1
Rabin was murdered.
I was shocked
like everybody else.
I felt that I need
to do something for my country.
When I joined the Shin Bet,
my father told me, "Listen,
this is a dark organization.
Don't do it. Don't go there."
The goal was to kill Israelis.
We had the right
to make the other side
feel our pain.
I thought this is
my chance to be a hero,
a mujahid, fifight for
the sake of the nation.
But Allah had
other plans for me.
Recruiting is an art,
a very difficult art.
The main issue is to understand
who is the person that's
sitting in front of you.
You need to understand
his point of view,
you need to understand
his background.
Who is his family?
What happened with him?
You try to find their needs.
And then when you know that,
you know how to play with him.
When you handle a source,
you make him do things
that he would never do.
To your benefit, it's not yours,
it's the government's benefit.
And you do it
by finding his weak points,
and use them.
The first time I heard
about The Green Prince
was when I was in training.
It was big secret,
but we've been told that
there is a new recruit.
His nickname
was The Green Prince.
He was considered
highly, highly dangerous.
The first day, handling him,
was the first day
of the end of my career.
To collaborate with Israel
is the most shameful thing
you can doin my country.
If somebody raped his mother,
that's very shameful,
but if he collaborated
with Israel,
this is much more shameful.
My father dedicated
his entire life
for the cause of Islam,
thinking that the Islamic
philosophy and ideology
will solve
the problem of humanity.
I came tounderstand
the importance of my father
from day one.
People used to travel
from every part of the country
to hear his Friday speech
at Ramallah Mosque.
See this person,
with this status
that is serving people,
living a humble life.
Helping the poor.
Not taking advantage
of his position.
That taught me a lot.
I was always
very, very proud of him.
I saw him as my highest example.
If there was a god
that I could see at that time,
and a higher authority
in my life, it was my dad.
My father wanted
to take me with him
everywhere he goes.
He thought that this is
how he's going to build
a future version of him.
As the oldest of five brothers
and three sisters,
many times I changed
their diapers,
I cooked for them,
I took care of them,
babysit them
when my mom was gone
and my father was in prison.
I remember actually
at least twoof them,
the youngest
used to call me Papa.
And we established
a strong relationship
among us, which...
it was impossible,
impossible tobreak.
That kind of bond
is impossible tobreak.
Hamas was not
just a movement to us,
it was the family's business.
It was our identity.
It was everything.
You know, my father is
sacrificing and dedicating
his life for that cause.
He spent close to 16 years
in Israeli prisons, maybe more.
My father was among us.
He was having dinner.
Somebody knocked the door.
They came,
they took him from among us,
and they promised
tobring him back
five minutes later.
I went outside.
I waited for hours
and they did not bring him back.
He came back
a year and a half later.
He came home in the afternoon
and was arrested again
six hours later.
I hated the Israeli soldiers
and anybody who's
put in an Israeli uniform
because of that event.
My father did not
teach me how to hate,
but I was 17 and I didn't know
how not to feel that way.
My cousin Ibrahim
always mentioned
that he had access
to people with guns,
and when I decided tobuy guns,
I asked for his help.
In the middle of the mountain,
they had the guns
somewhere in a bag.
They spray black pepper on them
in case there was any dogs
on the checkpoint.
I put the guns
in the doors of the car.
On our way back,
there was a checkpoint,
and we were stopped.
And they checked our I Ds
and they searched
the trunk of the car.
It was a very scary
and dangerous moment for me,
as a teenager still.
Finally, we made it
all the way to Ramallah
through all the checkpoints.
I had one thing in mind,
that is revenge.
Because he was the son
of Hassan Yousef,
Mosab was under surveillance
of the Shin Bet.
He was a very important
target for us for two reasons.
One, to make sure that
he doesn't do anything wrong,
and second, because we wanted
torecruit people like him.
When I came to visit my mom,
she told me the Israeli forces
came to our house.
She said,
"Did you do anything wrong?"
I told her I did nothing.
Of course, I could not
share with her what I did.
After I left the house,
I see Special Forces
coming out of the bushes,
pointing the guns
right tomy face.
They pulled me out,
and when I resisted,
Is started
to receive hits from everybody.
The second minute
we start driving,
I receive this strong hit
with the back of a rifle...
...directly to my head.
I hear people screaming.
I hear people in pain.
I hear very, very loud music.
You just get panic attack
to walk there.
This is how scary it was.
Mosab was 17 years old
when he was arrested.
And this was his first arrest.
He'd never
been in an interrogation,
and not toknow what's going on
is worse than anything.
The fear must be tremendous.
Thinking, "What's going on?"
"What am I going to say?"
"Am I going to lie?"
"Are they going to beat me?"
"What is torture?"
An officer came inside.
He asked me, "Whogave you
the order tobuy the guns?
Whogave you the guns?"
I tried not to show
that I was afraid,
but deep in my heart
I was really terrified.
He had a "yellow smile"
on his face
that told me that "We know."
And he said,
"Your father was here,
and he was a tough guy.
Are you a tough guy?
Doyou wanna be tough
or doyou wanna talk?"
And I was like,
"I have nothing totalk about."
And he started tolaugh.
He told me, "Mosab..."
"Welcome
to the slaughterhouse."
At the beginning,
there was no sleeping,
not at night,
not during the day.
You're sitting 24 hours forever.
This is like the feeling,
that notion that you had,
that this is not gonna end.
Half of my body was numb,
and the other half was
in tremendous amount of pain,
night after night after night.
You start to lose
your sense of reality.
I start
toforget how I look like.
I could not think very well.
I am missing my mother a lot,
I'm thinkin' about her,
you know, how she's
handling the situation.
Usually, when
my father is arrested,
I am outside,
side by side with her,
helping her
with the responsibilities,
and everything,
sharing with her,
and now here I am,
for the first time,
in a place that I hoped
that she does not
even think that I was there.
I would look
at their psychological set
and try find their weak points,
their needs.
Maybe because I had
the degree in psychology,
it helped me a little bit.
Many times I felt,
when I tried torecruit someone,
I had a feeling
when I'm going torecruit him.
After a few weeks,
they brought me to the level,
to break me down.
Officer came and sat down,
and he asked me,
"Why doyou get yourself
in trouble like this?
You're still very young.
If you did something,
just why didn't you
tell those guys?
