Israel's Man In Hamas

According to The Washington Post, it appears that Hamas is losing some valuable street cred:

This week's revelation that Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father, Sheik Hassan Yousef, is in an Israeli prison, provided intelligence to Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service was the latest setback to Hamas's image.
The organization seized control of the Gaza Strip from the ruling Fatah Party in 2007 and had once been viewed as all but impregnable.

The news comes amid fighting between Hamas and Fatah that has split Palestinians and hampered U.S. efforts to restart peace negotiations with Israel, which has sealed off the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas into releasing Gilad Shalit, a captured Israeli soldier.

Hamas has been reeling from the assassination of one its leaders, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai on Jan. 19. His killing by what authorities say was a hit team suspected of being part of Israel's Mossad spy agency has become an international espionage drama that now has a sequel in Yousef's story.

Let's put aside the fact that Hamas did not just 'seize control'--we are talking about a bloody coup, not some political exchange of power. And we'll let the casualties and destruction resulting from Operation Cast Lead pass without comment as well. Apparently the Washington Post, does not see either of these as cause for dissatisfaction among Gazans.

It is more than just the fact that Yousef, who has published his memoir "Son of Hamas," helped Israeli operatives kill Hamas leaders as well as arrest his own father. Beyond that embarrasment:

Shin Bet's high-level penetration of Hamas, if true, is a "catastrophe for Hamas," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Gaza. It is not clear whether the report will cause Hamas to target other suspected informants or if the movement's leaders will simply regard it an isolated incident, Abusada said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Shalom Harari, a former army intelligence officer and adviser on Palestinian affairs in Israel's Defense Ministry, said Yousef's spying and Mabhouh's killing make Hamas appear vulnerable.

Hamas can downplay its military defeat at the hands and sidestep its responsibility for the suffering of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza--the Palestinians have been as willing to put that aside as their apologists and the media.

In a separate interview, Yousef's revelation that:

"I love this spy stuff, especially with Israeli intelligence paving the way," he wrote. "In this way, a new communications channel was established with Damascus, even though Meshaal had no idea that he was actually on a party line with the Shin Bet listening in."

--is reminiscent of the story of Eli Cohen, whose deception of Syrian leaders was so complete that when his cover was blown, Damascus refused all Israeli offers in exchange for Cohen and executed him instead.

If Hamas is more vulnerable now, it is only because they are being seen for what they are.

Technorati Tag: Mosab Hassan Yousef.