Thank you for looking at this. I often do book reports and here is an awesome book to shed light on the Middle Eastern conflict. I have come to appreciate the struggle. I have also come to love the Muslim and the Israeli people. They come from the same gene pool, with the same father and yet they are brothers at war. I have come to grief for all the pain and suffering caused by ideologies and supposed 'religious fanaticism' that often get hijacked by political manipulation at the direct cost and bloodshed of their own. It really is Biblical prophecy fulfilled. If you don't believe it, just read on...
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Son of Hamas: Autobiography of Mosab Hassan Yousef
(Son of Sheikh
Hassan Yousef, one of 7 founders of Hamas)
History and Timeline:
1. Genesis: The struggles
in the Middle East go all the way back to the hatred between Sarah (Abraham’s wife, mother of Isaac
and Israel) and Hagar (Sarah’s
Egyptian slave, mother of Ishmael) in Genesis 16:4-16. Ishmael means ‘God hears.’ His future is spoken of in a prophecy in
Genesis 16:12… read on…
2.
610: Birth of Islam,
around when Mohammed was 40 years old.
3. 1917: At the end of
WWI, the Palestinian territory fell under the mandate of the Great
Britain. And under the Balfour
Declaration of 1917: "His Majesty's government views with favor the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." So,
at that time, hundreds of thousands of Jews flooded into Palestine.
4. 1517 - 1923: Islam, carried by the Ottoman Caliphate,
spread out from Turkey. Its decline
began from its centralization and corruption.
They persecuted Muslim villages throughout the Middle East. Istanbul became too far to protect the
faithful from abuses by the soldiers and local officials. And by the 20th century, a lot of Muslims
become disillusioned and turned to other beliefs.
5.
1923: end of the
Ottoman Empire. Started in 1299,
conquered most of Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Egypt, part of
North Africa. Even at one point was
ruled by women around 1550-1650, who were the mothers of Sultans (mostly
minors) and leaders of the Imperial Harems and mostly of slave origin.
6.
March 1928: a young devout primary school teacher in Cairo
Egypt, named Hassan al-Banna, cried for his countrymen and blamed the West (not
the Turks) and thought the only solution is to return to the purity and
simplicity of Islam. He founded The Muslim Brotherhood. The goal is to rebuild society according to Islamic
Principles. The early principles reflect
love and mercy. It cares for the poor, widows, and orphans. It facilitates
education and welfare. It unites and strengthens. There is also the other side
of Jihad, to struggle and establish a global caliphate.
7. 1935: Muslim Brotherhood set up a branch in
the Palestinian territory.
8. 1948: Israel became a
state. Palestinian territory remains non-sovereign. Without a constitution to maintain order,
religious law becomes the highest authority.
People are free to interpret and enforce law as they see it... Chaos.
9.
1948: Muslim Brotherhood attempted a violent coup
against the Egyptian government, ended prematurely when Israel declared a sovereign
nation. Since the Qur’an calls all Muslims
to fight as one to protect their land… Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq
immediately invaded Israel. Israel drove
out the Arab coalition within a year. 75,000 Palestinians displaced. The UN pass Resolution 194 to permit refugees
to return home and compensation be paid for those who chose not to return...
They were never enforced.
10.
1949: After being
defeated by Israel, the armed Muslim
Brotherhood members returned to Egypt and re-attempted the coup again...
The government then confiscated their assets, banned their society, and put
many into prison... Then they assassinated the Egyptian Prime Minister a few weeks
later.
11. 1949/2/12: al-Banna was assassinated. Al-Amari refugee camp established in the West
Bank.
12.
1964: Palestinian
Liberation Organization founded by the Arab League summit in Cairo. Goal was to liberate Palestine from Israel by
arms struggle.
13.
1967: Six-Day War. Israel attacked Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in
response of the overwhelming terrorist attacks and mounting threat of invasion.
14.
1970: Black
September. Thousands of PLO fighters are
killed by Jordanian troops, as Jordan expels PLO
15.
1972: 11 Israeli
athletes killed by Black September at Munich Olympics
16.