And you're trying
toplay the tough guy?
You know, that's
not gonna work for you.
That's just
gonna make it worse."
He told me
those guys had believed
that you did something big,
and if you didn't
tell them the truth,
they're gonna continue
till they extract
that information from you.
I told him,
"Listen, I bought guns,
but we never used the guns.
We are not connected
toany military cell.
I am sure that father
is very disappointed.
I promise you.
I'm not lying toyou."
He kinda believed what I said.
I had a killer instinct.
I knew it, you know.
I was sointoit.
I knew that it's going tohappen.
He asked me,
"Would you work for us?"
And I thought, "Is this guy
like out of his mind, or what?"
How can he convince
someone like me
now towork for Israel?
Simply, because of my father,
I will never betray my father.
He knows
that when he says "Yes",
maybe things
will be more smooth,
more easy.
He was afraid.
I thought, what about
if I tell them "Yes"?
This way,
I can get out of prison.
So I told them "Yes."
They said, "If we release you,
everybody is going to question
how come we released you,
and you will be exposed
and possibly killed.
You have to go
to the Megiddo Prison.
There you just
take care, and get toknow
all the Hamas leaders in prison,
and when you get out of prison,
we will meet again,
and we talk."
Whorules and whogoverns
what happens inside the prison
is not the Israeli government,
it's not the Shin Bet,
it's not the Israeli police.
They are organized by sections.
So when Mosab comes,
he gets to the Hamas section.
There, they have
their own security force.
When prisoners come from
Shin Bet interrogations,
they ask a very tricky question.
"Were you asked
towork for Israel
during your interrogation?"
If they say "No,"
that's it, they are marked,
as a potential Israeli source.
Why? Because
they know that, usually,
we don't miss the opportunity
totry and recruit someone
during their interrogation.
I came to the Hamas people.
I told them,
"The Israeli Intelligence
offered me towork for them,
and I said yes,
and my plan is totake revenge.
If I had an opportunity
to kill my handler,
to kill any Israeli,
I wouldn't hesitate a second."
They said, "Is that it?"
And I said, "This is it."
Said, "What's your network?
Did they connect you with
somebody inside the prison?"
And I was like, "No, they did
not connect me with anybody."
They come back
with the same question,
"What's your network?" I said,
"No, there is nonetwork."
"What is the plan?
You just told them,
'Okay, I work with you,'
and they did not
give you any mission?"
I said, "No."
I told them the truth,
and the truth
did not make any sense tothem.
Yes, he is the son
of Hassan Yousef,
and they honor Hassan Yousef.
But then, he is alone in prison,
and things can happen.
His uncle was there.
Actually, his uncle
was torturing people
that agreed towork for Israel
when they arrived toprison,
because inside prison,
they don't want anybody
tospy on them.
And he is afraid.
I remember one of the times,
the Hamas security guys
would come and say,
"Everybody evacuate
this tent."
Now, we leave our stuff,
we leave whatever we are doing,
they close the tent,
nobody can see what's going on,
and they turn on
all the TVs
of the section very loud
and they ask some of
the guys tostart singing,
so the soldiers outside
don't hear
the prisoners screaming.
Now, the prisoner was screaming
like crazy inside,
and we did not know
what was happening with him.
People that we just get toknow,
after a couple days,
"Where are they?
Why don't we see them anymore?"
They're gone.
They're just held in that corner
being tortured,
their body is being burned...
the Hamas guys put needles
under their fingernails,
burned plastic on their bodies.
There was no limit.
Sometimes without evidence,
they tortured people todeath.
We're talking about
not one prisoner or two,
we're talking about hundreds.
I was looking at that picture,
and I was thinking,
"This is my father's project."
When we sit at home
like a family,
and my father
used toshare with us
about his goals.
He would say, "I work for Allah.
There is a chance toget killed
anytime soon, for this project."
That's my father, telling me
that he could get killed
for the sake of Hamas
and please toaccept,
he was saying
please tounderstand,
"If anything happens tome,
take care of each other.
Take care of your mom."
And I had tohear that
again and again and again.
I had towitness
the Israeli soldiers
pulling him from among us,
and taking him, humiliating him,
and putting him in prison
for a long time.
For what? For the sake of Hamas.
Now here I am in prison,
and I see Hamas.
And that was
really shocking.
My father wanted from us
to be connected always
to the land,
and olive trees,
since olive trees
are very important
in the Palestinian culture.
At the age of five,
he asked me
to go with our neighbors
to see how people harvest olives
and take care of their land.
I remember very well
the atmosphere
was really amazing.
And the family that
my father trusted with
asked their son
to take me home before the dark.
On the way home,
this guy started
toact in a weird way,
you know, trying totouch me.
And they knew that
he had the evil desires.
I ran for my life.
I ran toprotect myself.
He was much bigger.
He was much stronger.
And I could not resist anymore.
What happened was
absolutely brutal and dark.
When I got back home,
you know, my mom was waiting,
and I could not tell her
a word about what happened.
For some reason, I was ashamed.
I never shared that
with anybody,
because if that news came out,
I would have
a problem at school,
I would have a problem
in the future,
and I would be isolated,
because in my society,
the more painful thing
than being raped
is tohave the reputation
of being raped.
It's very hard toface
this monster called shame.
After I was released
from prison,
I was still under huge shock.
At that time, my father
was in Israeli prison.
Most of my friends at school,
they were already
in their first and second year
at university,
and I was not graduated.
I was on my own,
and I did not know
who to trust anymore.
So now I don't think
about revenge anymore,
'cause I don't know
what I'm fighting for.
Couple of weeks
after I was released,
I received a phone call
from same person
who recruited me.
He told me, "Listen, I know
that you have many questions.
We cannot talk over the phone.
I would like if can have
a cup of coffee
and discuss these things."
I was curious.
I wanted toknow
what was going on.
It crossed my mind that
when I bring someone
to the meeting,
basically,
I'm destroying his life.
But what was important is
tobring this guy.
So recruit the son
of Sheikh Hassan Yousef
was a very,
very important issue.
At the beginning,
it was a secret,
even inside the Shin Bet.
Even the guards that
brought him to the meeting
didn't know who he was.
I did not know
how far the Agency
is going to take
the promise that I gave them.
I was afraid that
if he said "Yes,"
maybe this is
on a camera somewhere.
