Trained in a jihadist mosque to crave death, Yaron Avraham opted for light

Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Flash 90

He was just a kid when his sister was the victim of an honor killing. The next thing he knew, he was thrown into a jihadist boarding school in Gaza that trains young boys to become shahids. Today, Yaron Avraham is a full-fledged Jew, with a wake-up message to his fellow Israelis who, despite these past months, still might not care to acknowledge the dark side of their hoped-for partners in an illusionary peace

IN the original script, he’s supposed to be one of the Nukhba terrorists who went on a heinous murder rampage through the Israeli border communities on October 7. That’s because at age nine, he’s shipped off to one of the most extreme mosques in Gaza, where he undergoes Hamas brainwashing to hate and destroy the Jews. But that’s only the first version of the story — because in a surprising rewrite of the last act, the young boy trained to become a shahid ultimately becomes a Jew himself. Today, Yaron Avraham knows that even those who find themselves in the darkest places can turn their life around and attach to the light.

The yarmulke on his head and the words of emunah and hope that come out of his mouth belie the fact that Yaron was born 46 years ago into an extremist Muslim family in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod. While his family members are Israeli citizens with all the accompanying perks and benefits, his financially well-off parents were leaders of Islamic Movement, where hatred of the Jews and the State are integral to their worldview.

“Even though it’s a mixed city, there is still a very strong clan presence — which means there’s a lot of Muslim infighting and gang warfare — and strong Muslim anti-Jewish feeling,” Yaron says. “Ours was considered a well-heeled family, but at the same time we were raised with very hateful anti-Jewish feelings, from the speeches in the mosques to the conversations on the street. Jews were considered ‘monkeys and pigs,’ even in our cultured circles.”

Yaron (whose original name was buried with his former identity) was the 12th of 18 children, yet looking back, it was anything but a happy childhood. He says that as a boy of seven, he’d get whipped if he didn’t show up at the mosque for noon prayers, yet in the afternoon he’d be a carrier for his brothers who were selling drugs on the street.

When he was nine, a family horror story changed his life. His 16-year-old sister, who decided to have some less-strict teenage fun, was murdered by her own brothers in a family honor killing.

“I couldn’t see, but I could hear everything going on in the next room,” Yaron remembers. “What happened there doesn’t ever leave my mind. I heard the screams, the brutality, but was helpless to do anything. In our house, there was no justice, no judge, no compassion or second chances. Just death.”

That was 37 years ago. Since then, he’s tried to find out if his sister’s name ever appeared in the police database of murder victims, but all he discovered was that she was listed as “missing,” and the case was closed. Back then, he was just a kid with no resources — but his heart would give him no rest, and he began to badger his family with questions.

“They knew I heard what happened that night, and they apparently felt threatened, felt that I was putting them at risk,” Yaron says. “And so, a few days later, they packed me up and sent me to a mosque of radical Islam not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza. I don’t know if they knew the level of education in this mosque, or if they simply wanted to get rid of me, but I found myself in one of the most extreme mosques in Gaza, whose goal was to prepare me, and the dozens of other boys there, for a martyr’s death.”