1973: Yum Kippur War,
took 15 days. Egypt and Syria led the
Arab coalition attacked Israel, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Israel,
during Ramadan. Russia backed the Arab
coalition and USA backed Israel. Israel
came on top. A cease fire brokered to
end tension at the Camp David Accord of 1973, to end tension in the Middle East
and also between the 2 nuclear superpowers.
17. Mid 1970’s: Hassan Yousef
was trained by the Muslim Brotherhood
in Jordan while studying there.
18. 1977: Hassan Yousef
partnered with Ibrahim Abu Salem, one of the founders of MB. 1977 married his sister, Sabha Abu Salem, and
Mosab was born in 1978.
19.
Late1970: Muslim Brotherhood wanted to overthrow
Israel occupation, but Sheikh Yousef and other West Bank leaders disagreed.
They wanted to find a peaceful option and don't want to repeat the unsuccessful
coup in Egypt and Syria. But, by the
late 1970's Muslim Brotherhood became
more restless. Muslim Brotherhood continues
to be non-violent for another decade.
20. 1979: Fathi Shaqaqi
of Muslim Brotherhood founded
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
21. 1986: birth of Hamas
in Hebron. A secret meeting took place
in Hebron, seven men were present.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Muhammad Jamal al-Natsheh of Hebron, Jamal Mansour
of Nablus, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mahmud Muslih of Ramallah, Jamil Hamami of
Jerusalem, Ayman Abu Taha of Gaza. They
are ready to fight. Started with civil
disobediance. Objective: awaken, unify,
mobilize the Palestinian people and to make them understand their need for
independence under the banner of Allah and Islam. Hamas was born!
22. Dec. 1987: The First
Intifada: Hamas now need a reason to
move. Started with a tragic
misunderstanding. Dec 1987, an Israeli
salesman Shlomo Sakal was stabbed to death.
Few days later, 4 refugees were killed in a traffic accident in Jabalia
camp in Gaza. Word spread that they were
murdered by Israelis for Sakal's murder.
Riot broke out in Jabalia. A 17yo
threw a Molotov cocktail and shot dead by Israeli soldier. Then everyone “took
to the streets” in Gaza and West Bank. Hamas took the lead and fueled the
riot... That was the First Intifada started... that changed everything...
People started dying in huge numbers daily.
IDF arrived heavily. Lots of
feda'iyeen (freedom fighters or martyrs).
The Palestinians only had Molotov cocktails and stones. No weapons at this time.
23. 1989: Sheikh HassanYousef
arrested out of his house by IDF, tortured.
24. Late 1989: Amer Abu Sarhan
of Ramallah had all the death he can tolerate, without guns; he killed 3
Israeli soldiers with a kitchen knife and launched the Intifada into a
revolution. Sarhan became a hero. People were not terrorists by nature, but
they were backed into a wall. IDF
instituted 11pm curfew... Those on streets were shot on sight.
25. Others things
started to happen, 'Strikes', which 'masked man' would tell shops to shut down
early to hurt Israel by decrease collected taxes. The less shop stay open, the less tax
collected. Israel started to arrest shop
owners for tax evasion. Shop owners were
trapped between the 'political motive' and ‘evading tax’... Either way, they
are hurting. In addition, various resistance
groups were fighting against each other for power and prestige. Political dominant was PLO (Palestinian
Liberation Organization), Hamas was on the rise!
26. PLO founded in
1964 to represent the Palestinian people.
Three biggest factions are: Fatah (left wing nationalist), Popular Front
for the Libration of Palestine (PFLP) a communist group, Democratic Front for
the Libration of Palestine (DFLP) also a communist group. PLO demanded return of all territory and set
up terrorist camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. They were not a religious
organization like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian thought PLO to be corrupt.
They send terrorist attacks to justify fund-raising for their struggle
against Israel. PLO wants nationalism
and power. Hamas want religious fervor
and Jihad. But, they both shared deep
hatred for Zionism. So, they agreed to
strike, Hamas on the 9th of every month, Fatah on the 1st of every month. Mass chaos broke out during those
strikes. The entire area shut down. No one knows who's under those masks. Israeli soldiers pulled off many operations
in masks during those strikes. Strikes
kept kids out of school for a long time. Life became very hard... Quality of
life was very low.