They could expose
that thing to public,
to embarrass my family.
"Your son give his word
towork for the enemies."
This is somehow shameful.
When you bring the source
to the first meeting,
he's not with you.
You need to bring
a Palestinian guy
and make him betray
his own people.
For most Palestinians,
Shit Bet handler
is the devil himself.
And he expects that the devil
will react like a devil.
I found myself in a room
with closed windows.
Going into the room,
I asked him, "Why didn't you
rescue your people?
Why? The people whoworked
for you were tortured,
they were in pain,
and nobody did anything
tocome rescue them."
He said, "And whotold you
that those people
were working for us
from the first place?"
I told him,
"What doyou mean?"
He said, "Those guys have
norelationship with us at all."
He said, "How Hamas
got toknow those people?
Bring in somebody
and ask him about a network?"
I said, "Yes."
"Let me ask you this question.
What is your network?"
I told him, "I have nonetwork.
You did not
connect me with anybody."
He said, "Whotold you that
we connect people with anybody?
That's not
how intelligence work.
You are responsible
for yourself,
and you only know
about yourself.
Noone else knows about you,
and you're supposed
not toknow about anyone else
and that's it."
And suddenly,
everything changes.
Nobody had a gun
in my head telling me,
"We're gonna shoot you
if your don't work for us."
Nobody came tome
with secret files
and told me, "We're gonna
send you to jail
or expose you."
It was against everything
that we learned
about the Israeli Intelligence.
Maybe the Shin Bet
did not realize
what was happening
in my mind at that point,
and they did not intend
totell me anything
tochange me mind.
But for me,
I start to realize that
we are living a lie.
And people are dying
because of this lie.
That's it.
I know that he's hooked.
And this is why I continued,
because I needed toanswer
those questions
for my soul.
If you want a good source,
he needs tobe with you,
not against you.
And you need tobe with him,
and not against him.
From the early beginning,
the Israeli Intelligence
made it very clear to me
that you have to finish
your high school
that you did not finish.
Honor your parents.
Take care
of your brothers and sisters.
Take care of your school.
Actually, they were
just like my father.
When he gets an education,
he meets people.
He becomes more important
in his community.
He becomes
more important for me.
I was saying,
"How can I guarantee
that you just don't use me
and one day, either kill me,
or send somebody tokill me,
or maybe I get killed
because of this.
It's like, why would
I continue with you guys?"
He told me, "Listen, how old
is your grandfather's
Roman olive trees?"
I told him, "Some of these trees
are hundreds of years old."
"To us, you are like olive tree.
Of course, we need towater you,
we need tobuild you up.
We need togive you
enough support
tobe able
at some point togive fruit."
You also give him
the notion that
he's important for you,
and you're not just using him.
In Mosab's case,
it help us to use him.
For the Shin Bet,
it was like, you know,
a real achievement
in the war against Hamas.
It's like recruiting the son
of the Israeli Prime Minister.
This is the way we looked at it.
For me as a handler,
my sources are
somehow like toys.
You know, this is a big game,
and I'm a player.
I play
in the intelligence field,
but it's a game.
We didn't know much
about Hamas at that time.
Recruiting someone
soclose toHamas,
and you know, Mosab was
not a Hamas member.
He was not a Hamas member.
He was his father's son.
Sowe needed tofind a way
tomake him
bring the information.
A few months after
I agreed to work for the Agency,
my father's release
from prison was arranged.
My father needed someone
to be his assistant,
and he could not find
better person
than his oldest son,
the closest to him,
that he can trust.
Hassan Yousef was
always in the middle of things.
He got money,
and he spread the money,
in order tolet Hamas
dowhat they do.
Some of it was civil work,
and some of it wasn't.
Now, people came
to meet Hassan Yousef.
They always met Mosab
before they met Hassan Yousef.
He was the gatekeeper.
All of Hassan Yousef's
phone calls
we answered by Mosab.
Someone from Gaza,
someone from Nablus,
someone from Syria
called Hassan Yousef.
He will talk first with Mosab
and then with Hassan Yousef.
If Mosab decides
that it's important enough,
and when he decided it,
we decided it.
My dad had
no clue what I was doing.
He wanted to take me with him
everywhere he goes.
Sometimes we would go
intoan office
and we have, let's say,
a coffee table.
We took picture
of that coffee table.
The artists of the Agency
would create
the exact same table.
And I gojust inside
and change tables,
sonow the person
would come next day
and he wouldn't know
the difference
that we gave him
a brand new table
that was a table
that could listen.
The people that take decisions
are not necessarily
the people you see on TV.
Mosab helped us understand
and uncover part of this system.
The experience was amazing.
I got a chance tolearn things
and tosee things
that average person can't see.
He loved it.
He was addicted to the action.
Sofor me
as a handler, I used it.
You need to teach him
how to ask questions,
how not toask questions,
otherwise, he will be
exposed after a week,
and he will be dead,
or I will be dead
after twoweeks.
When I was asked
to go do something,
the first command I had was
don't act like Abu Arab,
or don't act like James Bond.
The best way,
just to act like yourself.
When I was working out a lot,
you know,
and I started to get buff,
the Agency asked me
toreduce that a little,
because it was getting
lots of attention.
We tried hard toconvince Mosab
tobecome Hamas member.
We told him togotothe mosque,
to pray, to grow his beard.
He wouldn't listen.
In the beginning,
it was really frustrating,
because you have a great source,
you want to push him
togodeeper and deeper intoHamas.
He wouldn't doit.
He wouldn't doit.
There were red lines that I had
that I could not cross.
It was not Hamas
moral code anymore.
It was not the Israeli
Intelligence moral code.
It was my own moral code
that I developed for myself
within my limited
knowledge at that time.
We called him
"The Green Prince."
Fast, he understood this is
his secret name in the Shin Bet,
and he acted as a prince.
He wouldn't take anything
humiliating from anybody.
I realized my choices
that I'm making,
and I knew at some point,
the Agency could not force me
tocontinue working.
Information is power.
He brought the information.
He had the power in his hands,
and I think that he knew
from the beginning
what kind of tool
he has in his hands,
and he used it.
They needed someone like me.
This is a big achievement.
And I knew,
like through his eyes,
I was the biggest recruitment
that he had so far.
He needed that,
so I played the game.
