US to Deport ‘Son of Hamas’

The “Son of Hamas," whose recent book reveals his path to Christianity and exposes Hamas terrorism and his role as a secret agent for Israel, says that U.S. Homeland Security wants to deport him on charges that he is a terrorist.

Writing on his publisher’s blog, Mosab Hassan Yousef expressed his “outrage” and described what he called a "security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans." Yousef wrote that he faces a deportation hearing on June 30 at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration Court in San Diego.

He questioned why he is being deported. “For what? For risking my life fighting terrorism in the Middle East for 10 years? For saving the lives of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans?"

His saga began in January, 2007 when he arrived at an American airport on a tourist visa without interference. “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,” Yousef wrote on the blog. “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.’

His application for asylum was rejected last February “because there were reasonable grounds for believing he was a danger to the security of the United States and [was] engaged in terrorist activity.”

In a hearing, he presented a draft of his book “Son of Hamas” as evidence in his behalf. 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.”

Yousef countered that he was working as a secret agent for the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) at the time. “No one — not me, not my father, not even Israel — knew at the time that these men were involved with suicide bombings,” Yousef argued. “I was the one who connected these men with the bombing at the HebrewUniversity cafeteria in July 2002. And Homeland Security would do well to remember that there were five American citizens among the dead. Apparently the agency needs also to be reminded that I was the one who located the terrorists and led to their arrest or death.”

He also claims that he posed as a terrorist while working for Israel. “Yes, I carried a gun,” he wrote. “Yes, I was in terrorist meetings with Yasser Arafat, my father and other Hamas leaders. It was part of my job. And I passed on to the Shin Bet all the information I gathered during those meetings and saved the lives of many people—including many Americans.

“Homeland Security has absolutely no idea of the dangers that lie ahead. For nearly 30 years, I watched from the inside as Hamas dug its claws deeper and deeper into Israel. They started awkwardly, clumsily, but they got good at it. And al-Qaeda is becoming more like Hamas.

“Al-Qaeda started with huge attacks like September 11. But bin Laden has learned from Hamas’s war against Israel how to bleed its enemy. Al-Qaeda understands how effective the Hamas strategy will be on American soil.”

A former Israeli security agent, identified as “G,” has confirmed Yousef's account as a secret agent and said that Yousef’s spying saved the lives of many Israelis.