Judge agrees to grant asylum to ex-Israeli spy

mercury news ^ | 6/30/10 | ELLIOT SPAGAT

[Nachum]

SAN DIEGO—The son of a Hamas founder who became a Christian and an Israeli spy will be granted U.S. asylum after he passes a routine background check, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday.

Mosab Hassan Yousef got the news during a 15-minute deportation hearing after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security attorney said the government was dropping its objections.

The agency denied Yousef's asylum request in February 2009, arguing that he had been involved in terrorism and was a threat to the United States.

[Nachum]

'Interesting' title for this story.

[beethovenfan]

PRAISE GOD!!!

[OldDeckHand]

"'Interesting' title for this story."

How do you mean? For an AP story, I think it's actually remarkably accurate, especially considering their first paragraph. He is a former Israeli spy, and the judge has agreed to his asylum request (as he should have).

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

I was asking folks in church to be praying for this situation. I’ve heard him speak on the radio and he’s a testimony to the work God’s grace can do in the face of evil. I’m thankful his asylum was granted.

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

I was asking folks in church to be praying for this situation. I’ve heard him speak on the radio and he’s a testimony to the work God’s grace can do in the face of evil. I’m thankful his asylum was granted.

[Fred Hayek]

Prayers answered! Now prayers for the immigration judge that he would not be subject to political retaliation.

[hennie pennie]

*bookmark*

[Candor7]

Fitna

[Marty62]

Now we all know that the Zero gang wanted him sent back to the West Bank where he would be murdered.

Thank G-D, some Americans are making known their feelings about Zeros hatred of Israel.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

[SunkenCiv]

The son of a Hamas founder who became a Christian and an Israeli spy will be granted U.S. asylum after he passes a routine background check, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday... after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security attorney said the government was dropping its objections. The agency denied Yousef's asylum request in February 2009, arguing that he had been involved in terrorism and was a threat to the United States.

Whomever was behind this travesty against this hero should be [comments self-edited], see how he or she likes it. POS.

[left that other site]

Amen.

[eddiespaghetti]

The Department of Homeland Security initially denied Yousef’s asylum request in February 2009, saying he had been involved in terrorism and was a threat to the U.S.

IT WAS THIS DENIAL THAT PUT YOUSEF IN IMMIGRATION COURT (PART OF THE DEPT. OF JUSTICE) IN FRONT OF THE IMMIGRATION JUDGE, AND HIS ATTORNEY MOST LIKELY “RENEWED” HIS ASYLUM APPLICATION. THE CASE WAS PROBABLY SCHEDULED FOR A HEARING ON THE MERITS OF HIS CASE (INC. THE “NITTY-GRITTY” OF HIS SPYING, I IMAGINE).

Kerri Calcador, a government attorney, gave no explanation in court Wednesday for the sudden change in the U.S. position.

IF I HAD TO GUESS, HIGHER-UPS IN THE GOV’T DID NOT WANT DETAILS OF HIS ACTIVITY TO BE DISCUSSED IN IMMIG. CT., AND SO THE GOV’T ATTORNEY WAS PROBABLY INSTRUCTED TO STIPULATE (AGREE) TO A GRANT OF ASYLUM. ONCE THE GUY’S FINGERPRINTS CLEAR FBI’S DATABASE (AND MAYBE OTHER PARTS OF THE GOVT), HE OFFICIALLY IS AN ASYLEE IN THE US.

[hennie pennie]

Have you seen this?

[Star Traveler]

You were asking ...

Have you seen this?

Yeah, I saw the news earlier, not this thread, so thanks for pinging me to the thread ... That's why I posted that other article on Free Republic, after I heard the news.

Shin Bet “handler” confirms Son of Hamas account! [US Wanted to Deport Him]

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

IF I HAD TO GUESS, HIGHER-UPS IN THE GOV’T DID NOT WANT DETAILS OF HIS ACTIVITY TO BE DISCUSSED IN IMMIG. CT., AND SO THE GOV’T ATTORNEY WAS PROBABLY INSTRUCTED TO STIPULATE (AGREE) TO A GRANT OF ASYLUM. ONCE THE GUY’S FINGERPRINTS CLEAR FBI’S DATABASE (AND MAYBE OTHER PARTS OF THE GOVT), HE OFFICIALLY IS AN ASYLEE IN THE US.

Well, I doubt that, since his Israeli handler did testify in court ... LOL ... See Post #15

And on top of that, Mosab Hassan Yousef wrote a book on it ... telling it to not just the Immigration officials but to the entire world, too ...

[Eleutheria5]

AP got their facts straight?! Time for a ticker-tape parade. Quick! Before the editor has a good night’s sleep!

[eddiespaghetti]

You are probably right. Whatever the reason ultimately, the decision by DHS to agree to the grant must have come from (very) on high, since these high-visibility cases draw the attention of the muckety-mucks at (DHS) headquarters like flies to . . . .

