we get a chance to spend some more time with you. What is it we need to know? First of all, ISIS, what should we say? The president says they’re not Islam, that’s not Islamic. Is it?
Mosab: Well, you know—
Glenn: Does it matter?
Mosab: No, it really matters, you know? When the president of the free world mislead public, this is a big, big problem, I believe. ISIS is the real face of Islam. ISIS is the real manifestation of the Islamic ideology, of the Islamic theory.
Glenn: Have you ever heard of Zuhdi Jasser?
Mosab: Yes.
Glenn: Okay, do you respect him? Kind of? Not really? He’s a reformer of Islam. Do you believe it could be reformed?
Mosab: Islam cannot be reformed.
Glenn: Why?
Mosab: Because it’s the mentality of the seventh century. Islam is based on a tribal conflict. What’s happening right now in Yemen, in Libya, in Syria between Iran and the Sunni world is the same tribal conflict that Muhammad was doing in the seventh century.
Glenn: ISIS is using exactly the tactics that were used by Muhammad.
Mosab: Muhammad burned people. Muhammad slaughtered people. Muhammad launched military campaigns against people who did not fight against him. Muhammad killed many innocent people. How can we blame ISIS for this responsibility? The highest model of Islam led this chaos for the last 1,400 years.
Glenn: What happens if we continue down this road? Right now, the president is over negotiating, and one of the Iranian reporters who is now no longer welcome back in Iran said it’s like he is negotiating from the Iranian point of view. We’ve really lost our way.
Mosab: You know, this happens, and it happened in the past, but always we can find our sight again, I believe. In the meantime, the Middle East is a very dangerous region, and we have to be very careful how we deal with it.
Glenn: Was this caused by us going into Iraq and everything? Is this a George Bush problem? Is this a Barack Obama problem? Is it a both problem?
Mosab: I would say that this is a problem of not understanding the region very well. There is lack of intelligence, I believe, and the intention of both presidents, I believe, was pure for the higher interest of humanity, not only of the United States of America, but it’s a muddy and dangerous region. If we don’t understand the internal conflict between Shia and Sunni and between the other Muslim denominations, we will always lead ourselves from a mistake to a bigger mistake.
Glenn: When you see the Muslim Brotherhood in our government, in our White House, what do you think?
Mosab: Well, the Muslim Brotherhood is the biggest terrorist exporter in the world. The Muslim Brotherhood is the mother movement of all those movements. All the terrorist organizations that we see today are inspired by Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and by Sayyid Qutb, so basically the Muslim Brotherhood, even though they don’t get involved directly in our days in terrorist attacks, they created Hamas.
Glenn: So, when you see Benjamin Netanyahu rejected by the White House, but you see the Muslim Brotherhood invited into the Oval Office, what do you think?
Mosab: Well, I think that this is really disappointing to see. The Muslim Brotherhood is a very dangerous organization. Israel…I’m not talking now about Bibi or talking about who is Prime Minister of Israel.
Glenn: Right, no politics.
Mosab: Israel is an ally of the United States of America. United States of America can rely on Israel as the only friend in the region, not because of friendship with the Prime Minister’s office, because the values that in common between the United States of America and the state of Israel.
Glenn: Have you ever thought about running for office?
Mosab: I don’t like politics.
Glenn: Yes, that’s probably why you should run for office. I want you to read this book. It’s called Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices
, New York Times bestseller. I would love to have you back and really spend some more time with you and really kind of talk about your childhood and everything else. You’re fascinating and a great help. Thank you for speaking out.
Mosab: Thank you for having me.
Glenn: God bless you and protect you. Thank you so much.
