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Son of Hamas Co-Founder Calls for Israel to Kill His Father Along With All Terror Group Chiefs in Gaza, Qatar
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, speaking at the University of Michigan on Nov. 28, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
The disowned son of a Hamas co-founder on Thursday evening called on Israel to kill his father along with all leaders of the Palestinian terror group, saying that failure to do so would result in the terrorists “ethnically cleansing humanity.”
Mosab Hassan Yousef — the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who was most recently released from an Israeli prison in July of this year after spending 21 months in detention — said that it was incumbent on Israel to set a definitive timeline for the release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and that if the timeline is not met, the country should proceed to eliminate top Hamas leaders, including his own father.
“If it wasn’t for me he would have died in the Second Intifada,” Yousef told The Algemeiner on a video call with reporters in Jerusalem, adding that it was a “mistake to save his life.”
“My father said I was no longer his son and called for my killing,” he continued. He went on to cite former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in saying peace was only possible once “the Arabs would love their children more than they hate” the Jews.
“All Hamas leaders must die for gambling with children’s blood,” said Yousef, who converted from Islam to Christianity.
Yousef’s proposal extended beyond the immediate execution of terrorists in prison, and called for a broader campaign against Hamas chiefs in both Gaza and Qatar, which hosts and finances leaders of the terror group. The 45-year-old, who famously served as a spy for Israel from 1997 to 2007, said such actions are essential for the defeat of Hamas. He criticized Israel’s policy of exchanging prisoners for hostages, arguing it strengthens potential perpetrators of future violence.
“I don’t recommend the release of a single terrorist. We cannot compromise or bend to global pressure when it comes to Hamas. We must apply the death penalty,” he said, citing the release of Hamas’ chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in the 2011 prisoner exchange deal with Gilad Shalit. “Look what happened. He was the architect of Oct. 7.”
On Oct. 7, Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas invaded southern Israel and massacred over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, launching the current war. They also abducted more than 240 people as hostages and took them back to Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas.
Dozens of the captives had been released over the past week as part of a temporary ceasefire deal in which some of the hostages were freed in exchange for prisoners jailed in Israel. Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed on Friday, however, as the truce collapsed.
Yousef warned that now that most of the women and children had been returned, Hamas was likely to attempt to extend the truce as long as possible so that it could recalibrate and rearm. The rest of the hostages still in Gaza, averred Yousef, should be treated as “war prisoners” and Israel’s efforts should be centered on eradicating the terror group.
“Hamas uses the truce to claim legitimacy,” he said. Referring to his childhood as the son of Hamas, or the Green Prince as he later became known to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency with whom he collaborated, Yousef said he was always aware of Hamas’ brutality and that his “basic instinct as a child was not to like them.”
Yousef assailed some European countries for their “blindness” when it came to Hamas.
“I don’t understand why the world is so blind,” he said.
“European leaders are coming in the midst of war and instead of standing with Israel they start proposing stupid ideas,” he added, referring to the fact that many countries in Europe have called for Israel to show restraint and seek a long-term ceasefire. “We are not in the middle of a peace process; we are in middle of existential war.”
“It’s not time to speak about peace and negotiations.”
Hamas “ethnically cleansed close to 20 communities based on their race, ethnicity, and religion, and this is what defines genocide,” he said of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre. “And yet some of us still argue whether Israel has the right to respond.”
“Their first crime was genocide. Their second crime was taking human shields,” Yousef said, referencing both the abduction of Israelis and the Gazan civilian population, in which Hamas embeds itself.
Rebuffing comparisons between civilian casualties in Gaza and victims of Oct. 7, Yousef said the first group are “victims of genocide” while the second are “war victims because they’re being used as human shields by Hamas, the governing body.”
“There’s a big difference,” he said, and added that the war “should not be measured by how many died on each side.”
According to Yousef, with every round of conflict with Hamas, from Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 and through today, the terror group has become increasingly emboldened and more violent as a result of Israeli concessions.
“Democracies should never negotiate with terrorists,” he said.
“Anyone who believes in justice knows we have to eradicate Hamas and if we don’t all humanity will pay the price. This is not only Israel’s fight. This is the fight of every free person in the world,” he added.
“They lied when they said they are a Palestinian resistance group,” Yousef said of Hamas. “They are a religious group waging holy war against the whole world, not only Israel. They want to dominate the globe.”
The post Son of Hamas Co-Founder Calls for Israel to Kill His Father Along With All Terror Group Chiefs in Gaza, Qatar first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Immigration Judge Rules Palestinian Columbia Student Khalil Can Be Deported
Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, US, June 1, 2024. Photo: Jeenah Moon via Reuters Connect
A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to proceed with its effort to remove the Columbia University student from the United States a month after his arrest in New York City.
The ruling by Judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Louisiana was not a final determination of Khalil’s fate. But it represented a significant victory for the Republican president in his efforts to deport foreign pro-Palestinian students who are in the United States legally and, like Khalil, have not been charged with any crime.
Citing the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Trump-appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined last month that Khalil could harm American foreign policy interests and should be deported for his “otherwise lawful” speech and activism.
Comans said that she did not have the authority to overrule a secretary of state. The judge denied a motion by Khalil’s lawyers to subpoena Rubio and question him about the “reasonable grounds” he had for his determination under the 1952 law.
The judge’s decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court located inside a jail complex for immigrants surrounded by double-fenced razor wire run by private government contractors in rural Louisiana.
