Son of Hamas

This was fantastic. I'm really glad I read this (almost) back-to-back with [b:Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth 56181019 Israel A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Noa Tishby https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617549909l/56181019.SX50.jpg 87515093], as I feel like together they gave me a reasonably nuanced portrait of how both Israel and Palestine understand the problems in the middle east, and how their disparate goals cannot ever align without some sorts of compromise.Yousef, as the title says, is the son of one of the founding members of Hamas (Sheikh Hassan Yousef) - though at the time it was founded, it was not necessarily intended to be a terrorist group, but rather a political arm during a time when Palestine was occupied by Israel. But you know, movements evolve whether or not the original founders approve, especially without some kind of centralized leadership, which at the time Hamas did not have. And so when Yousef and his father are talking about getting financial assistance from the organization after the two of them have been in and out of prison for years, and Hassan indicates that he doesn't know who is in charge of the organization of Hamas, that was shocking to his son (and to this westerner as well). (That is explored later.)And I found it really interesting that, despite his father being a founder, Hassan was never interested in killing anyone, preferring to remain a very devout Muslim that people respected as a religious leader, though unfortunately looking the other way as the organization became more and more radical and violent. (And turns out, using his image to get Hamas elected into the government, even though he himself had no intention of being in office.)A lot about Islam and Allah and the Qu'ran, and how the ladder of Islam leads to violence the higher up you go (which I am not especially familiar with, I don't know if this is a universal truth within Islam), and his discovery of the love of the Christian God/Jesus as he began to secretly work with the Israelis as a spy on the inside of Hamas after a stint in prison. The change of heart here was very interesting, how he went from wanting to work with the Israelis as a double-agent so he could destroy them from the inside, despite never being particularly interested in violence himself, to actually building genuine friendships and trust with his handlers and respecting them as people. Doing his best to stop the endless deaths and suicide bombings with their help.Buddy read with Jeananne. We're going to have a lot to talk about. I highly recommend this.