Yousef dives into personal involvment in Israeli, Palestinian feud

Son of Hamas, by Mosab Hassan Yousef, retells the true story of a young Palestinian boy growing up in the shadow of his father, a prominent Muslim leader. During the early years of Yousef’s life, he experienced the Israeli and Palestinian feud escalate to scary heights.

Hamas, one of the Muslim factions, acted as a peaceful organization at first but escalated to the extremes of terrorism and suicide bombings. After buying weapons from a dealer, Yousef, was captured and sent to prison in Megiddo. During his year in prison, Yousef became a collaborator for the Shin Bet, the Israeli security service. Living under the disguise his father provides, Yousef maintained the ability to gather information for the Shin Bet and prevented death by exposing the bombers before they hit.

Yousef was shamed by his family and Muslim friends for switching sides, helping the Shin Bet and saving people’s lives. During his time with the Shin Bet, Mosab saved people by trading in his fellow countrymen in order to prevent the death of other people and enlarging the problems among the Palestinians and the Israelis.

One of Yousef’s problems was he could not talk to the possible threats and persuade them to not hurt people. It was hardwired into the people’s minds and morals. Islam says dying for Allah and becoming a martyr is honorable and sends the martyr immediately to heaven.

The Shin Bet introduced Yousef to a different lifestyle while not forcing it upon him. In a Muslim society, citizens are prohibited from reading other religious ideologies in order to preserve themselves from dangerous material differing ideas present. In a Bible study with a Christian group, Yousef received a New Testament and dove head-first into it.

This book intensely intrigued me and held my attention for the entire book. Son of Hamas kept me from page one to 246. This true story carried me into the setting and the description brought the events in the story to life.

The only challenge the book held was when the book made a list of names. For me, Arabic names are hard to separate from each other. Unfamiliar to the language, they all seemed similar and I often failed to recognize differences between minor character, but thankfully not the main characters.

On Nov. 27, 2014, The Green Prince released to the public revealing the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef and his adventures in the midst of Hamas. The Green Prince allowed Yousef’s adventures to enter into the film industry and place his story on a higher pedastol.

Other books the reader may enjoy include novels Captive in Iran, by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh, Once an Arafat Man by Tass Saada and The Blood of Lambs by Kamal Saleem.

For more book reviews, read Book Review: Refugee and Book Review: The Forgotten Book.

Andrew Rieker can be reached via email.