The Hamas terrorist organization did what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not: Unite Israel – according to human rights activist Majed El Shafie.
Sitting in the lounge at the David InterContinental Hotel, the Egyptian refugee who converted from Islam to Christianity and now lives in Canada told The Jerusalem Post on Monday morning that he would like to thank Hamas for “showing the world the ugly face of extremism” and “for displaying the rise of antisemitism in Western countries – no one was aware of how bad it was.
“And, I would like to thank them for uniting the Jewish people and activating them.”
He said that Hamas “was able to remind [the Jews] of their Jewish soul. So, that’s my message to the families that lost their children: You are not alone. The story here is not what happened on October 7; the story here is what has happened after October 7.”
El Shafie is in the country for the second time since the Hamas massacre. He is scheduled to hold meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he will present a report by his One Free World International (OWFI) human rights organization: “Anatomy of an Attack: The Truth Behind October 7th.” He will also meet with security officials, massacre survivors, and the families of hostages.
He told the Post that while he does not believe that division within Israeli society caused the October 7 attack – because Hamas had been working with multiple terrorist organizations and Iran to plan the attack for two years – but “since there was division, that’s when your enemy chose that it was the right time to attack you.
"Don't lose your soul to hatred"
“You needed to remember who you are,” Shafie said. “My message to the Israeli people is ‘don’t lose your soul to hatred; don’t lose your hope in peace.’
“Only love can save us; only justice and forgiveness can save us,” he said: “Don’t allow Hamas to win.”
El Shafie also spoke as an Evangelical Christian and a self-prescribed “spiritual man,” who said that his belief in the Bible and its values is why he was in Israel and defending the Jewish state.
El Shafie grew up in Egypt as a member of one of the country’s prominent families. Raised as a Muslim, he was taught to disdain Jews. His uncle, Hussein El Shafie, resigned as vice president of Egypt following the signing of the peace agreement with Israel.
However, he said that from a young age, Egyptian persecution against minorities disturbed him, and he began to ask questions and express concerns. Eventually, he started to read more about Christianity and to study the religion. With the help of a Christian friend, he ultimately converted, and at 18, he became a Christian activist.
When he was discovered, El Shafie was arrested and jailed, which included being tortured.
“If I would remove the jacket I am wearing now, you could see the scars of this torture, which still exist from crucifying me and putting salt and lemons on my open wounds,” the convert said.
After being put under house arrest and then sentenced to the death penalty, El Shafie managed to escape via Sinai. From there, he entered Israel and became a refugee.
He was held up in a Beersheba prison, waiting for a trial to prove he was a refugee. The Israeli Supreme Court ultimately released him, and about 18 months later, he found refuge in Canada, where he has been ever since.
El Shafie founded OWFI, an organization at the forefront of conducting rescue missions for religious minorities across multiple countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. His human rights organization has helped liberate Yazidi girls from the clutches of ISIS and assisted the Uyghur Muslim minority in China.
“Hamas is determined to commit a second Holocaust in Israel,” El Shafie said. “We must not agree to a ceasefire.”
He said that the OWFI report is vital because it is not written by an Israeli or Palestinian, or by a Muslim or a Jew, but by a Christian with an Egyptian background.
“I am just looking at the evidence, and I think that is the most important thing.”
The report highlights several points, but the strongest one is the tie between Hamas and ISIS.
“When we started the investigation, we found more than 11 groups that joined together in the October 7 attack, which took two years to prepare,” El Shafie explained – including training and preparation of the underground tunnel network for Israel’s response.
However, he said that “the thing that surprised us was the direct link between Hamas and ISIS.”
He said that different groups affiliated with the Islamic State in Egypt have been operating in the Sinai Province (Wilayat Sinai) for more than a decade. After former Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi was removed from office in 2013, their attacks increased.
However, when President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi came into power in 2015, he cracked down on the groups, flushing them out of Egypt and back into Gaza; many of their members were Palestinians.
These ISIS members were involved in the October 7 attack, according to El Shafie. He said the two ISIS flags that were found in Israel after the attack were authentic and resembled those he saw while fighting against the worldwide jihadist group in Syria and Iraq.
“We have led rescue missions all over the world. What we saw in Israel is reminiscent of ISIS’s actions in Iraq,” El Shafie stressed.
Other points in the report are that Iran was behind the October 7 attack. In addition, El Shafie said the report makes clear that Gazan civilians were also involved and not just Hamas.
“We show the rejoicing of the [Gazan] people – not all of them, but I would say the majority of them,” he told the Post.
The report also stresses that Hamas is hurting the Palestinians even more than the Israelis by denying them fundamental human rights, by using civilians as human shields, and by orchestrating the massacre from Qatar, “where the leadership is drinking champagne and smoking cigars while the Palestinian people are suffering. They carry the responsibility for every bit of suffering happening to the Palestinians,” El Shafie said.
In addition, the report focuses on the rise in antisemitism. It demonstrates how antisemitism has not changed: “You take Jew out and put Israel in, and that is the new antisemitism,” the Christian activist said – “the same hate.”
“The goal of Hamas is to cause Israel to react to [its] actions in such a way that the resulting inevitable civilian deaths would turn international opinion against Israel,” the report states.
“The international community must allow Israel to bring about the collapse of Hamas,” El Shafie urged.