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HOPE FOR ISHMAEL
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Hope for Ishmael is working to bring hope and reconciliation between Arabs and Jews to God the Father and to each other through education, cultural understanding and most importantly faith in Jesus Christ. They are equipping Christians, Muslim converts and Jewish believers to reach the unsaved Muslims and Jews. The conversion from Islam and the current socio-economic conditions provide fierce obstacles, but the coming generation is seeking hope and a future, and HFI is providing an answer. Peace can only be achieved between Arabs and Jews when individuals have a true heart change. Any political solution will not last. Since its inception in 2001, Hope for Ishmael has formed many friendships across the globe, including Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as ministry outreaches in regions of the world dominated by Muslim ideology. Members of the organization dream of believers, Arab and Jews, coming together in communities of faith, under the influence of God's living water. For more information and to see how you can become involved, please visit the Hope for Ishmael website. |
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In 1974, Tass came to the United States. He found Americans generally to be loving and caring, completely opposite of what he had been taught, so he decided to stay by marrying an American girl (Karen). He became very successful in the hotel and restaurant business and became an American citizen in 1979. In 1993, through a supernatural encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, he became a "born again" believer. Ever since, Tass and Karen have been taking the message of Jesus back to the people he once hated and persecuted, the Jews and the Arab Christians, and to his former brethren, the Muslims.
See our article
Once an Arafat Man for more on Tass's conversion, his
new life and thoughts on the Middle East situation. |
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The founder and director of Hope for Ishmael,
Taysir (Tass) Abu Saada was born in the Gaza Strip in 1951.
After growing weary of refugee life, his parents immigrated
to Saudi Arabia where he was raised a Muslim and was taught
to hate the Jews, even their very existence. After the
Israeli victory over the Arabs in the 1967 war, his desire
t0 return and fight to redeem the Arab pride boiled over.
Without his family's knowledge or consent, Tass traveled to
Syria and joined Arafat's PLO Fatah Forces where he was
trained as a sniper and assassin to kill Jews. He
later also trained Arab children to fight and kill Jews.
If he found a home belonging to followers of Jesus, he would
sometimes throw a grenade inside and bombard it with a
barrage of machine-gun fire. He has no idea how many
people were killed and wounded in such attacks.
Taas Saadu's transition from Islamic terrorist to Christian
missionary is recounted in a new book, "Once An Arafat Man:
The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life." I was
fortunate enough to meet Taas and receive an autographed copy, which I'm
looking forward to reading in the next few weeks. I'll
follow up with a review at that time. In the meantime I
highly encourage everyone to get and read this book. 