Khalil, a prominent figure in the anti-Israel student protest movement that has roiled Columbia’s New York City campus, was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, holds Algerian citizenship and became a US lawful permanent resident last year. Khalil’s wife is a US citizen.
For now, Khalil remains in the Louisiana jail where federal authorities transferred him after his March 8 arrest at his Columbia University apartment building some 1,200 miles (1,930 km) away. Comans gave Khalil’s lawyers until April 23 to apply for relief before she considers whether to issue a deportation order. An immigration judge can rule that a migrant cannot be deported because of possible persecution in a home country, among other limited grounds.
In a separate case in New Jersey, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz has blocked deportation while he considers Khalil’s claim that his arrest was made in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.
KHALIL ADDRESSES THE JUDGE
As Comans adjourned, Khalil leaned forward, asking to address the court. Comans hesitated, then agreed.
Khalil quoted her remarks at his hearing on Tuesday that nothing was more important to the court than “due process rights and fundamental fairness.”
“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, a thousand miles away from my family.”
The judge said her ruling turned on an undated, two-page letter signed by Rubio and submitted to the court and to Khalil’s counsel.
Khalil’s lawyers, appearing via a video link, complained they were given less than 48 hours to review Rubio’s letter and evidence submitted by the Trump administration to Comans this week. Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil’s lead immigration attorney, repeatedly asked for the hearing to be delayed. Comans reprimanded him for what the judge said was straying from the hearing’s purpose, twice saying he had “an agenda.”
Comans said that the 1952 immigration law gave the secretary of state “unilateral judgment” to make his determination about Khalil.
Khalil should be removed, Rubio wrote, for his role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
Rubio’s letter did not accuse Khalil of breaking any laws, but said the State Department can revoke the legal status of immigrants who could harm US foreign policy interests even when their beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise lawful.”
After Comans ended the hearing, several of Khalil’s supporters wept as they left the courtroom. Khalil stood and smiled at them, making a heart shape with his hands.
Khalil has said criticism of the US government’s support of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. His lawyers told the court they were submitting into evidence Khalil’s interviews last year with CNN and other news outlets in which he denounces antisemitism and other prejudice.
His lawyers have said the Trump administration was targeting him for protected speech including the right to criticize American foreign policy.
“Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Van Der Hout said in a statement after the hearing.
The American immigration court system is run and its judges are appointed by the US Justice Department, separate from the government’s judicial branch.
The post US Immigration Judge Rules Palestinian Columbia Student Khalil Can Be Deported first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Releases Video of Israeli-American Hostage Held in Gaza
FILE PHOTO: Yael, Adi and Mika Alexander, the family of Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli and Israel Defense Forces soldier taken hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, pose for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at the Alexander’s home in Tenafly, New Jersey, U.S., December 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephani Spindel/File Photo
Hamas on Saturday released a video purportedly of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held in Gaza since he was captured by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023.
In the undated video, the man who introduces himself as Edan Alexander states he has been held in Gaza for 551 days. The man questions why he is still being held and pleads for his release.
Alexander is a soldier serving in the Israeli military.
The edited video was released as Jews began to mark Passover, a weeklong holiday that celebrates freedom. Alexander’s family released a statement acknowledging the video that said the holiday would not be one of freedom as long as Edan and the 58 other hostages in Gaza remained in captivity.
Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda that is designed to put pressure on the government. The war is in its eighteenth month.
Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial campaign on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.
Israeli officials say that campaign will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.
The US, Qatar and Egypt are mediating between Hamas and Israel.
The post Hamas Releases Video of Israeli-American Hostage Held in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Some Progress in Hostage Talks But Major Issues Remain, Source tells i24NEWS
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – A source familiar with the ongoing negotiations for a hostage deal confirmed to i24NEWS on Friday that some progress has been made in talks, currently taking place with Egypt, including the exchange of draft proposals. However, it remains unclear whether Hamas will ultimately accept the emerging framework. According to the source, discussions are presently focused on reaching a cohesive outline with Cairo.
A delegation of senior Hamas officials is expected to arrive in Cairo tomorrow. While there is still no finalized draft, even Arab sources acknowledge revisions to Egypt’s original proposal, reportedly including a degree of flexibility in the number of hostages Hamas is willing to release.
The source noted that Hamas’ latest proposal to release five living hostages is unacceptable to Israel, which continues to adhere to the “Witkoff framework.” At the core of this framework is the release of a significant number of hostages, alongside a prolonged ceasefire period—Israel insists on 40 days, while Hamas is demanding more. The plan avoids intermittent pauses or distractions, aiming instead for uninterrupted discussions on post-war arrangements.
As previously reported, Israel is also demanding comprehensive medical and nutritional reports on all living hostages as an early condition of the deal.
“For now,” the source told i24NEWS, “Hamas is still putting up obstacles. We are not at the point of a done deal.” Israeli officials emphasize that sustained military and logistical pressure on Hamas is yielding results, pointing to Hamas’ shift from offering one hostage to five in its most recent agreement.
Negotiators also assert that Israel’s demands are fully backed by the United States. Ultimately, Israeli officials are adamant: no negotiations on the “day after” will take place until the hostage issue is resolved—a message directed not only at Hamas, but also at mediators.
The post Some Progress in Hostage Talks But Major Issues Remain, Source tells i24NEWS first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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