27. Aug 1990: Saddam Hussein
invaded Kuwait. Palestine cheered thought their 'brother' is coming to rescue
to rain down bombs on Israel. They
expected poison gas like one in 1988 that killed 5000 Kurds... Israel gave all
citizens gas masks. Palestinians got one mask per house 40 scud missiles fired
from Iraq, only 2 Israelis got killed.
Then the UN drove Saddam back to Bagdad.
28. 1992: Imad Akel, a
refugee and pharmacy student, got tired of the injustice. Got a gun, killed several Israeli soldiers,
then took their weapons and started doing raids. Became a hero, then Hamas decided to start a
military wing, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigade and made Imad its leader. This turns Hamas into an armed force.
29. 1992/12/13: Al-Qassam
kidnapped an Israeli border police, Nissim Toledano near Tel Aviv, demanded
Israel to release Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Israel refused. 2 days later,
they found Toledano's body. Israel launched
a huge crack down on Hamas, arrested >1,600 Palestinians and secretly
deported 415 leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Muslim Brotherhood dumped in Lebanon. No one helped, not even Lebanon.
30. 1992/12/18: UN passed
Resolution 799 for 'safe and immediate return' of the deportees. Israel
refused. It was not favorable for
Israel. Remained in exile for at least 9
months. They form relationships with
Hamas and Hezbollah, the Islamic political and paramilitary organization in
Lebanon.
31. 1993/9/3: Israel and PLO,
Yassar Arafat, entered into a secret meeting resulted in Oslo Accord 1993,
officially recognizing the "right of the state of Israel to exist in peace
and security" and renounced "the use of terrorism and other acts of
violence." Israel formally recognizes
the PLO as the representation of the Palestinian people. The Declaration of
Principles were drawn up and led to creation of the Palestinian Authority and withdrawal
of troops from Gaza and Jericho, allowed Arafat and PLO to return from their
exile in Tunisia.
32. 1994/2/25: Hebron
Massacre: Hamas disagreed with the agreement between PLO and the world...
Multiple killings of Israeli soldiers continued. But, none caught attention like the Hebron Massacre
of 2/25/94... When during Jewish Purim and Muslim Ramadan, an American born
doctor named Baruch Goldstein entered Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and
shot and killed 29 Palestinian... This enraged... followed up with a bunch of Hamas attacks and
bombs
33. 1994/4/13: 21yo Amar Salah
Diab Amarna took 4 pounds of homemade bomb and blew up a bus at Hadera
Station. Palestinians were proud of
Hamas. This was the first successful
bombing... But the 3rd attempt of a Hamas bomb maker Yahya Ayyash to perfect
his craft. He was a disenchanted Jew
student due to gov't denied request to study elsewhere.
34.
1995: Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated.
35.
1996: Hamas bomb
maker, Yahya Ayyash, assassinated. Mosab
Yousef arrested and imprisoned for the first time, and was offered to work with
the Shin Bet.
36. After every suicide
bomb, Orthodox Jew volunteers known as ZAKA (disaster victim identification)
collect blood and body parts to identify people... Taken to Jaffa.
37. Failure to agree
with Arafat and PLO... Hamas, lead by Sheikh Yousef, transformed itself into a
full blown terrorist organization.
Backed by the Qur’an and now ready to act. It is an Idea, rather than an
organization... there is no head to cut off.
38.
The Hamas faction was the biggest in prison
and has most of the deadliest criminals.
They also developed their own rules, falsely accused and tortured their
own people.
39.
1999: Mosab Yousef
starts to go to a Christian Bible study.
40.
2000: The Second
Intifada, aka, Al-Aqsa Intifada, Fall 2000.
