As has been widely reported, Mosab Hassan Yousef is facing the possibility of deportation from the USA; Yousef is the son of a senior Hamas figure, and he gained some media attention in 2008 for moving to America and announcing his conversion to Christianity (I blogged on this at the time). He subsequently revealed that he had worked with Israeli security services to undermine Hamas terrorist operations, and his memoir, Son of Hamas, has garnered consderable interest. He gives an account on Facebook:
It began when I arrived in America January 2, 2007. I walked into the airport like anyone else on a tourist visa. Seven months later, I went to the Homeland Security office, knocked on their door and told them, “Hey, guys, I am the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, my father is involved in a terrorist organization, and I would like political asylum in your country.”
They were shocked. They didn’t expect it. I told them, hey, you didn’t discover me. You didn’t catch me. I came to you and told you who I am to wake you up. I wanted them to see that they have huge gaps in their security and their understanding of terrorism and make changes before it’s too late.
I filed an application for political asylum. Not surprisingly, on February 23, 2009, they told me that I was “barred from a grant of asylum because there were reasonable grounds for believing [I] was a danger to the security of the United States and because [I] engaged in terrorist activity.”
More hearings followed. When they demanded evidence to support my claim that I was not a terrorist or a security threat, I filed a draft of my book, Son of Hamas. Surely this would make everything perfectly clear…
Recently, I received a document in which Homeland Security senior attorney Kerri Calcador claimed that, “In the book, the respondent discusses his extensive involvement with Hamas in great detail. For example, in one portion of the book, a member of Shin Bet shows the respondent a list of suspects implicated in a March 2001 suicide bombing and asks the respondent whether he knows the individuals. The respondent indicates that he does know five of the people on the list and states that he previously drove them to safe houses.”
On page 5, Calcador concluded that, “At a bare minimum, evidence of the respondent’s transport of Hamas members to safe houses—discussed above in the Statement of the Case as but one example of the respondent’s involvement with Hamas—indicates that the respondent provided material support to a [Tier I] terrorist organization.”
Is she kidding? Either Homeland Security’s chief attorney has zero reading comprehension, or else she intentionally took the passage out of context. And I am not sure which is worse.
Even a child reading the book can see that, during that time, I was working as a secret agent for the Shin Bet (Israeli’s internal security service, comparable to our FBI)…
Various conservative groups have taken up the cause, some inevitably suggesting this is some sort of Islamic conspiracy by the US government.
I have sympathy for Yousef’s predicament, as he tells it: some may regard his spying for Israel as a betrayal, but those who support Palestinian rights (and that includes me) should recognise that the responsibility lies with Hamas, whose terrorism and religious extremism clearly alienates thoughtful Palestinians and puts some, like Yousef, in impossible situations. As I blogged recently, Yousef is against the Israel occupation, and his co-author in Son of Hamas is very critical of Israel. Yousef has also posted an article from Haaretz to his website which contains the following from his former Shin Bet handler:
“I handled no few agents who had ideological motives, who did not want to see more killings. Many were critical of Israel and Mosab is no Zionist. From his point of view, the War of Independence was the Nakba…”
And although he has converted to Christianity, he has said that he doesn’t wish to be seen as a “spiritual trophy”. However, there is one unencouraging sign on this front; Christian Zionist author Joel C. Rosenberg (background here and here) writes on his blog that:
Mosab Hasan Yousef, author of the New York Times best-selling non-fiction book, Son of Hamas, will be speaking by videotape at the 2010 Epicenter Conference next week.
That puts Yousef in depressing company: the 2010 Epicenter Conference includes the like of Tony Perkins, Kay Arthur, and William Boykin. Is this to be Yousef’s future, to be wheeled out at these rallies evermore to make our flesh creep with awful disclosures about the evils of Islam, like Walid Shoebat? Of course, Yousef probably feels indebted to those who have supported him in the USA, but one hoped for something better. I blogged on the 2008 Epicenter Conference here.
There’s also a bit of humbug from Rosenberg on the subject:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security may soon deport Mosab back to the West Bank where he very well could be assassinated.
But Rosenberg regards the West Bank as being part of Israel – and although the deportation threat does seem on the face of it to be excessively bureaucratic, surely the primary responsibility for looking after Yousef should be with Israel, rather than the USA?
Yousef has a court hearing on 30 June. Of special interest to me, the judge has the excellent name of Rico Bartolomei.
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So what exactly is your point here Mr Bartholomew? That this guy was an ex hamas, does this disqualify him from seeking refugee in the United States? Please if your government does not wish to keep this guy, then let him move over to Canada where we do admit repentant souls. While would your government make him suffer for telling the truth when it was him that presented himself to your so called homeland security? Does it not make a joke of the security system of the most intelligent country on earth?