: D

[Star Traveler]

'Son of Hamas' wins asylum fight

By Keith Darcé
Published June 30, 2010 At 11:28 A.M.
Updated June 30, 2010 At 10:20 P.M.

Mosab Hassan Yousef

As Pastor Matt Smith sat Wednesday in the federal immigration detention center in Otay Mesa, he thought back to an afternoon in 2008 when he and Mosab Hassan Yousef prayed together while walking along an alley in Mission Bay.

Yousef was sleeping on the floors of friends’ houses. He didn’t have a job. He was losing his battle for political asylum in the United States.

The Palestinian, who was in the country on a tourist visa, wanted to go public with his story of converting to Christianity, being the son of Hamas’ co-founder and spending a decade spying on the militant group for Israel. But he feared retaliation from Islamic terrorists and rejection by family members.

“It was very hard for him to decide to do it,” Smith said.

After more praying that night, Yousef set out on a path leading to the March publication of “Son of Hamas,” a memoir that sent shock waves through the Israeli and Palestinian governments and reached No. 10 on The New York Times best-seller list.

Yousef and his attorney were prepared to spend three-and-a-half hours Wednesday morning arguing for asylum before Homeland Security Immigration Court Judge Richard Bartolomei.

Instead, the hearing ended after only 15 minutes when government lawyers said they no longer opposed the request.

“There has been a change in the department,” Homeland Security attorney Kerri Calcador told Bartolomei without elaborating.

Outside the detention center, Yousef hugged Smith and other members of the Barabbas Road Church in La Jolla.

“I was surprised,” Yousef, 32, said of the government’s about-face. “This country is the greatest country because the Constitution protects liberty all the time.”

His lawyer, Steven Seick, said recent letters of support from 22 members of Congress and two members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, probably helped sway immigration officials. The letters were entered into the court record Wednesday.

Until the hearing, immigration officials had questioned Yousef’s claims that he helped Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, kill Hamas officials and thwart bombing attacks while working as a driver and aide to his father, Sheik Hassan Yousef.

The younger Yousef has lived in the San Diego area since arriving in the United States in 2007. The trip followed his rejection of his Islamic faith in 2005. Yousef said he was drawn to San Diego after meeting Christian missionaries from a local church who were visiting Israel.

In their initial opposition to the asylum request, Homeland Security lawyers said Yousef had engaged in terrorist activity and was a danger to the security of the United States.

They pointed to a portion of Yousef’s book that described his driving five Hamas members to a safe house after their release from a Palestinian Authority prison. The five were later connected to two terrorist bombings, including a July 2002 attack on a Hebrew University cafeteria in Jerusalem that killed Marla Ann Bennett, 24, a student from San Diego, and eight others.

On his blog, Yousef wrote in May that his job as a spy required him to be involved in as many of his father’s activities as possible. “So when he asked me to go with him to pick up these guys … I went.”

Yousef said he eventually turned over information that tied the men to the cafeteria bombing.

His account makes sense, said Michael Bennett, father of Marla Ann. He still lives in the Del Cerro neighborhood of San Diego with his wife, Linda.

Israeli police “would have never gotten these guys if somebody hadn’t talked,” Michael Bennett said. “They really had no evidence.”

He expressed cautious support for what U.S. immigration officials did in the Yousef case Wednesday.

“If it’s true that (Yousef) really was an undercover agent, then I’m glad because he didn’t do anything wrong,” Bennett said.

Gonen Ben Itzhak, a retired Shin Bet agent, traveled from Israel to San Diego this week to corroborate Yousef’s story as a sworn witness in the hearing. He decided to break his cover, an extraordinary gesture that made headlines in the Israeli press.

Itzhak said he was Yousef’s handler and was known to the Palestinian only by his code name, Captain Loai, while they worked together.

“I came to say that Mosab is not a terrorist,” Itzhak said after the court session. “He’s a great guy. Basically, I came to tell the truth.”

In one of the letters presented Wednesday, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi and committee member Einat Wilf thanked Yousef for his work from 1998 through 2007.

“You acted with resolute determination, under the guidance of the Israel security agency, to thwart terrorist attacks and the killing of innocent people while exhibiting personal courage, reliability and dedication,” according to a translation of the Hebrew letter. “At this time, when you are personally paying a high price for your daring decision to disclose this, we deem it a pleasant duty to simply say thank you very much.”

Yousef said he first contemplated helping Shin Bet while in an Israeli prison and seeing Hamas prisoners attack other Palestinians.

Although Yousef’s family has disowned him, he hopes to one day reunite with his father, who is serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison.

Yousef said he will continue offering assistance to U.S. investigators and speaking out publicly against terrorism while promoting his book. He also plans to seek U.S. citizenship and apply to Harvard University to pursue a master’s in Middle Eastern studies.

[Star Traveler]

Here's another Freeper thread on him ...

Homeland In-Security