Yasser Arafat met with my father
to discuss the details
of the I ntifada
and its activities.
He did not want to look like
he's asking people
tocome down tothe streets.
He wanted tostay away from that,
and have someone todo
the dirty job for him.
I wanted my father
to be careful.
There was no way
totalk tohim directly
about anything.
The Green Prince called us
and informed us that
Arafat was talking
to Hassan Yousef.
And told him, "Be prepared.
We are going
toblow up everything."
The Shin Bet in Israel
couldn't handle
this information at that time.
Our hope was in Arafat.
During that time,
I was in charge of
all the operations
that happened in Ramallah.
It was a big,
big responsibility.
I hardly slept.
I didn't know
how my wife coped with this.
I would come very late.
After a few days,
I wasn't at home,
and all night,
I get all kind of phone calls.
They never come and tell you,
"You know,
now we are in February.
Next December, someone
is going tomake an attack."
No, you don't have
this privilege.
It's always like
in twohours, in one hour,
half an hour,
and you start toworry.
Every day we had new bombing.
Sometimes, twice a day.
We would wake up
in the morning thinking,
"What's going
to happen today?"
I realized that cowards
with the name of courage
are leading children and women,
an entire nation to death.
It was like
a flood that you can't stop.
Ten, twenty Israelis
are killed because of you,
because you didn't prevent
the killing.
Sometimes I felt I need
totake my gun
and goshoot people in Ramallah.
It was nonsense.
It wasn't something
I would ever do,
but the level
of frustration was sohigh,
and the anger.
And I tried toremind myself,
you know, this is
what they are doing.
You can't go
and shoot innocent people.
And yet, I felt like
sometimes I need todoit.
I did not have a problem
of stopping a suicide bomber.
Actually, I did not have
a problem of cracking down
the entire Hamas security
and military wing at that time.
This is how much
I was frustrated.
Because when things went
out of control,
there was still
a responsibility towards
every individual
of that society.
People were afraid
to stand
and say no to suicide bombs.
This is very hard to tell
what was on his heart.
You know, at least
in his public appearance,
he did support
the suicide bombing.
But on a personal level,
I'm not sure.
We got an order
from the government,
"You need tofind some terrorists
and assassinate them."
Hassan Yousef was
a great target.
I was afraid
that they were gonna come
toask me something
that I cannot do.
And at that point,
I'm gonna say "no" tothat.
I wrote him a letter,
not handwritten,
and I pretended
that I was someone else,
and I did not leave even
any clue that could lead tome.
"I want totell you
that you are a target,
and you can get killed any time.
Stay away from Hamas activities,
especially its military wing.
And you need togotoa hide,
and don't trust
your bodyguards."
The next day, he immediately
fired his bodyguards,
and he told me, "I want
togointoa safe house."
I told him, "Why?"
And he said,
"There is nospecific reason,
but I feel that this is the time
toreally gotoa hide."
When he gave me his secrets,
his locations, everything,
and I gave all that information
tothe Israeli I ntelligence,
that was by all means,
in his world, was betrayal.
Now, in my world,
it was a different story.
In my world,
it was responsibility.
In my world,
it was saving his life.
In my world, it was saving
many other people's lives.
You can 't
assassinate his father
and keep him as a source.
So the plan was to isolate him.
Make the Green Prince,
Mosab, his son,
the only connection between
him and the outside world,
in order toget
toother wanted people.
Mosab had great connections
with the Hamas leadership
in Damascus, in Gaza,
of course, in the West Bank.
When Hassan Yousef
sends information,
and sends his point of view
through The Green Prince
toothers, and get a response.
Everything is monitored
by Shin Bet.
It was something very unique.
When he needs togive an answer
to Khaled Meshaal,
the head of the Hamas movement,
and we don't like the answer,
we can manipulate his answer.
In a way, we can create
a new reality.
All out war
between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military
launched another attack today.
It was the sixth one in twoweeks
targeting Hamas leaders
and their lieutenants.
Helicopters and missiles doing
what Israel says
the Palestinian
Authority will not.
For its part though,
the Palestinian Authority says
the continuing missile attacks
make that job,
reining in militants,
even harder to do.
At some point,
my father called me
and he said, "Finally,
the PA agreed
to release the members
of the movement."
Ibrahim Hamid,
Muhammad Jamal Nachher,
Saleh Talahme,
Said Sheikh Kasem.
Those guys were the spine
of the Hamas military wing,
and all of them were masterminds
behind many suicide
bombing attacks.
And it happened that I took
those people with my car
from the Palestinian
Authority prison
to the safe house.
This piece of information
you get once in a lifetime.
Now, using
this information means
you're going to kill Mosab,
because they will check it,
they will understand fast that
Mosab gave that information,
and the game is over.
We needed to make a choice.
We had a chopper in the air.
And I remember an argument,
a very emotional
argument at that time.
I remember the manager
of Special Operations
of Shin Bet screaming,
saying, you know, "Shoot!"
I felt that I'm tempted todoit
because the mission
is soimportant.
You know, you are
sofocused in what you do.
You put everything aside.
And we didn't doit.
The explosion
in the Israeli coastal town
of Hadera, between Tel Aviv
and Haifa in northern Israel,
according to hospital
sources in the town,
two people have been killed,
as many as 25 people
have been injured.
Israel holds the Palestinian
Authority responsible
because the authority freed
Hamas and Islamic
Jihad activists.
I remember
when Mosab heard the news,
he was really sad.
It struck me that he's sosad.
He was ashamed of what happened.
It seemed like he's disappointed
that he couldn't help
in this case.
It was obvious that
this is a Hamas attack.
And this was maybe
the time I understood
that, you know,
he's not just a source.
He was there
for us all the time.
You don't talk about the fact
that actually he's a traitor.
This is like infection.
If you put
the mirror in his face,
it would finish everything.
Five years ago,
you were buying guns
and trying tokill people
that you are fighting now,
risking your life
tosave their lives.
That was like
a crazy transformation.
In my heart,
I understand the process,
I understand why I came
tothese conclusions.
While doing that, I kept
in mind where I'm coming from,
and everything
in my surroundings
reminds me of that.
But that change
was very, very radical,
tothe level that
you start tofeel
that you're living a dream.
He was considered
highly, highly dangerous.
What happened in the beginning,
the fact that he thought
about killing his handler,
as something that nothing
could clean from his record.
