Nasreen Yussef: Undercover Agent

Nasreen Yussef resided in Moshav Yated together with her husband Eiad and their four children as the only Druze family living in this moshav which was just four kilometers away from Gaza. On the morning of שבת השחורה she sees two terrorists right outside her house. She overpowers the two terrorists together with the security officer of the moshav and pins them to a wall where they are handcuffed and blindfolded.

She quickly alerts the security squad of the moshav about the infiltration but also immediately understands that what will save her moshav more than anything else is having precise intelligence which is even more crucial than armed forces in the early stages. She assumes that there might be a few more terrorists and she wants to know the exact scope of what’s going on.

She sees that one of the terrorist’s phones is ringing but there’s a code she needs to unlock first. She bribes the terrorist that if he cooperates with her she’ll give him food, gold, and money, and that she’ll also personally bring him back to his family instead of being handed over to the IDF. She lifts his blindfold for just enough time for him to unlock the phone and now with zero acting or undercover experience she becomes one of the most invaluable Israeli assets with the immense advantage of being a native Arabic speaker.

She presents herself as an Arab woman living on the border who is currently shielding the terrorists and very cunningly asks questions without the terrorist operator becoming suspicious. She periodically mutes the call and translates everything that’s being said into Hebrew to the moshav security officer and he in turn exchanges everything that’s being said to the security squad and to military forces.

The terrorist operator discloses that there are tens of more terrorists in the greenhouse a few hundred yards from them and also the exact location that the gate from Gaza is breached. In addition he lets Nasreen know that there are also more terrorists hiding in caravans. The incalculable intelligence ultimately saves the entire moshav as well as countless families in nearby moshavim.

The Yussef family are currently evacuees in Eilat together with the rest of their moshav. The heroic story of Nasreen Yussef was only circulated recently when a nonprofit helping the evacuees was asked to plan a bat mitzvah party for Nasreen’s Druze daughter.