HAMAS FUNDER CAT STEVENS' PLANE DIVERTED

The Former Cat Stevens Gets Plane Diverted
WASHINGTON - A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam — formerly known as singer Cat Stevens — was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, federal officials said. United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between a passenger and a name on the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. The plane was met by federal agents at Maine’s Bangor International Airport around 3 p.m., Melendez said.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy identified the passenger as Islam. “He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on national security grounds,” Murphy said, and would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Israel Rejects the Former Cat Stevens
Back in 2000, Israel barred Stevens and his son from entering the country. "[O]n a 1988 visit to Jerusalem, [Stevens] donated tens of thousands of dollars to a violent Islamic group known as the Hamas."