Nothing.
Doubt is the most important tool
for a handler.
If you don't doubt,
you will have a failure.
You have todoubt.
Now, for me, as a handler,
soon it was very hard todoubt,
and this is
a big danger for a handler,
when he forgets that
the source is not a friend,
but he's a potential enemy.
They exaggerated, you know,
with how they handled me.
They really exaggerated.
Like imagine just having
dozens of agents
just to bring you for a meeting,
while, you know,
you could just walk
to the meeting by yourself.
I remember once, there was
a song playing in the car,
and one of the officers
turned it off,
and I was like,
"Oh man, you just killed it,"
and I did this with my finger,
and he says,
"Well, why did you do that?"
I was like, "Dowhat?"
He's like,
"Dothis with your finger."
I was like, you know,
"I was expressing
that he killed the song."
And he was like,
"Don't dothis again."
And we start
a big, big argument.
I'm working with people
whodoes not
appreciate me somehow.
Or does not respect me.
Or does not trust me.
I was not fooled
by the Israelis' nice attitude.
Actually,
the attitude was not nice.
The attitude was rough.
They were always suspicious.
They were always playing
that they know everything,
but they did not
know everything.
And these kind of things,
you know, it was
big discouragement.
You're risking your life.
You're doing the impossible.
You're crossing all the lines.
You're somehow betraying
your family and culture,
and here you are, and...
they still don't trust you.
I felt that in order
to keep him as a source,
I need todosomething.
I met Mosab
without any bodyguards,
against the protocol.
It was like
something you don't do.
I know that Gonen was
breaking the law of the Agency.
And I knew that he could get
in lots of trouble doing that.
Now, tome, it was very
important, when he did that.
This meant tome
that this man trusts me,
and that was very,
very important for me toknow,
because I trusted him,
and I wanted tomake sure
that he can trust me too,
because the type of job
we were doing together
was very, very dangerous,
and that
was needed at that time.
From that point and on,
he was with me 150%.
The Green Prince called me,
and told me that
five suicide bombers
came and asked for his help.
We knew that we can easily
stop them,
but we alsoknew
that this would put Mosab
in a very difficult situation.
My brother's telling me
two strangers are outside.
They said, "We supposed tocarry
an operation soon,
and our guy,
our man, was arrested
by Israel a few days ago,
and it's not safe for us
tostay in the same house,
and we don't have money,
and we need someone
togive us a safe house."
I remember I just got
my salary from the Agency,
and I told them,
"Take the money,
gotothis address,
and tell the guy
that I sent you,
and give him the money,
and he will give you
a safe place tostay,
and wait for me there.
Don't goanywhere."
Killing them
is the easiest solution,
because if you kill them,
first of all,
you prevent the attack,
and secondly,
that person
cannot expose your source.
But for him,
it was very hard to...
tobe part of assassination.
If I was fighting
tostop killing of human beings
on the Israeli side,
I had tokeep
that level of integrity.
Even I knew that those people
were extremely dangerous.
I captured them, but we knew
that sooner or later
they will bring up his name
as someone that's helped them.
And this is a situation
where you can't just ignore it,
because if you ignore it,
you expose him.
So we arranged a huge scene
where Special Forces
came to Betounya,
where Mosab lived,
trying to capture him,
and he fled away
only seconds
before they arrived.
I needed to coordinate it
in a way that is realistic,
but not dangerous for him,
'cause they could shoot him.
They evacuated my family.
Now, Gonen was there
interrogating my mom,
asking her "Where is Mosab?"
and she says, "He escaped."
And Gonen was pretending
all the time that
"Noway, we know that
he's in the house,
and if he does not
surrender right now,
we're gonna kill him."
And my mother knew that
I was not in the house,
and she was like, "Okay,
you're not going tofind him."
And when they start shooting
and finally launch a missile
in our living room
and burn half of the house,
my mother saw how serious
their idea was
about capturing me,
tothe level when I came
next day, she told me,
"Gounderground,
don't goanywhere,
don't come back ever."
This was, you know, only a game
in order toshow everybody
that he's a wanted terrorist
and we try tocatch him.
Finally,
everybody in the city believed
that I was wanted
by Israel, and this way,
I got a chance,
since I became a wanted person,
I got a chance tohang out
with other wanted Hamas members
that we have been
looking for them for years.
A suicide bomber
blew himself up in the hotel,
killing more than 15 people.
I understood at that point that
the game is going tochange.
We decided that
we are going totake
all the necessary measures
toact and destroy
the infrastructure
of every terror element
that exists.
The Israeli Army started toenter
cities in the West Bank.
The Green Prince
was a key player
in many operations,
and one of the operations
was to reveal where
the Hamas leaders are hiding.
Our goal was
to try and get
as much terrorists as we can,
as much extremists as we can.
So we had like maybe 24 hours
before everybody would run away.
The Israeli politicians
did not know
about my involvement
with the Israeli I ntelligence.
And all they knew
that Hassan Yousef
is a terrorist.
And there was pressure
toassassinate
all top Hamas leaders
whowere involved in the movement
that 'caused the death of
hundreds of Israeli citizens.
And my father was the top
Hamas leader in the West Bank,
where most of the suicide
bombing attacks came from.
Mosab was terrified.
He knew that
it's a matter of time
that his father
would get intothe list.
Mosab called us,
"Let's arrest my father.
And then I'll know
that my father is in prison,
and nothing happens tohim."
I was carrying
very huge responsibility.
I knew what I did
was not shameful,
and what I did was
very, very important
and was necessity.
There is not lots of money.
You're not paid as people think
you're paid millions,
not even thousands.
You are risking everything,
and then there is nocelebration.
I promise you, we never opened
a bottle of champagne
because we saved
dozens of lives.
The prize was
a different kind of prize.
We told him you can't just,
you know, finish
with the Second Intifada,
finish with Defense Shield,
and goback toyour life.
It's, you know,
something that won't happen.
Everybody expects you
tobe arrested.
We have todoit.
And he needed toagree,
and he eventually agreed,
togoand spend time in prison,
although he did nothing wrong.
He was working for us,
but this was the only way
tokeep him alive.
We were in the Maskoveieh,
where I was tortured
the first time.
My father was there,
and they made it look
like interrogation cell.
Once the door is closed,
Gonen would come in,
and we just continue our work.