History: Palestinian Authority successfully destroyed the military wing
of Hamas and thrown all its fighters and leaders into prison. Hamas no longer fought. They were exhausted and deeply divided. Arafat met with Barak and Clinton at the Camp
David Summit on 7/25/2000, and Barak offered Arafat 90% of West Bank, the
entire Gaza strip, and East Jerusalem as the capitol of the new Palestinian
state, and a new international fund to compensate for lost land. But, instead of taking an offer to
reconstruct the Palestinian territory, it was not enough for the wealthy
Arafat. He made a counter offer that he
knew Barak cannot accept by insisting all refugees be permitted to return to
lands they owned prior to 1967. He was
accepted as a hero, even though this rejection was catastrophic for the
Palestinian people. To Mosab, Arafat was
getting famous on the shoulder and blood of the Palestinian people. Arafat need Palestine to bleed… to get him
more publicity as the leader for the victims.
So, Sheikh Yousef worked with Fatah of PLO, started a rumor that Ariel
Sharon stepped inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, when in fact he didn’t, and got the
whole West Bank and Gaza inflamed. Fatah
launched a demonstration which ended in the death of a 12yo boy, which circled
the globe and enraged against the Israeli occupation. Lots of people and kids died. Arafat went to camera with tears saying he
had nothing to do with it. Then he
pointed his finger at Sheikh Yousef and Fatah and refugees as fault. But, Arafat had miscalculated. Hamas grew in the streets, and that’s where
it thrived… it became out of control… so much destruction and death… Mosab went to work…
41.
2000: Mosab Hassan
Yousef, Sheikh Yousef’s son, went undercover working for the Israeli Shin Bet.
42. 2000: Al-Aqsa Martyr
Brigade started. Targeting only IDF
soldiers and settlers… extremely efficient.
They turned out to be ‘Force 17,’ Arafat’s elite commandos. Linking to Maher Odeh, a top Hamas leader. They used a 1982 silver BMW in every shooting
in the West Bank. These are Arafat’s own
guards, who were funded by American and International taxpayer’s money.
43. Lots of people died in the 2nd
Intifada, the PLO/PA and Hamas leadership saw it all in safety. The Arab world poured in billions of dollars
to help crush the Israeli occupation. TV
showed burning of Israeli and American flags.
In the first 2.5 years of it, Saddam Hussein paid $35 million dollars to
the families of martyrs; $10,000 for anyone killed fighting Israel, and $25,000
for family of every suicide bomber. With
all this money, Hamas lost its monopoly on suicide bombing. Other factions started in it too, they didn’t
have to be religious… they just want to compete on who kills more Israelis.
44. 2001: Identified master bomb maker, Abdullah Barghouti, a
Kuwaiti, revealed to Arafat by the CIA.
He was responsible in the 2 largest suicide bombings, Tel Aviv disco
Dolphinarium (21 died, 120 wounded) and West Bank Sbarro bombing (15 died, 130
wounded). Marwan Barghouti, Hamas leader
of the 2nd Intifada, bailed him out, but kept under house
arrest. They were connected to Muhaned
Abu Halawa, one of the lieutenant of Ahmad Ghandour, he was a Fatah field
commander and member of Force 17. After
2 failed attempts, Israel assassinated him.
Everyone went wild… praising him for his heroism. Barghouti changed the map. He is now making very good bombs, and he’s
not Palestinian. Then after awhile, the
PA released him… everything went really crazy!
45. 2001/8/27: Israel assassinated Abu Ali Mustafa, secretary general of
PFLP. He was a moderate politician, but
opposed to the peace process. Israel
accused him of 9 car bombs, but it wasn’t true.
But, it was a way to send a message to Arafat.
46. 2001/9/11: 9 Al-Qaeda operatives crashed planes into the WTC and
Pentagon. Killing 2,973 people. Palestinians and
Arabs celebrated!
47. 2001/10/17: 4 PFLP gunmen walked into the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel and
assassinated Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi as a revenge for Mustafa’s
assassination. An eye for an eye.
48. 2002/1/27: the first female “suicide bomber,” Wafa Idris from the
Al-Amari refugee camp, killed an 81yo Israeli man and injured hundreds of other
at a shoe store in Jerusalem.
49. 2002/3/27: Operation Defense Shield:
Passover, 250 guest gathered at the Park Hotel in Netanya for a Seder
feast. 25yo Hamas operative,
Abdel-Basset Odeh, walked pass security and registration desk and detonated
himself. Killed 30 people and wounded
140, some were Holocaust survivors.
