Israel's president Shimon Peres is among the many who owe their lives to the son of a founder of Hamas, according to a dramatic account to be published this week.
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Nick Allen in San Diego
The Telegraph
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Nick Allen in San Diego
The Telegraph
Warning!
Notice that the photo shows that the translation is by MEMRI!
"The full story of how Mosab Hassan Yousef became an informant for Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic security service, will reveal the heroic 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 remarkable double life as a top Israeli agent codenamed the "Green Prince", his conversion to Christianity and how he swapped the West Bank for the West Coast in his book, Son of Hamas.
The disclosure that among his activities he thwarted a 2001 plot to blow up Mr Peres, then foreign minister and now the Israeli head of state, will also heighten the risk he now faces himself 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 one of Hamas' top terrorists, a deadly bomb-maker called Abdhullah Barghouti.
The Hamas leader, a relative moderate by the movement's standards, urged Barghouti to rein in his campaign of killing after two major attacks that summer in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, because he feared Israel would invade the West Bank in retaliation.
But Barghouti revealed that he had already dispatched four devices to blow up the car of Mr Peres. He agreed to make a call to the men now in charge of the bombs and the younger Yousef was sent to buy a new mobile phone that would be destroyed after the conversation so it could not be traced.
The "Green Prince", as he was codenamed, immediately passed the number to Shin Bet which eavesdropped on the call, allowing it to foil the operation. It was one of dozens of suicide-bombing attempts and assassination plots that he helped prevent - including a plan to kill one of Israel's most important religious figures, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the conservative Shas party.......
Mr Yousef, who is unmarried, is still a member of the church but is not currently living in San Diego. His whereabouts are being kept secret because of fears for his safety after his remarkable revelations."
He describes his remarkable double life as a top Israeli agent codenamed the "Green Prince", his conversion to Christianity and how he swapped the West Bank for the West Coast in his book, Son of Hamas.
The disclosure that among his activities he thwarted a 2001 plot to blow up Mr Peres, then foreign minister and now the Israeli head of state, will also heighten the risk he now faces himself 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 one of Hamas' top terrorists, a deadly bomb-maker called Abdhullah Barghouti.
The Hamas leader, a relative moderate by the movement's standards, urged Barghouti to rein in his campaign of killing after two major attacks that summer in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, because he feared Israel would invade the West Bank in retaliation.
But Barghouti revealed that he had already dispatched four devices to blow up the car of Mr Peres. He agreed to make a call to the men now in charge of the bombs and the younger Yousef was sent to buy a new mobile phone that would be destroyed after the conversation so it could not be traced.
The "Green Prince", as he was codenamed, immediately passed the number to Shin Bet which eavesdropped on the call, allowing it to foil the operation. It was one of dozens of suicide-bombing attempts and assassination plots that he helped prevent - including a plan to kill one of Israel's most important religious figures, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the conservative Shas party.......
Mr Yousef, who is unmarried, is still a member of the church but is not currently living in San Diego. His whereabouts are being kept secret because of fears for his safety after his remarkable revelations."
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