Generational Dynamics World View News

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Again, please watch the movie "The Green Prince", or read the book it is based on, "Son of Hamas".

Here are some interviews with Mosab Yousef, the oldest son of Hamas founder:

From GQ Magazine:

Last week Mosab Yousef, the eldest son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, dropped a book more incendiary than any roadside IED…(“Son of Hamas”)

GQ: In the book, you write that if your father disowned you, Hamas terrorists would kill you. He did so last week. It's been reported that you've hired bodyguards. Are you living in fear right now?
Mosab Yousef: This is a cultural thing. Usually, the son has the protection of the family. Now I don't have that anymore. It's not an easy position. The things I'm saying are very dangerous, but I knew the consequences before I acted. I'm not afraid, and I'm not going to hide.

GQ: Your father is a religious man, an Imam. Have you had any word from him, aside from the public denouncement?
MY: It was a few days before the release of the book. I told my father there was going to be a huge reaction, and I told him, Please, disown me to protect yourself, and he told me this was not an option. But when he woke up to the news, and he recognized the pressure, he had no other option. So this was no surprise, and I understand it. I still love my father, I know his heart and he knows mine. I still love my people, not just my family—my people. I feel a huge responsibility for them. I'm not going to give up until I liberate them from this evil god.

GQ: In the beginning of the book you talk about two sides of Islam, but you simplify your characterization rather quickly, saying its goal is "to conquer and enslave the earth," and that Allah had "no problem with murder; in fact, he insisted on it." We often hear President Obama, like George W. Bush before him, say that Islam isn't our enemy, that it's a religion of peace—that it's violent extremists we're in conflict with. Do you reject that?
MY: Absolutely, I do. That is blasphemy. That is a lack of knowledge. U.S. presidents say such things because of diplomacy, because Islam also exists in America, and they must respect people's beliefs, respect the constitution. What I'm saying is the problem is there, in the Koran. That even if there's a good side of Islam, at the end of the day it serves evil.

GQ: But aren't there two sides to Christianity as well? The side that launched the crusades, and that many believe is still active, steering the last administration's foreign policy. Aren't we really talking about the human failing here, not tied to a particular faith?
MY: No, no, no, no. This is what I'm trying to avoid. I point to the book, to the god. I am not pointing to the people. I judge and compare books and gods. In Christianity, it's very clear that the god we worship is equal to love. The bible says, 'God is love'. The god we worship was sacrificed, crucified on the cross, tortured, spit on, and was still forgiving. This is our highest example. The god of Islam tells his people, "Beat your wife. Go kill infidels. Go Kill Christians and Jews." This is in the Koran; it has been for 1400 years. Their god tells them to kill everybody who doesn't believe in the god of the Koran. The problem is ideological—it's not a people problem. Now, most Muslims don't obey the order of god to kill infidels. This is why I say Muslims have more morality than their god. To be honest with you, I'm amazed at how Muslims keep their humanity after reading the Koran.

GQ: When you first went to prison and were recruited by Shin Bet, you said you wanted to be a double agent, to deceive Israel and further jihad. Yet you soon came to work on Israel's behalf. Can you talk about that transformation?
MY: You know, this is a long process, it didn't come over night. If you get yourself out of politics, religion, everything, and think as a human, think based on love to everybody, at that moment you have a choice: to be an animal, or to be a human. I choose to be a human being, with conscience and responsibility.

GQ: Of your Shin Bet handler, you write, "every time we met, I learnt more about life, justice, and security." But in light of the news coming out of Dubai in recent weeks, it seems the Israelis are still using assassinations and any available means to prosecute this war. If they're wise and just, why haven't they learned what you have, that an ideological war needs an ideological solution?
MY: Intelligence communities are very closed communities, but at the same time, you don't only learn how to fight terrorism. You need to learn about life, about West and East, geography, history, culture, there are many, many things that you learn in order to be able to solve puzzles. And I had many questions. So I had to use my mind to understand what was going on in that world, and I started to see things in a different way.
I wasn't an informer for Shin Bet. Shin Bet had more information than I had. But [the intel] made perfect sense to me, and I helped them understand it the way I understood it. I'm familiar with the Palestinian mentality, the culture, religion, and when I had information coming in on a daily basis: secrets about personal lives, politicians, what they are hiding from their society that most people don't see, I started to see the picture in a different way.
Let's be clear: I'm not trying to defend Israel. What I'm telling my nation is that Israel is just like any other state, and I want them to get out of the illusion that Jewish people are evil, and that all they want is to kill Muslims and Palestinians. I want them to understand that their biggest problem is not Israel.
Israel can be a problem, yes, I admit that, and I agree, I am against occupation. But they blame everything on occupation, Muslims look at themselves and say, 'We are the victim. We are under occupation. Israelis have been killing us. And we kill, but not because we love to kill.' What I'm saying is: Yes, you are right, you are wonderful people, but study your religion. Know who you're worshipping. You're worshipping a god who is sending you to destruction.
Now, if you can educate Muslims about their biggest enemy, and if you can solve the problem, the ideological problem, it doesn't give an immediate result, but it's the best thing over the long term.