And then when
I come back to the cell,
I'm totally exhausted
from working all day long,
somy father
and the other cell prisoners
would think that I just had
a rough day interrogation.
Allahu Akbar.
I'm looking at my father,
just living his reality,
not knowing
what's really happening.
In a perfect world,
I wanted him toknow everything,
but togive him
that kind of information,
it's not going
tomake sense tohim.
And that's why
we lived in twodifferent worlds.
I have a feeling
Hassan Yousef knew Mosab
is working for us.
Like a husband that
his wife is cheating on him.
And all the signs
are written on the wall,
but he doesn't want
tolook at it.
Hassan Yousef had
all the signs on the wall.
Palestinians now are
only waking up tothe news
that Yasser Arafat has died.
It came at 5:30 in the morning
here in Ramallah.
When Arafat died,
we didn't really know
what's going
to happen afterwards.
We were worried
about the possibility
that Hamas is going
totake over Ramallah.
Soagain,
we did what we know todo.
We started togather information.
When I got out of prison,
my father was released as well.
Hamas and other Palestinian
factions were preparing
for the elections.
The Hamas strategy was to bring
their military wing members
down to the street
to show power.
It saddened him
to see the movement
is getting out of his control,
and young military guys
taking over
just sending everybody
to destruction.
He was very conflicted.
He did not have anybody to talk
about his frustration.
I was the only person there
that could listen tohim
and understand
what he was saying.
We had a group
of foreigners come in,
and I invited them
to come meet with my father.
I told them,
"Here is the situation.
Would you please help him see
what you see from the outside?"
And he met with lots of seculars
who shared with him
alternative ways
of fighting occupation
without causing bloodshed.
And somehow he was comfortable
with that approach,
which, you know, practically
brought him to the level
to think of having
a truce with Israel.
Now, when he start toshare
what he understands
with the Hamas leaderships
in Gaza Strip,
they didn't know
where he was coming from.
Israeli Shin Bet
never came to me and said,
"Hey, how about you convince
your father to hold a truce?"
Actually, they did not
like that very much.
The Israeli I ntelligence
wanted me toact
like somebody who's zealous,
somebody who's angry at Israel,
somebody whodoes not
believe in peace,
somebody who's a terrorist,
because that was the goal,
toinfiltrate
terrorist organizations
by playing that
you are a terrorist.
Now, when I did
the opposite of that
toconvince my father
that a truce with Israel
will save human lives,
and my father was convinced
for the individual
whoworks within the Agency,
that was, "Wow, that's great."
But for the mind of the Agency,
that was not good.
That was not "Bravo."
That was like,
"Stop what you're doing,
and focus, you know,
on our game."
Mosab has his own views,
and he never, never agreed
just toget orders
without thinking
and without processing.
And he didn't act
like a very religious guy.
And this was another concern,
because we were afraid
all the time that someone
will suspect him,
not because
what he does for Israel,
but because the way he acts.
My father got the word
from Gaza saying that
Israel hit us with a missile.
He was invited
toAl Jazeera tocomment.
He was, of course, furious,
he was very disappointed,
because at that time,
he worked very hard
toestablish a hudna,
a truce, with Israel.
Gonen told me,
"We didn't do it."
SoI asked the guys
at Al Jazeera,
"Doyou have a filming
of the explosion?"
I'm looking at the video
again and again and again,
and always the explosion
came from under.
And the smoke
was completely white,
which is the material
that Hamas used tobuild
their homemade missiles.
There was vehicle that had in it
tons of missiles and explosives.
Something went wrong
with the car
that simply exploded and killed
all these civilians
who were around it.
I brought my father
to the control room
and I showed him
how the explosion happened.
It was obvious and clear,
but he simply ignored it.
That started a new war.
Suddenly, you had missiles,
which we never had before.
The world changed,
and it became
ten times more violent.
Part of the reaction
was toarrest
all top Hamas leaders.
I received a phone call
from the Shin Bet office saying,
"Your father
will be arrested."
And I was like,
"Well, if this is the case,
this is the case."
Then when I received
the second part of the order,
which was,
"And you are going too."
I was like, "That's impossible.
I'm not going tojail again."
Our part was tocalm him down,
toexplain, toreason it,
and explain why we doit,
and it became
a very hard mission todo.
I remember I start even
tocry, you know,
because I could not
even understand
or absorb the whole situation.
I went back home afterwards
just tohave the last dinner,
you know,
with my mom and my dad.
My dad was
in the kitchen cooking,
and he told me, he asked me,
"Why don't you come
give me a hand?"
Because usually when
he's cooking I like tohelp him.
And usually, you know,
there's a competition,
who's got like
the best recipe and all that.
And you know,
it's like he wanted just toplay
the same game, not knowing
what's waiting for him.
So I thought tomyself,
you know, let's just forget
what's gonna happen
in a few hours,
and we got in the kitchen,
we start cooking,
chopping vegetables,
and preparing food
for everybody.
Actually, I thought that,
that's like a good opportunity
just todosomething good
for the family
before this disaster happens.
When he was ready for bed,
I just hugged him
and I told him,
"Have a good night,"
without, you know,
showing anything.
I went upstairs to my room,
and I got myself ready
for the moment.
My father came up tome,
he said, "We have togo."
I told him, "What's going on?"
He said, "We are arrested."
And they're asking for you too,
soput some warm clothes
and come with me.
A new era begins
in the Middle East
with a sweeping victory by Hamas
in the Palestinian Territories.
The militant group
will be running things now,
and world capitals
are struggling
toadjust tothat reality.
We 're covering
all of the angles,
trying to bring you the reports
from Ramallah, Jerusalem...
I came to the realization
that we were fighting a ghost.
And I was tired already
at that time,
and I needed a break.
Mosab spend
more than six months in prison.
He came back really exhausted.
Mentally, he was exhausted.
He told me,
"It's very hard for me
tokeep working with you."
He was lying tohis family,
he was lying tohis father,
he needed tolie
tothe Palestinian Authority,
toHamas,
he needed tohide things
from the Shin Bet about himself,
and every given second,
he needed tolie tosomeone.
He didn't live his life.
He was living life
where he needs all the time
to process lies.
How can you establish a life,
or a family,
or a relationship of any kind
based on the false identity,
that you know
that this identity at some point
either it gets exposed
or it gets killed?
