Editor’s note: The following article contains references to mass death and sexual violence in reference to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. 

As part of the programming for the organization’s “Peace in Israel” week, Tritons for Israel hosted a speaker event on May 14 with Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a co-founder of Hamas. During the hour-long question-and-answer talk, Yousef answered several questions regarding the controversy surrounding his presence, recent “anti-Israel” protests — including the UC San Diego encampment — and how Egypt should “open the border” to Rafah so that Israeli forces can “burn it.”

Yousef was at one point imprisoned by Israeli intelligence forces and provided intelligence regarding Hamas operations until he relocated to the U.S. under political asylum. 

Yousef began the talk by referring to himself as “a very controversial figure.” He followed by saying, “[m]any people don’t want me to speak … they present me as a genocider (sic), even though I never said ‘kill Muslims.’ All of a sudden they twist my words. I just made a very similar comparison.” 

Yousef is referencing a controversy about a video from Dec. 14, 2023, in which he said, “If [I] had to choose between 1.6 billion Muslims and a cow, I would choose the cow.” Earlier in the video, he also declared that he would choose the lives of “15 million innocent Jewish people” over that of “300 million Arab clowns.”

“When I found at some point, a simple majority, hundreds of millions of people, repressing a religious minority, I was outraged,” Yousef said. “The fact that there are 2 billion of you doesn’t mean you are right.”

He continued, speaking of people who “are aware of the Islamic problem” because they have been “in conflict [with them].”

“I said if I had to choose between the cow and 2 billion people who are aggressive, who are violent, who are out to dominate the world, who have been oppressing a religious minority, then I choose the cow. The cow is more significant to me. But, I did not ask for their slaughter. I did not incite against them. They cannot even find the word.” He said. Then, Yousef elaborated on how the cow is a symbol of peace and love, and how “hundreds of millions of people can learn from the cow.” 

Executive Director of Hillel San Diego Karen Parry moderated the event. “Anti-Israel protests are very large on this campus,” she said. Yousef was then asked what he would say if he could talk to an “anti-Israel” protestor if one were present.

“I’ll tell them … Santa must be free,” Yousef replied. “And Santa is [in] the North Pole, and he’s captive, and we must free him. So, I expect from everybody to start screaming out loud ‘free, free Santa.’” He then said he would encourage them to keep heading north across Canada to the North Pole. 

“These people are looking for a cause, they are so empty, they live in [a] void, and they found their angry cause.” Yousef continued. “We tell them ‘There is no such thing as Palestine’…[and they think we are being offensive] to the Palestinian people. And you ask any one of them…‘What is Palestine?’…and they will realize that even those who claim to be Palestinians don’t know what Palestine is. Because when I was young…I thought I was Palestinian, and that’s the ultimate illusion.

“You say pro-Palestine, you call them anti-Israel — and I think anti-Israel is more correct — they are pro-something,” Yousef said. “They don’t know what it is, they’ve never been there, it was not a country, it is not an ethnic group. It’s not a religion. And at best, it’s a colonial entity. But, they think that they are anti-colonialism. Carrying anti-genocide sign[s] while chanting genocidal slogans.” 

Parry later asked Yousef if he thought it was possible to defeat Hamas. Yousef replied by saying he thinks the defeat of Hamas “is certain.”

“By the way, Hamas is already defeated. What gets in the way of the final victory is simply the hypocrisy of the U.S. Government,” Yousef said, as people in attendance gave him a standing ovation. He criticized Biden for his “very weak language.” 

He claims that, by not going into Rafah, Hamas will recover and continue to “destabilize the region.”

“If you really want to solve the problem, pressure Egypt to open the border, get the civilians, women, and children out of there, and burn it,” Yousef said. “Those are monsters … they kill Jewish children in the morning, then they kill their own children in the evening. They are monsters, and they want this to continue this cycle for eternity, and we cannot afford this. There is no solution around this, we have to capture them, we have to build up hostages.” 

Yousef then also said that Hamas is not the only problem, also noting the presence of a “confused generation.” 

Yousef also asked, “What are we going to do with a useless pier?” referring to a recent U.S. temporary construction that aims to help deliver humanitarian aid.

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCSD rallied protestors before and after the event. After attendees had left the event, a speaker for SJP said regarding the Egypt border comment, “I can’t believe our campus would allow that type of rhetoric.”