Ex-Hamas man gets U.S. asylum

Richard Shulman
Examiner.com
July 2, 10:55 AM

Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a founder of Hamas, has been granted “tentative” political asylum in the U.S.. Mr. Yousef, once active in Hamas, turned against it when he realized it just is brutal. He helped Israel squelch terrorist plots, minimizing the number of deaths of fellow Arabs as well as of Jews. He turned toward Christianity and felt it safer in America. Unfortunately, when his background became known, immigration authorities focused on his original membership in Hamas and not on his work against it. They moved to deport him.

Yousef appealed, pointing out that if he had to go back, they would kill him. The U.S. government dropped concerns that he represented a terrorist threat to the U.S. (Wall St. J., 7/2/10, A 6, with some background from earlier report).

Encouraging to see the government come to its senses, and drop its bureaucratic rigidity. It would have committed a demoralizing injustice.