A federal judge in Texas has acceded to a request to permit an Israeli military intelligence officer to keep his identity secret when he testifies at an upcoming trial of alleged Hamas supporters.

Judge Allen Joe Fish ruled yesterday that explanations from the Israeli government, including a plea from Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, were sufficient to allow the Israel Defense Force officer to use a pseudonym and to have the courtroom cleared of spectators while he testifies. A video and audio feed will be provided for the public, but the witness will not be shown.

Earlier, Judge Fish ordered the same measures for an agent of the Israeli Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, but the judge initially balked at safeguarding the defense official because the sensitivity of his position was less clear.

Five men connected with aRichardson, Tex.-based Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation, are set to go on trial Monday on charges that they funneled more than $12 million to Hamas in the guise of charitable donations. The defendants, Shukri Abu Bakr, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqater, and Abdulraham Odeh, have pleaded not guilty.

In a last minute flurry of pre-trial activity, Judge Fish ordered a hearing this afternoon on whether prosecutors were aware of the contents of attorney-client conversations recorded during FBI wiretaps.

Prosecutors on the case said the question should be handled by a special group of lawyers, known as a “taint team,” separate from the primary prosecutors, but the judge said the government gave no explanation why that had not been done already.

Judge Fish also rejected a sweeping challenge by the defendants to the admissibility of the surreptitious recordings, which were made through warrants obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “The court finds that the applications establish probable cause to find that the defendants were agents of a foreign power,” he wrote.

The judge said defense attorneys were not entitled to see the warrant applications because the records could be used to identify confidential sources and helpful foreign intelligence services. Tracing those contacts could jeopardize American national security, Judge Fish said.

The Holy Land Foundation was shut down by federal agents in December 2001 after it was listed as a terrorist group by the American government.