Iehab Omar, a Bethlehem native who once described himself as a devout Hamas activist, says he spent four years in prison in Israel and was once ready to die while trying to kill Jews. In an exclusive interview, he says that years of hatred in his family environment and in prison led him to a drastic transformation, and today he argues that Jews have the historical right to the land.
Omar says he is now in Germany, where the Arab world regards him as a traitor and infidel and where he fears for his life. His asylum request there was rejected, and he says he faces imminent deportation back to the Palestinian Authority, which in his view would amount to a death sentence. He says, “My family would kill me themselves, not just Hamas or the PA.”
According to Omar, he grew up being taught to hate Jews. “We were raised on hatred of Jews, it was in our blood,” he says, adding that seeing Israel succeed while Arab states failed because of hatred and ignorance changed his outlook. He now says openly, “We Arabs are guests here, and this land belongs to the Jewish people, that is proven by history and archaeology.”
Omar presents himself as a man of peace, not a soldier, and says he is loyal to Israel. He is asking Israeli leaders to consider his case humanely and grant him asylum instead of sending him to die. He says his story reflects a broader lesson about the damage caused by incitement and the need for coexistence in the Middle East.