Another quote, from a CNN interview, regarding Palestinian children
YOUSEF: — those children are going to be — are going to be the next generation of terrorists basically because of what they perceive on daily basis of human brutality from everybody, from their parents, from the political parties, from the moolah (ph), from the priest, from the politician, from everybody, you know.

More from Yousef, as reported by Asianetnews:
'Hamas seeks conquest not coexistence...' Son of Hamas founder, who adopted Christianity, speaks out
Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, son of one of the founding members of the Palestinian terrorist group, Mosab Hassan Yousef, sheds light on how the outfit grooms children from the age of five and reveals Israel's destruction is not their final destination.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founding members of Hamas, has spoken out even as the war between Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian terrorist outfit entered its sixth day on Thursday. In an interview with CNN, Yousef, who has authored 'Son of Hamas', shared insights into his transformation from a life groomed for leadership in the terrorist organization to his conversion to Christianity and the rejection of its political and military objectives. His journey sheds light on the indoctrination of children in Gaza and the complex dynamics within Hamas.

Growing up in a society deeply influenced by the ideals of Hamas, Mosab was groomed from a young age to take a leadership position within the organization. However, he took a different path, one that ultimately led him to convert to Christianity and renounce the goals of Hamas. When asked why he made this profound change, Mosab explained, "Well, for the simple reasons that we see right now in Gaza, that Hamas does not care about the lives of Palestinians, does not care about the lives of Israelis, or Americans. They don't care about their own lives. They consider dying for the sake of their ideology, a way of worship. And how can you continue in that society?"

The harsh reality in Gaza today, where violence and suffering persist, serves as a poignant reminder of Hamas's willingness to use civilians as tools of war. According to Mosab, the indoctrination begins at an early age, with Hamas teaching children as young as five that shedding innocent blood in the name of ideology is a noble endeavour.

"Well, in the mosques, Hamas taught us that without shedding innocent blood for the sake of the ideology, we won't be able to build an Islamic State. They were preparing us from the age as young as five years old. This is the ideology that Hamas was feeding us. And honestly, it's impossible almost for anybody to break through and see the truth of unreal face of Hamas and be able to leave at some point. As you see in my case, I had to lose everything just to say no to Hamas. Today, when I look at the children of Gaza and I know what they are fed, I know that they have no choice," the author of Son of Hamas added.

In the interview, Mosab also emphasized that coexistence with an entity like Hamas, whose mission is the destruction of its adversaries, is a near impossibility. The organization is not interested in coexistence or compromise. Instead, its ultimate goal is conquest and the establishment of an Islamic State, known as the Khilafa, at the expense of all other civilizations.

"Hamas does not seek coexistence and compromise. Hamas is seeking conquest and taking over. And by the way, Israel, the destruction of the State of Israel is not Hamas' final destination. Hamas' final destination is building the Islamic Khilafa, which means an Islamic State on the rubble of every other civilization. These are the ultimate goals of the movement," Mosab Yousef said.

[guest]

Israel will lose more and more as dead Palestinian women and children appear on social media across the world.

You are just noise at this point, navigator.

[Bob Butler]

The question is whether to get rid of Hamas, or to free the hostages that Hamas took. Nominally, freeing hostages seems to be the public priority, but in the long run I suspect otherwise. Then again, there seems to be a long pause before going in to Gaza.

