JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Hamas leader has disowned his son after learning that he spied on the terrorist group for Israel.
Sheik Hassan Yousef, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2005, said in a statement released Monday that he, his wife and other children disown his oldest son. The statement was reportedly was smuggled out of the prison.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, 32, served for more than a decade as the Shin Bet’s most valuable source on Hamas. He converted to Christianity 10 years ago and left the West Bank in 2007 for California, where he now lives.
His spying was reported last week by the Israeli daily Haaretz in advance of this week’s release of "Son of Hamas," a book written by Yousef and Rob Brackin. Yousef reportedly was codenamed "The Green Prince" by the Mossad. His intervention reportedly led to the prevention of dozens of suicide bombing attacks and assassination attempts on Israeli officials, and the exposing of several terrorist cells.
Yousef’s father reportedly had earlier denied his son was ever an active member of Hamas.
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