Hamas claimed responsibility as a derailment for the Arab summit in Beirut. Next day, Saudi led Arab League voted
unanimously to recognize the State of Israel as long as Israel agreed to
withdraw to boundary before 1967 war, resolve refugee problem, and establish
independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. But, Hamas wanted all or nothing! So, at this point, Israel launched a huge
operation Defense Shield, started on 3/29/2002.
IDF invaded West Bank and scoured every house with heavy armor.
50. 2002/4/2: IDF tanks blew up the Preventive Security Compound near
Betunia. Arrested a bunch of fugitives,
but Jibril Rajoub (PA) douped the Shin Bet and tricked them to released all the
bad guys. Jenin massacre. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said
500. But later revised to 50. In Bethlehem, 200 Palestinian were seiged in the
Church of Nativity for 5 weeks. Nearly all left. 8 killed, 26 sent to Gaza, 85 released, 13
most-wanted sent to Europe… Total, Palestinian (500 dead, 1500 wounded, 4300
detained), Israeli (29 dead, 127 wounded, cost $360 million.)
51. 2002/4/15: Sheikh Jamal al-Taweel and Marwan Barghouti were arrested
in hiding due to intelligence from Mosab.
52. 2002/7/31: Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at the Mount Scopus campus of
Hebrew University exploded by a bag. 9
dead (5 Americans) and 85 injured. Saleh
disappeared. Discovered a new Hamas
cell, 5 people from East Jerusalem. All
educated, unfit the profile, carry blue Israeli ID cards, married, nice family,
and nice jobs. Mohammed Arman was found
to know the person responsible as the ‘Sheikh,’ who was identified as Ibrahim
Hamed in a photo lineup. Once ID’d, he
told everyone to blame him for everything.
He disappeared.
53. During operation Defensive
Shield, the whole West Bank was shut down.
Mosab needed to meet with the Shin Bet.
So, they made a way: he had to break into Ofer Military Base. Even the IDF and Mossab didn’t know.
54.
Feda’iyeens and IDF alike, fight by breaking
into local homes, using them as a place to rest and recharge, and then use
occupants as human shields.
55.
Fall 2002 to Spring 2003: To trying to
‘clean’ Mosab’s cover, the Shin Bets stages grand scale arrests for him and
then eventually, on Mosab’s ok, sent him to prison. This way, no one would suspect him to be an
Israeli collaborator. Instead, everyone
see him as a hero.
56.
March 2003: the Kuwaiti
bomb maker, Adjullah Barghouti, was captured, tried in Israeli military court
and convicted for killing 66 and wounding 500, sentenced to 67 life
sentences. He expressed no remorse, only
wished he killed more Jews.
57.
2003/4/2: Mosab released
from prison after Coalition troops surrounded Baghdad.
58.
Winter 2003 to Spring 2006: Found Saleh.
After released by the PA, he rebuilt the Al-Qassam Brigade with Maher
Odeh as the brain, Saleh Talahme as the engineer, Bilal Barghouti as the
recruiter of suicide bombers. They all
operated independently with their own budgets, never met together.
59.
2003/12/1: Israeli Special
Forces surrounded the Al-Kiswani Building in Ramallah where these Hamas leaders
are, and blew it up after gun fire exchange.
Dead: Saleh Talahme, Hasaneen Rummanah, but no Ibrahim Hamed (as the
media had claimed).
60.
Oct 2004: Yassar Arafat
got ill during a meeting. Flew to
France. Nov 3, 2004 he fell into a coma
and died on Nov 11 at 75yo. A week
later, Sheikh Hassan Yousef was released from the Israeli Ofer prison.
61.
The needy overwhelmed Sheikh Yousef. Mosab questioned his father about who the
leader is in Hamas, and learned that his father said ‘no one.’ He realized that there are people in Hamas
that have a lot of money. But, all the
families of the wounded and martyred are having trouble staying alive. He was very frustrated that no one was helping
the Palestinian people. He knew the
Hamas ‘leadership’ is in Damascus. They
communicated by internet cafes. At the
café, his suspicion caught onto a guy named Aziz Kayed, who ran the Al-Buraq
Center for Islamic Studies, who came to see his property for sale.