[Guest]

The question is whether to get rid of Hamas, or to free the hostages that Hamas took. Nominally, freeing hostages seems to be the public priority, but in the long run I suspect otherwise. Then again, there seems to be a long pause before going in to Gaza.

Even Tucker Carlson says Israel isn't worth fighting for.

[Bob Butler]

The question is whether to get rid of Hamas, or to free the hostages that Hamas took. Nominally, freeing hostages seems to be the public priority, but in the long run I suspect otherwise. Then again, there seems to be a long pause before going in to Gaza.

Even Tucker Carlson says Israel isn't worth fighting for.

Normally, most conservatives accept the new values. They will struggle to keep up the old values associated with the current crisis, but see the wisdom of values from prior crises. This time, the wisdom of containment seems to be beyond a lot of them.

[Guest]

The question is whether to get rid of Hamas, or to free the hostages that Hamas took. Nominally, freeing hostages seems to be the public priority, but in the long run I suspect otherwise. Then again, there seems to be a long pause before going in to Gaza.

Even Tucker Carlson says Israel isn't worth fighting for.

Normally, most conservatives accept the new values. They will struggle to keep up the old values associated with the current crisis, but see the wisdom of values from prior crises. This time, the wisdom of containment seems to be beyond a lot of them.

He's worried about WW3.

[Bob Butler]

He's worried about WW3.

Who isn't? But would you let invasions and terrorists proliferate?

[Tom Mazanec]

So you are worried about WW3, BB.
You hold that each Crisis makes the world more Progressive. Could WW3 set the world back a millennium, as in A Canticle For Leibowitz?

[Bob Butler]

So you are worried about WW3, BB.
You hold that each Crisis makes the world more Progressive. Could WW3 set the world back a millennium, as in A Canticle For Leibowitz?

I am not particularly worried that the Gaza conflict will expand to WW III. Hamas is not armed for it. Putin wants to expand his powers, which is hard to do by using nukes. Still, autocrats can paint themselves into corners. Who knows?

Let us just say that if the highest Gaza Israeli objectives are destroy Hamas and rescue hostages, a third big one would be to avoid expansion of the conflict. The most likely result is to drive the remnants of Hamas under cover, separate them from the Gaza government, permanent occupation of Gaza by an Israeli force that has the best interests of the population as a goal, but it will always be possible for terrorists to kill or kidnap civilians (even if this makes Hamas unpopular among the population). The war might not expand if Israel manages to focus on Hamas, not the civilians, which is hardly an obvious part of their current policy. If a few Hamas fighters and rockets are hiding under a well populated apartment building, Israel will go bombs away. It would take infantry to target the basement while not targeting the apartments. Revenge seems more important than peace at the moment for Israel. That is one thing that has to change.

[jdcpapa]

On the thing with the boomers. The boomers have some blind spots. They have lots of experience and a lot of knowledge but they are very disconnected from a lot of things. Boomers live in a different reality than gen x, millenials and gen z. I am not putting blame on any generation as this is a total waste of time since it wont help with what is coming our way. I am just pointing out that this difference in realities is a real thing.

The realities are the same. It is awareness and perspective that differs within the subject realities Boomers are the children of the "greatest generation". Name the blind spots.

Boomers were young during the good times and had it easy. Gex X was able to enjoy the 80s, and the 90s, which were great. The millenials and gen z have had the crumbs and have only known war, social media, and recessions.Your experiences shape you.

Young during the good times? The first Boomers were 7 years old during the Korean war. The war resulted in a truce. They were 17 years old when John Kennedy was assassinated. Most of the country was in mourning then. When boomers were 20 years old, Martin Luther King was assassinated.

As a consequence there were riots, looting, burning of large cities, forced busing and physical altercation in the schools. During the 1960s Boomers were drafted into the military to serve in a thankless war in Vietnam. When they returned from war they were spat on and shamed by protesters. Lets not forget the assassination of Robert Kennedy in the late 60s when boomers were about 22 years old which created further uncertainty and confusion.

Then when they were 26 years old: the US withdrew from Nam in shameful humiliation, Nixon resigned, there was a recession, gasoline shortages and long lines at the pump, interest rates at 18%+. Between 26 and 30 years old, US embassy staff were held hostage in Iran, Jimmy Carter's failed attempt to rescue them resulted in additional humiliation and embarrassment for the country.

Please name the "blind spots".