http://www.smh.com.au/world/hamas-founders-son-saved-peres-from-bomb-attack-20100228-pb78.html
Hamas founder's son saved Peres from bomb attack PHILIP SHERWELL IN NEW YORK AND NICK ALLEN IN SAN DIEGO March 1, 2010 Mosab Hassan Yousef . saved countless lives. SHIMON PERES, the President of Israel, is among the many who owe their lives to the son of a founder of an extremist Palestinian group dedicated to destroying the Jewish state, according to a dramatic account to be published this week. The full story of how Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father was a founder of Hamas, became an informant for the Israeli domestic security service, Shin Bet, will reveal the huge risks he took during a decade as a spy for Israel - and the extraordinary impact he has had on the course of history in the Middle East. He describes his double life as a top Israeli agent codenamed the ''Green Prince'' and his conversion to Christianity in his book, Son of Hamas. The disclosure that his activities included thwarting a plot in 2001 to blow up Mr Peres, then foreign minister, will heighten the risk he faces from potential assassins. According to Mr Yousef's account - confirmed by his Shin Bet handler to Haaretz newspaper - he was serving as aide and driver to his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, when he visited a Hamas bombmaker called Abdullah Barghouti. The Hamas leader, a moderate, urged Barghouti to rein in his campaign of killing after two attacks in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, because he feared Israel would invade the West Bank in retaliation. But Barghouti said he had already dispatched four devices to blow up the car of Mr Peres. He agreed to call the men in charge of the bombs and the younger Mr Yousef was sent to buy a mobile phone that would be destroyed after the conversation. The ''Green Prince'' passed the number to Shin Bet which eavesdropped on the call and foiled the operation. It was one of dozens of suicide-bombing attempts and assassination plots that he helped prevent - including a plan to kill Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, one of Israel's most important religious figures. He was also responsible for the capture of several top Islamist terrorists, including Barghouti. He even turned in his own father, who remains in an Israeli jail, in return for a promise that he would not be assassinated. ''The kid saved his dad,'' his handler, who used the codename Captain Loai, told Haaretz. The Shin Bet officer praised Mr Yousef for saving countless lives by supplying almost daily intelligence.Shin Bet went to extensive lengths to protect its prize asset. In 2002, it even arranged for him to be arrested and held in detention for several months - allowing him to meet his father in jail. Mr Yousef said his motivation was ideological and religious. He grew up steeped in the violence of the West Bank and was jailed and badly beaten by Israeli forces aged 18 when he was an Islamic student leader. In prison, he was appalled to see how Hamas tortured suspected collaborators and accepted a Shin Bet approach to become an informant. He turned to Christianity in 1999 after a chance encounter with a British pilgrim who met him in Jerusalem and invited him to a Bible class. He left for the US two years ago, applying for asylum and moving to San Diego, from where he had met some Christians while in Jerusalem. Soon, he started attending an evangelical church, was given accommodation by fellow worshippers and baptised in the waters of the Pacific. In the first public comments by any of Mr Yousef's new US friends, Matt Smith, the pastor, told The Sunday Telegraph: ''I was learning Hebrew and we talked about the language. He obviously had a secret on his mind.'' In 2008 Mr Smith became one of the first people Mr Yousef trusted with his life story.''I told him we would be behind him if he wanted to tell his story. It's a great demonstration to Americans that we don't need to fear terrorism.'' He added: ''We consider him family. He's someone who has done something very important and we are really proud of him.'' Mr Yousef, who is unmarried, no longer lives in San Diego. His whereabouts are being kept secret because of fears for his safety. Telegraph, London [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
