Spy speaks up

WASHINGTON-Mosab Hassan Yousef, 32, the son of a founding member of Hamas, became an informant for Israel-and also a Christian. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, currently a senior leader of Hamas in the West Bank, has disowned him. But he may not find a home in the United States either, pending a June 30 deportation hearing, because of his ties to Hamas.

"How did security let a terrorist like me into the country?" Yousef said jokingly in a rare public appearance Wednesday night, at a dinner at the Capitol hosted by the Endowment for Middle East Truth, a pro-Israel group. Some supporters of Yousef expressed frustration that the Obama administration would approve a visa for someone like Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar who has given money to organizations tied to Hamas, while deporting Yousef.

Yousef said he was denied asylum in the United States last year because he was "engaged in terrorist activity," and he said the U.S. lawyer on the case cited passages of his autobiographical book Son of Hamas in arguing that he had aided terrorist groups.

Some have questioned the credibility of Yousef's book (see "Declaration of war," by Mindy Belz, April 10, 2010), because his handler in Israeli intelligence had remained anonymous.

However, Wednesday night, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Yousef's handler for the Israeli domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, identified himself publicly for the first time. Yousef was emotional in introducing him, describing him as a his "only true friend," adding that Yitzhak ran many risks in identifying himself-since Shin Bet had not given him permission to speak on Yousef's behalf.

"Mosab is not a terrorist," Yitzhak said. "He prevented killing; he prevented violence . . . he risked his life every day in order to prevent it." Yitzhak said the deportation is based on the fact that Yousef was "born in the wrong place at the wrong time," referring to Yousef's family ties to Hamas.

"When I was born, I was supposed to be his enemy, he was supposed to be my enemy," said Yitzhak, who is the son of a retired brigadier general in the Israeli army. Israelis arrested Yousef, he said, and then he became an agent for them. Yitzhak has known Yousef for 10 years.

Speaking bluntly about fighting Islam, Yousef said his mission now is bigger than infiltrating Hamas.

"The God of Islam is the biggest enemy of Muslims . . . he is enslaving them with shame, fear, and hate," Yousef said. "I will keep fighting the God of Islam because he has taken my family from me. I don't blame my family for disowning me today. I blame their god."

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who attended the dinner, speculated that the deportation could be "a diplomatic overture to the Muslim community."

"I'm not trying to see a conspiracy under every stump," he said. "I pray this is stupidity rather than malevolence."

"I don't understand it," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also at the dinner. "Either there's a bureaucratic mistake or something's gone terribly wrong."

Yousef promised that even if he were deported, "technology" would allow him to still have a voice, though he certainly faces threats to his life if he returns to the West Bank.