The United States should grant this guy his refugee claim and protect him or else, it will become almost certain that President Obama is actually here to establish a very friendly policy that accommodates islamic fundamentalism-what hamas is all about. There is no other way of viewing this.
There is also a great prove that Israel security system protected this guy and used him the positive way not against his own people but to prevent terror toward Israel. Should the United States choose to ignore the United Nations statue on the protection of endangered persons, then Israel or Canada must be ready to step up and do the right thing.
If known muslim militants are known to move freely in and out of the United States as this Mosab case has proven, what justifies persecution of one that comes to you and tells you that he is what he used to be but is now changed? Is this not a single individual who is a clear testimony that HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH along with the Islamic faith, is not after Israel over anything else other than religious domination and spread of jihad?
Let’s stop focusing on this guy’s conversion to Christianity and pay closer attention to the fact that Islam is a religion with a very wicked ideology.
Stephen is absolutely right.
We can’t just “return” him because of possible danger. He is trying to open our eyes on what’s going on.
The act of closing eyes and sending him back to die will make US worst than any violent organization.
Please, save the guy!
Let’s stop focusing on this guy’s conversion to Christianity and pay closer attention to the fact that Islam is a religion with a very wicked ideology.
I don’t know how many ex-muslims it’ll take to wake people up.
What Mosab has said about his former “religion” has already been said a thousand times, but it’s a message we continue to deny. They are’t “awful disclosures”; they’re part and parcel of a fascistic theocratic thought system that would, if unopposed, deny basic rights to whole swaths of humanity.
It’s that that is “awful
I would also add that using this guy to beat up on Christian pundits you dislike, Mr Bart, is somewhat unpalatable seeings Mosab will most likely be killed if expelled.
It’s trather immoral to use the fellow’s plight to score cheap points against people you happen to disagree with.
So – can anyone answer the basic point: if Yousef ends up back in the West Bank, how come that will be all the USA’s fault but none of Israel’s fault? Israel controls the borders to the West Bank, and if Yousef is forcibly sent anywhere (which I hope doesn’t happen) he’ll arrive in Tel Aviv.
This is as astonishing as it is outrageous–that the “home of the brave and land of the free” would seek to deport such a man of outstanding character and genuine Christian conviction. You might ‘prefer’ that Yousef not be deported but where is your sense of indignation? Of course Israel would not force him into the West Bank, as it has provided haven for many others who have taken similar stands against Hamas brutality. But their lives ane nonetheless very difficult and uncertain. Meanwhile thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants and radical muslims are pouring into the US and sucking its lifeblood for their own anti-American agendas and personal wealth.
I suspect that Yousef is hanging out with the likes of Joel Rosenberg because the people who should be taking up his cause (the liberal/left side of the spectrum) view him with skepticism just because he’s become a Christian. Oh for the days when Andrew Sullivan still saw a danger in fundamentalist Islam!
I think there is always a level of suspicion associated with a turn-coat, regardless of the direction they turned.
i have been on with the governorr of califormia and senators all day. This guy will be murdered if he returns, and if that happens his blood will be on Americas hands
If they are suspicious at least give him an extention
It will be Americas fault America knows if u insult Allah in an arabic country you are toast and they let him return shame on the usa if that happens
If he served “Israel”, then why “Israel” cannot come to his AID instead of expecting other tax payers to buy his claims.
Young One – “Israel,” as if Israel doesn’t exist? In your dreams.
I think the U.S. should give him asylum – he will be threatened if he’s forced to return to Palestine. He doesn’t sound like any kind of threat to the U.S. – on the contrary, it seems to me that the FBI and CIA would want to interview him about Hamas.
Again–why would he not receive asylum from Israel? Is there some possibility that his story is not wholly on the up and up?
[…] Comments Ohioan on Mosab Hassan Yousef Deportation ThreatRebecca on Mosab Hassan Yousef Deportation ThreatYoung One on Mosab Hassan Yousef […]
Ohioan….You dont understand he can not have politcial asylum in israel….thats like a former gang member seeking protection in the neighborhood of the gang he has actually involved in They will get him
There are actually around 5000 Palestinian collaborators living in Israel proper – and that’s not including Lebanese SLA members:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10175907.stm
If he is returned to the terorists, he will be slaughted.
So don’t help the terrorists this way.We had have enough from them, This young man has to stay and to be protected in USA.
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[…] Walid Shoebat Repudiates Mosab Hassan Yousef Posted on May 5, 2011 by Richard Bartholomew A couple of times last year I blogged on Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of the book Son of Hamas. Yousef is the son of a senior Hamas figure, and he gained some media attention in 2008 for moving to America and announcing his conversion to Christianity (I blogged on this). He subsequently revealed that he had worked with Israeli security services, and last summer he overcame a deportation threat. […]