62.
At Nablus, a Hamas stronghold, Mosab met
with members of the Shurah council, who make strategic decisions for Hamas, but
they were not the ‘executives.’ Then,
suddenly, one of the members of the Shurah council mentioned the name Aziz
Kayed that Sheikh Yousef should visit.
This was the first clue that Kayed may be connected. During a Shin Bet search, Kayed was found to
be born in Nablus, and a former member of the Islamic student movement, dropped
out of sight 10 years earlier… but nothing suspicious. Mosab was reminded of 3 others, just like
Kayed, dropped off sight all 10 years earlier: Salah Hussein from Ramallah,
Adib Zeyadeh from Jerusalem, Najeh Madi from Salfeet. Shin Bet followed Madi to a commercial garage
a block away from his apartment, and found Ibrahim Hamed! They arrested him, he didn’t resist. He was the real leader of Hamas. That was Mosab’s last operation.
63.
After Arafat is dead, the Palestinian
territories struggled for leadership.
Arafat was so corrupt, he linked everything to his name. No one knew how to step into his shoes. No one was strong enough to control all the
factions. Hamas became the one to step
up. But they don’t know how to
negotiate. They turned down every offer.
64.
2005: Mosab met an
American girl in the group, became good friends. One night at the American Colony Restaurant
in East Jerusalem, he decided to get baptized after she asked. So, he let her do it at the beach at Tel
Aviv.
65.
2005/9/23: Sheikh Yousef
was disturbed after getting a call from Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in
Gaza. “Israeli launched missiles and
killed a bunch of Hamas members during a rally in Jebaliya refugee camp.” Sheikh Yousef worked hard to negotiate the
truce with Israel 7 months before.
Israel withdrawn all troops a week prior. He got on Al-Jazeera and condemned
Israel. Mosab reviewed the video, and it
showed that the fireball came from the ground, not air. Hamas did it, and Zuhri was a lier. They found out that the Hamas military had
been showing off and a Qassam missile exploded in the back of the truck killing
15 and wounding lots. Sheikh Yousef was
shocked, but Hamas covered it up and Al-Jazeera aired it anyway. Because of this, Hamas fired 40+ missiles
into Israel. Israel again declared
counter attacks had to be made because Hamas broke the truce. Mosab and his father need to be arrested by
the Shin Bet to save their lives. Mosab
decided he had enough, and wanted to leave the Shin Bet.
66.
2005/9/25: on Mosab’s
direction, him and his father was arrested at home and taken to Ofer
prison. They also arrested Mosab’s
brothers Oways and Mohammad. Oways
served 4 months. Mohammad was released
in few days.
67.
2005/12/25: Mosab was
released
68.
2006: Ismail Haniyeh
elected Palestinian prime minister
69.
2007/1/1: he left for
California, left everything behind
70.
July 2008: Mosab declared
himself as Christian through the Haaretz newspaper, headline “prodigal
son.” Abu Mosab, cried like a baby in
prison hearing the news. Everyone cried
with him, even the Israeli guards who respected him. Mosab’s uncle waited for his father to disown
him, but when he didn’t, he turned his back on Sheikh Yousef’s wife and children. Abu Mosab didn’t disown him because he knew
Mosab will be on the death list if he does.
71.
Sept 2008: Then Mosab told
his father by phone that he worked with the Shin Bet for 10 years and that’s
why his father is still alive. He is
still in prison because Mosab is no longer there to ensure his safety. His father was silent.
72.
2010/3/1: one day before
the release of this book, Mosab’s father disowned him through the Associated
Press, March 3, 2010.
Important things portrayed by Mosab:
1. Values and
traditions have always meant more to the Arab than government constitution or
court... Religious leaders often become the highest level of authority; esp.
areas of secular leaders are weak.
2.
