#REVIEW: Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin

Title:  Son of Hamas

Series: none

Author:  Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin

Published Date: February 24, 2011

Publisher: Tyndale

Format: paperback

Pages: 304

ISBN: 9781414333083

Genre: political history

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Purchase: Amazon

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from terror and violence, and embraced instead the teachings of another famous Middle East leader. In "Son of Hamas," Mosab Yousef--now called "Joseph"--reveals new information about the world's most dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth about his own role, his agonizing separation from family and homeland, the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public, and his belief that the Christian mandate to "love your enemies" is the only way to peace in the Middle East.

My Review: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will be completely honest; I don’t understand the Middle East dealings. It has been a centuries-long, even thousands of years’ long feud that continues to this day. Will we ever see peace in the Middle East? I would like to think so, but reality says no. I picked up this book in order to get a first hand account of the inside of this feud. I certainly got it.

What I found was brutality on both sides, both sides raising their children from a young age to hate the other, to lash out towards the other. The author claims the founding of the Hamas was supposed to be a relatively peaceful group, but spiraled violently out of control when a younger generation took over. It was this violence, and the violence he saw within the political prisons he was in that caused his conversaion to Judaism and ended up turning him into a spy (or traitor, or hero) for the Israeli side.

In this book, he goes into detailed accounts of his contacts within the Hamas, the operations he participated in, the betrayals he was a part of. I’m sure the author has a target on his back for assassination for the rest of his life.

Overall, it’s a good book. I don’t follow the detailed politics of the Middle East, so some of it went over my head, but it was understandable enough.