As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leaders
try to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, one
former member of the militant Islamic organization said there will
never be lasting peace between the two groups.
"There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to
co-exist with the water?" said Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son
of one of the group's founding members.
Yousef added: "It's not about Israel, it's not about
Hamas: it's about both ideologies."
Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef,
one of the most influential leaders of the militant group, said the
organization betrays the Palestinian cause and
tortures its own members.
Hamas, formed in the late 1980's as an outgrowth of the
Palestinian branch of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, is considered
a terror organization by the U.S. government. Hamas seized power in
the Gaza strip in 2007 in a violent coup against the more moderate
Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.
Yousef said he was indoctrinated at an early age to
use violence to challenge Israeli control in the region. As a
teenager he moved up within the organization and became the leader
of the radical Islamic Youth Movement that fought Israeli tanks and
troops in the streets, celebrated suicide bombings and recruited
young men to the cause.
Yousef, 30, said he realized the true nature of
Hamas and radical Islam during a stint in an Israeli prison. He
renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and
converted to Christianity.
"Islam is not the word of God," said Yousef. "If you want to be
offended it's your problem. But you know something? Go study. Think
for a second that I might be right. So wake up, look at your path,
see where you're going. Are you really going to heaven with 72
virgins after you kill yourself and kill another 20 people?"
Yousef has sought asylum in the United States and now attends an
evangelical Christian church in San Diego, Calif.
"The Hamas leadership, including my father, they're responsible;
they're responsible for all the violence that happened from the
organization. I know they describe it as reaction to Israeli
aggression, but still, they are part of it and they had to make
decisions in those operations against Israel (for) which there was
the killing of many civilians."
Yousef talks more about his extraordinary story of faith,
courage, violence and betrayal in a FOX News documentary, "Escape
From Hamas," hosted by Bill Hemmer.
Escape from Hamas airs Sat at 10p, with repeats at 1am and
4a, EST, and Sun at 9pm, with repeats at 12 midnight, 2am,
EST.
Then he isn't a self-hating Hamas. He just hates Hamas and
because of that, he left. I thought you meant that he was still in
Hamas but hates the organisation and the things it commits.
While Hamas may do things that the Arabs living in the Occupied
Territories do not agree with, Israel is also, under the pretext of
battling Hamas, oppressing the Arabs there by blockading the place
to absurd extents (placing a ridiculous amounts of checkpoints) and
preventing necessities from reaching the Gaza Strip.
