Tass Saada – From Hate To Love Through Jesus

Taysir (“Tass”) Abu Saada was born in Gaza, reared in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, ran away from home at the age of 17, joined Fatah in the late 1960’s, and become a PLO sniper for Yasser Arafat. In 1974, still a young man, he moved to the United States at Yasser Arafat’s urging, to study at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He met and married an American girl, Karen, and became a successful restauranteur. In 1993, Tass experienced a powerful conversion to Christianity, and now has a love for the Jewish people he had hated so strongly in his youth.

He left the business world and with his wife, Karen, founded Seeds of Hope, a humanitarian

organization that operates in Jericho and Jerusalem. He has now turned that over to the next generation of leadership that Tass trained for the purpose. Tass and Karen also founded Hope for Ishmael, a Christian ministry which seeks to advance Israeli-Palestinian understanding and dialogue as well as to reach Muslims with the Gospel of Christ. Tass serves as Chairman and CEO of Hope for Ishmael.

Tass is the author of two books, Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper

Found a New Life, and The Mind of Terror: A Former Muslim Sniper Explores What Motivates ISIS and Other Extremist Groups (and how best to respond).