The Shin Bet expected me
tohandle the situation
and convince him togoon.
You start, you know,
to lie to yourself
and to him, and say,
"Well, you know, but,
let's keep another month,
and see what's happening,
maybe you'll feel
a little bit better.
And let me help you.
Doyou need something?"
You take him maybe somewhere,
you buy him a present.
You know, you try tokeep,
keep it working.
Though you know
that as a person,
you need tolet him go.
I saw Mosab
outside of Shin Bet facilities,
and I let him a few times
to take a break,
to go into Israel
to rest a little bit
for one day.
I rented a car for him.
I found a place,
a hotel that he can rest in,
and then go back.
This was a very important step
to make him understand
how important he is
for me as a person.
For the Shin Bet,
it's very dramatic,
because this is
a violation of the protocol,
a very bad one.
But I thought
that they will understand
that my intentions
were clean and pure.
And they looked
at it differently.
I was told again and again
the Shin Bet is the family,
it's your family.
I never felt
that this is my job.
It was going to the family,
and then suddenly,
the family is against me.
They said I did not work
by the rule,
or by the Shin Bet way,
and they took me tocourt,
and dismissed me from my duty.
All he said was good bye,
and I was like,
"Gosh, this is really bad news."
All the doubt, the suspicion
that I had with the Agency,
I overcame
only through the trust
that I could establish
with Gonen,
and the personal relationship
that I built with him.
Sofor me, he was
really a gift from heaven,
tobe just there
totake care of me.
And when he was like,
"That's it,
I'm going somewhere else,"
I knew that I am not
going tosee him again.
He got a new handler,
and he didn't like
this handler at all.
They had fights.
This guy tried, you know,
toteach Mosab everything
from the beginning.
They decided to put him
on a polygraph test
to show him who is in charge.
It was impossible
for someone like me
to pass the test.
When they asked me,
"Did you plan attacks
against the state of Israel?"
You know, this is
what we did on a daily basis.
You know, that was my job,
topretend that
we are planning attacks.
With that said, you know,
how can you say yes or no?
And now here I am
answering the machine,
and the guy from behind the desk
that I never met before,
and trying toprove tohim
something
that I could not prove.
You trusted me
with the lives of your troops,
with your own lives,
with the secrets of the Agency,
big secrets,
and now you're coming back
tothe first square
for your old suspicion
and old doubt?
That broke bones
between me and the Agency.
And at that moment,
that was a final
decision for me,
that was the last time
I want towork for the Agency
or doanything for it.
They tried by temptation,
giving me
an offer to open a company
to help me achieve, you know,
things that people dream about
and they don't get.
They could not threaten me
because they knew
that I knew the game.
And simply, I kept insisting
for a few months
that I have toleave.
Finally, they agreed,
with twoconditions.
I have to bring a solid cover
how I left.
It was simply
an operation for my jaw.
And I had to go to doctors
and bring these papers.
The second condition was
that I come back
and work for the Shin Bet.
I take just a long vacation.
They preferred
that I gotoEurope.
They did not want me togo
tothe U nited States of America.
Now, Spain and Europe,
and all that,
Israel simply could put me
in a case and send me back
to the Palestinian Territories
if they had to,
but in America,
it was different story.
The American government,
in general,
don't tolerate
any Israeli activity
on the American soil
without cooperation
with the American I ntelligence.
My mom knew that
there was a possibility
that's gonna take a few years
before I come back.
She told me,
"You do the surgery,
if you get a chance
to finish your Master's
in the United States,
just do it."
You know, "I wish you luck,"
and she was just sad
that I was leaving,
but she knew
how much I suffered,
you know, for the family,
and all over the years,
and she wanted me
alsotofind my life,
soshe was kinda
finally okay with that.
And we hugged,
and we said good bye.
To go to a new culture,
to have to build
everything from scratch,
that was
the most difficult thing
for any human being.
I was conflicted
with my own identity.
I was invited toa Bible study.
I started tobuild
a new relationship
with a new community
that had
a totally different faith.
It was fun.
It was a peaceful environment.
And to go
to this kind of community,
and to be loved unconditionally
was very comforting,
it was very important tome.
It filled a very
important gap in my life.
I applied for political asylum
in the first few months
in secret,
and it was rejected
by the Department
of Homeland Security.
The FBI was told
by the Israeli Intelligence
that the son
of a top Hamas leader
is hanging out in California,
and we don't know
exactly what he's doing there,
thinking that the FBI is going
to just put me on an airplane
and send me back.
There was always a problem
with how can I convince
those people that I am
not involved in terrorism.
I shared the story with
the core group in the church.
And I was expecting
an immediate support,
but tolook at people's faces
and see fear,
and see doubt,
that's something
that I was not expecting.
They were not only
not believing,
they were also scared
of the fact that I was there.
Nobody would believe my story.
No one.
I was without anything.
I was without a shelter.
I became without a job, jobless.
I became without a community.
I became completely alone,
and my intention was togopublic.
I knew the moment I am gonna say
that I worked for
the Israeli Intelligence.
First of all, I am done.
I have no future.
I'm gonna become from a prince
toa traitor, immediately.
Nobody's going
tosympathize with me.
I'm going to bring lots of shame
to my mother, to my father.
It was the shame
that I had toface,
you know, as a human being.
Since I was a child,
I was raped.
I could not tell
my parents. Why?
So that was like finally
a chance or an opportunity
to fight against
this dangerous enemy,
the force of shame.
My father had access
to a cell phone
that was smuggled
to prison at that time.
So I called him and told I him,
"Listen, I'm writing a book.
The book is going tocome out,
and I'm telling the world
about my relationship
with the Israeli I ntelligence.
I am not whoyou think I am.
I worked for Israel
for ten years.
I put you and myself
in prison toprotect you.
And you are not
assassinated today
because of this arrangement."
He told me, "Listen, come back,
and I will protect you.
Don't worry about anybody."
I told him,
"I am not coming back,"
and I asked him, actually,
in that conversation
to disown me, because I knew
the pressure of the society.
And he told me
this is not an option,
while he was grieving, you know.
He was in lots of pain,
he was under shock.
He told me, "You are my son,
and you will continue
tobe my son.
Noone can take that away."
...putting
his own life in danger
by going public with his story
in one remarkable book called,
"Son of Hamas",
giving a never
before seen look...
