Arutz Sheva spoke on Monday with former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agent Gonen Ben-Itzhak.
Ben-Itzhak was the handler of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of the Hamas terrorist organization and author of the book “Son of Hamas.”
Yousef has spent a number of years abroad following a decade in which he risked his life working undercover as an agent for the Shin Bet. His code name during that time was 'The Green Prince.' Yousef visited the Knesset on Monday as the guest of Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara, meeting and talking with members of Israeli parliament.
“I think that the fact that Israel let Mosab come to Israel after revealing his story is very important for us as Israelis, because we have a chance to thank him,” said Ben-Itzhak. “I think we need to learn how to say thank you to people who help us and this is a very good opportunity to do that.”
Asked why there aren’t many more Palestinian Authority Arabs who realize they are living a lie and who come forward like Yousef did, Ben-Itzhak said, “I think that Palestinians in general live without knowing anything about democracy. They don’t know that there’s another option, and the way their society is organized, it’s very hard for someone to go against his or her family. Mosab, after he revealed his story, started to receive death threats, so you can understand that it scares most people to see someone criticize and then get death threats.”
During his meeting with MKs on Monday, Yousef said, “Hamas murders not only Israelis, but also Palestinians whose political stance is different from that which its group promotes. That is, its radical religious outlook in which Islam is the solution to the world's problems.”
Deputy Minister Kara added, “Those who claim that what you see from there is not what you see from here in Israel, are mistaken, and Yousef is an authentic witness to it, with his own original words. It seems that it will take generations until the other side in the Arab world and the Palestinian street will internalize the need for human rights, freedom of speech and mutual acceptance and respect.”