For anyone wanting to make up their own mind about events in Gaza, I offer reliable insights from one of its past key operatives, courtesy of Joel Rosenberg.

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the eldest son of one of the founders and spiritual leaders of Hamas. Arrested by the Israelis for involvement in terrorism, he came to realize the true evil of Hamas whilst in prison.

So he renounced Islam and became a Christian, as well as a double agent for the Israeli secret services (Shin Bet) working to thwart Hamas terror attacks. Upon later emigrating to the United States he wrote a best-selling book, Son of Hamas, warning about the dangers of Hamas and telling his own journey out of radical Islam.

Now, with Hamas engaged in a brutal, deadly war with Israel, Mosab is speaking out again against the radical Islamic terror group of which he was a rising future leader.

 Mosab told CNN,

“Hamas does not care about the lives of the 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.”

He said the goal of Hamas isn’t co-existence or simply to destroy Israel, but to build an Islamic caliphate on the rubble of every other civilization.

On radio he described Hamas as “a ‘cancer’ in the Middle East”.

Click to read Joel’s full post about his friendship with this exceptionally brave man, with prayer request for protection for him and his family, plus links to the interviews.

UPDATE 16:30  July 30th

Debka @ 12:12 today reports as follows under header: In face of truce bids, Hamas’ Deif gives Gaza war fresh impetus, makes it a religious jihad

“Despite the rush of diplomats and analysts declaring that a ceasefire in the Gaza fighting is imminent, the war refuses to end. Wednesday, July 30, the commander of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif gave the conflict fresh impetus by injecting a religious dimension that cannot be ignored….As fierce as the fighting is on the battlefield, and as arduous the diplomatic wrangling, the emerging and largely overlooked jihadist element is the most troubling…”

“Israel’s counter-terror offensive, Netanyahu explained, is part and parcel of the war on fundamentalist Islam. As self-appointed commander-in-chief, ensconced in his subterranean lair, Mohammed Deif couldn’t agree more. And so the not-so-secret contacts between Washington, Cairo, Riyadh, Doha, Jerusalem and Ramallah are doomed to go nowhere, because they take place on one level, whereas a fanatical religious war is taking place on a completely separate one.” (Read in full)