Jerusalem (CNN) — The son of a Hamas official worked for Israeli intelligence and was the Jewish state’s “most valuable source in the militant organization’s leadership,” a news report said Wednesday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Mosab Hassan Yousef, 32, son of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was an informant for Israel’s domestic security service known as the Shin Bet, beginning in 1997. He had been recruited while serving time in prison.
The information Yousef passed on was considered so important and saved so many lives that his Shin Bet handlers gave him the nickname “The Green Prince,” a reference to his relation to the Hamas founder and the color of the movement’s flag.
Yousef was instrumental in the arrest of a number of top Palestinian officials, including Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Hamas military wing members Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamid, the report said.
The report is based on Haaretz’s interview with Yousef and on excerpts from his soon-to-be-released memoir called “Son of Hamas.”
In 2007, Yousef left the region for the United States and spoke publicly about his conversion to Christianity and his renunciation of Hamas.
In the Haaretz article, a former Israeli handler described Yousef as being so valuable that he deserved to win the Israel security prize.
“His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours — the ideas, the insights,” said the hand… >>>
