Second Son of Hamas Leader Turns Against Terror Group

TEL AVIV – The second son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef has fled the group and exposed it as a “racist terror organization,” following in the footsteps of his brother, the “Green Prince,” who escaped the clutches of the Islamist movement more than a decade ago.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Suheib Yousef explained from a hideout in Southeast Asia why he betrayed his father and the teachings of hate he was raised on.

Yousef told Israeli journalist Ohad Hemo that he was working for Hamas’ “political branch” in Turkey until about a month ago.

“Hamas operates security and military operations on Turkish soil under the cover of civil society,” said Yousef. “They have security centers from which they operate advanced listening equipment, to listen to people and (Palestinian) leaders in Ramallah.”

Yousef also claimed that the group listened to Israeli phone conversations and turned the information over to Iran.

“They were working for a foreign agenda. This isn’t for the Palestinian cause. Instead, they sell the information to Iran in return for financial assistance,” he said.

The money the terrorists received, he noted, came through Turkish banks.

He added that Hamas’ main agenda was to relieve some of the pressure on it by exporting the conditions in Gaza to the West Bank and the movement’s Turkish branch worked to this end by doubling as a recruitment center for would-be terrorists — including children — to carry out attacks against Israelis in the West Bank.

“The point of the attacks in the West Bank is to kill civilians, not for the aim of resistance, nor Jerusalem; not for liberating Palestinian land, and not even because they hate Jews,” he said. “They send out these innocents because they want to export the crisis [from Gaza] to the West Bank.”

Yousef said he became disillusioned with the terror group when he witnessed how its senior operatives lived in Turkey while Gazans continue to suffer in abject poverty.

“Hamas leaders [in Turkey] live in fancy hotels and luxury towers, their kids learn at private schools and they are very well paid by Hamas. They get between four and five thousand dollars a month, they have guards, swimming pools, country clubs,” he said.

“When I lived in Turkey I was shocked by the behavior of the Hamas members. They ate in the best restaurants, I would see them eating at places where one course cost $200,” he said. “They loved to invite each other out for these meals.”

“They pay $200 for one course for one person and a family in Gaza lives on $100 per month?” he said.

“I was raised in Hamas, I worked for Hamas, but when I was exposed to corruption, I left, I cut off ties,” he explained.

Yousef said that he knows Hamas may come after him and kill him.

“If they want to make me a martyr, I’ll be a martyr,” he said.

Unlike his older brother Mosab, who cooperated for years with Israel’s Shin Bet security agency during the bloody Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Yousef said he never worked for Israel.

“I never betrayed [Hamas], I was loyal to them,” he said.

He also expressed his hope that his father would respect his views on the group as, indeed, he “honored his [father’s] views for 40 years.”

“I call on the leaders of Hamas, including my father, to resign from this corrupt Hamas movement,” he said. “I’m sure my father also knows there are many corrupt members.”

He said he had no problem with Jews and that his main agenda was to help Palestinians suffering under Hamas.

“You are people of the Book and we are Muslims and we have no animosity toward you,” he said.

“The problem in Gaza is that Hamas hangs on to power by force. If Hamas gave up power, there would be no problems,” he added.

“I want them to send their own children to carry out attacks if they have to. Why doesn’t [Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh go to the fence to throw stones?” he asked, referring to the violent weekly riots on the Gaza-Israel border.

“How does Hamas benefit from these attacks? Nothing,” he said. “It is a racist terror organization that is dangerous for the Palestinian people.”

Yousef’s older brother Mosab has been outspoken about his admiration for Israel, telling this reporter that he “loved Israel because it was a democratic country.”

Mosab, who converted to Christianity and today lives in the U.S., did not mince words when it came to expressing his opinion regarding his former religion.

Islam is a “religion of war,” he said, and it was “time to expose [its prophet] Muhammad.”