Mosab Hassan Yousef says
that he turned against Hamas
because he believed...
...served
as Israel's most valuable spy
inside Hamas
for over a decade...
...young man who saw bad things
happening and decided
to take a stand.
Your own father
has written from prison,
where he still is, a statement:
He said that you were
a collaborator,
collaborating with the enemy.
He said that you're betraying
Palestinians, betraying Islam.
How doyou respond tothat?
I knew that I was really hurting
people I love,
and people
wholoved me very much.
When I thought about
my brothers and sisters,
those are like,
were my children.
And they never had a problem
without calling me.
And I always found a solution.
And that was the first time
when my brother called me
asking for a solution,
but unfortunately,
I was the problem,
and I could not provide
a solution for the first time.
I felt hopeless.
I felt that
I stabbed him in the back.
Actually, I felt like
I took each one of them
and I put them on the altar
and slaughtered them,
all of them.
The law was very clear
with the deportation case.
"You were affiliated,
at some point of your life,
with Hamas organization.
You bought guns with
the intention of killing people.
Sothat's enough.
It doesn't matter
what you did afterwards."
The law says if you have
that kind of history,
you don't qualify
to get American,
to become American citizen.
But how much danger is Yousef
really in if he's deported?
Al Qaeda immediately issued
a death sentence for him.
Hamas leaders in Gaza...
One day, I see a big picture
of The Green Prince, page one,
in the Arutz newspaper.
I felt my heart's, you know,
beating hard and...
You need tounderstand,
The Green Prince was
one of the most sensitive
secrets of the Shin Bet.
The option tohave him
on the front page
of the newspaper, something
I couldn't even consider.
I was shocked.
I started tothink, you know,
"How come he's
in the United States?
What's going on?"
I read that he left
the West Bank,
he converted to Christianity,
and that he lives
in the United States, homeless.
He was in real trouble.
And I knew it.
I really felt responsible
for Mosab,
as a source,
and as a human being.
I felt that,
as his former handler,
I cannot let him just meet
his destiny without helping him.
I started to think about
of all the legal implications
of what I'm going to do.
What will be the Shin Bet
response for that?
Am I allowed to do it?
I knew that if I'll contact
the Shin Bet
and ask their permission,
I'll get a "no",
and I didn't want
toget this "no."
I felt that I really need
to go and meet him.
I thought that
by exposing myself,
I can be arrested and accused
by the Shin Bet of treason.
But I knew that this is
what I need todo.
And then I took off
and I went to San Diego.
This was a very tough flight.
It was passing not only
geographical borders.
I needed
to cross mental borders.
And I was walking down
in a long corridor,
and in the end,
I see Mosab standing.
And I approached him,
and we hugged
and started tolaugh.
I don't know why laughing,
but we were
standing there laughing
for like,
I don't know, ten minutes.
We were laughing this, you know,
this was like breaking
everything, all the borders,
all the problems, everything.
The son of a Hamas founder
sought sanctuary here
in California.
The Federal Government is now
pushing for his deportation,
claiming he poses
a threat tothe U.S.
Mosab told me,
"For some reason,
they misread the book
and they really think
that I'm a terrorist,
and they think that I'm a threat
tothe U nited States."
Homeland Security will argue
that he has provided
material support
toterrorist organizations
in court tomorrow.
They want him deported.
We'll be live at the...
I got really mad.
You know, I thought tomyself,
you know, it couldn't be.
You know, he helped us
for more than ten years.
I called the Shin Bet.
I asked them to give me
instructions and they didn't.
They didn't respond.
And I said, that's it.
You know, this is ridiculous.
How many times
have you ever heard
an agent of Shin Bet,
the Israeli Secret Service,
go public?
This is a man
who was Mosab Hassan's handler
for many, many years,
and he believes now
it is his solemn moral duty
to stand up, to go public,
which is a risk to his own life
because he believes
Mosab Hassan...
It's not just a reality show
that you watch on TV and say,
"Oh, let's see what
the judge is going to decide."
Mosab is going tostay
in the U.S. and live,
or Mosab is going
tobe deported toJordan,
and then whoknows
what will happen?
Probably, he will
get killed somehow.
I couldn't just sit
silently and watch it.
We got a really
big development to this story.
The United States
has now dropped its push
to deport Mosab Hassan Yousef,
because of what
lawyers called "new evidence."
Homeland Security previously
called him a security threat
because of his ties
to the militant group Hamas.
This man, Yousef, is the son
of one of its founders,
but after spending ten years
as a spy for Israel,
and converting to Christianity,
he says deportation
would mean certain death.
During a 15 minute
hearing this morning,
a U.S. Department of Homeland
Security attorney announced
that the government
was dropping its objections,
and an emigration
judge ruled that,
pending a routine background
check, Yousef can stay.
The Shin Bet had
the ability to stop me.
They didn't do it.
When I look at it today,
I say, you know, maybe this is
their way totell me,
"Okay, no, you can goon.
Okay, we're not
going toapprove it,
we don't like it,
but we don't stop you.
And this is our way
tohelp Mosab."
And today, I really believe
this is what they did.
Maybe we're not family
in the blood,
but the bond between us
is much stronger than the bond
of brothers or family or blood.
The bond between us
is the bond of truth,
and it's unbreakable.
And he knows the truth,
and he took a stand
for the truth,
unlike many Shin Bet agents
whoworked with me side by side
and saw how much we put effort
tostop terrorist attacks.
And all of them
saw me, you know,
struggling, facing deportation,
being disowned
for the sake of the state
that we fought for,
and none of them came out
tosupport, none of them.
This journey,
for me as a person,
as a human being,
is always and it is still
I think the most important
journey of my life.
Not because of Mosab,
not because of the Shin Bet,
because of me,
because during the time,
and along the way,
I learned more about myself,
about life, about friendship.
Gonen risked his life
tosave mine.
And I hope that
one day, you know,
people will be able tosee
the beauty of this man's heart,
and I hope that
our people in the region
will learn from this experience,
how twopeople
like Gonen and myself
can come toa place
where we can trust each other
and work tobe constructive,
and tobuild,
and instead of destroy
and spend our lives fighting.
Gonen is a brother today,
and I won't hesitate
tosacrifice my life
tosave his,
because he already did,
and I owe him.