A dead man's soul returns to earth and 2
terrible angels named Munkar and Nakir comes to examine him. They grab his body and shake and ask
"Who is your God?" If he
answers wrong, they will beat him with a big hammer and send him down to the
earth for 70 years and the weight of the dirt will crush his ribs, worms will
devour his flesh and tormented by snake with 99 head and scorpion the size of
camel's neck until the resurrection of the dead when his suffering may earn
Allah's forgiveness."
3.
Hamas tortured their own people terribly in
prison, even worse than their Israeli captors.
Shin Bets knew everything, but can’t stop it, because they “cannot
change that kind of mentality.” “Hamas
destroys itself more from the inside than anything Israel can do to it from the
outside.”
4.
Mosab realized, after discovering Jesus,
that the real reason for all the pain was not others and what they do… not the
occupation… it was in us. If Israel had
disappeared, what would happen to Palestine?
They would still fight… over scarf, over rules, over power…
5.
Mosab’s departure from Islam was fueled by
the hypocrisy he witnessed. Islam taught
that a devoted servant of Allah who became martyr went straight to heaven. No weird questions and torturing angels. But, now, all the sudden anyone can become a
holy martyr, even atheists. This was not
what the Qur’an taught. But the leaders
don’t care. As a double agent, he also
witnessed much lies told, which he knew the Qur’an forbids.
6. Mosab had friends
who blow themselves up that don’t fit the character of one who would do such a
thing.
7.
Israeli intelligence invested in human
resources… infiltrating deeply into organizations. They understand the motives and emotions and
connecting the dots. American
intelligence relied on technology. They
don’t understand Islamic culture or its ideologies.
8.
Revolutionary is all about purity and
rigidity. Politics is about compromise
and flexibility. Hamas stepped up as
leadership after Arafat dies. But, Hamas
does not know how to negotiate when everything had to come from Israel. They cannot do politics.
9.
Mosab’s friend Jamal showed him a TV program
on Al-Hayat. A Coptic priest named
Zakaria Botros dissected the Qur’an.
10.
From Mosab to the Shin Bet: “We’re fighting
a war that can’t be won with arrests, interrogations, and assassinations. Our enemies are ideas, and ideas don’t care
about incursions and curfews. We can’t
blow up an idea with a Merkava. You are
not our problem, and we are not yours.
We’re all like rats trapped in a maze.”
11.
Mosab’s message for Christians: to learn
from the sorrows of his people, who carries a heavy burden to trying to work
their way to God’s favor. We must get
beyond the religious rule we made for ourselves. We must love people, on all sides, we have to
live His message of love. If we want to
follow Jesus, we must also expect to be persecuted. We should be happy to be persecuted for His
sake.
12.
“Hurt people, unless they are healed, hurt
people.”
13.
Jesus “is the God who not only commands me
to love and forgive my enemies as He has loved and forgiven me but empowers me
to do so.”
14.
“Truth and forgiveness are the only solution
for the Middle East.”
The Ladder of Faith, per Mosab:
1. Lowest level: “Daw’wah”
– Start with elements that reflect love and mercy
2. Middle level: “Sharia” –
Helping needy, establish schools, support charities
3. Highest level: “Jihad” –
the ultimate faith in action
4.
Moving upward is imperceptible. Moderate Muslims are more dangerous than
fundamentalists because they appeared harmless, but you never know how far they
are getting to the top. Most suicide
bombers start as moderates.
Versus that impressed Mosab:
1.
The verse that hit Mosab’s heart and ended
his search was Matt 5:43-45, “Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven.” He realized that his enemies were not defined
by nationality, religion or color… we all share common enemies: greed, pride,
all the bad ideas that the dark evil that lives inside us… we could love
anyone… the only enemy is what’s inside of me!
He also couldn’t have appreciated this message if wasn’t for all the
torture he had gone through in prison…
Jesus taught against judging others and rebuked the religious leaders. Jesus’
command to forgive your enemies and love those who mistreat you. Mosab started to not able to ‘kill’ because
of how Jesus said to love your enemies.
2.
Matt 5:45, God “causes his sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
3.
Hebrew 4:12, “the word of God is living and
active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
4.
Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught with
regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness
and holiness”
5. Ephesians 2:14,
Jesus himself “is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
