Yousef’s soon-to-be-released autobiography is a bombshell. There are many reasons why his story is of great interest.
The son of a prominent leader of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef understands Islam as conceived by many average Muslims from the inside out. Tortured by members of Israeli security forces, he nonetheless came to distinguish between a limited use of torture for the purpose of saving the lives of others and the use of torture as a means of intimidation and an expression of a collective pathology.
Mosab Hassan Yousef became Shin Bet’s more important agent inside the ranks of Hamas. At the same time, he came to believe that Islam has been turned upside down by its erstwhile handlers. Nay, he came to believe that Islam is rotten to the core. He converted to Christianity.
Go
here
to order Yousef's autobiography, due out in a couple of days. For a long in-depth interview with background by
Avi Issacharoff, go here
and here. You
can’t make this stuff up. It is a good example of how truth is more spell-binding than
fiction.
I think people, especially politicians and
diplomats, need to take Yousef’s analysis seriously. He says:
The root of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not lie in security or politics: It is a war
between . . . the God of the Torah and the God of the Koran. The Koran teaches
that this is Waqf land - a sacred endowment which must not be given up. The
Torah taught the Jews that this is their land and must not be given up.
At most then, a great number of religiously
minded Palestinians and religiously-minded Muslims around the world can agree
to a cease-fire with Israel. Peace is out of the question. Surely this is also
the case for significant minorities in Israel, who are not about to give up their
right to settle anywhere in the promised land as they understand it.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the larger conflict pitting a significant part of Muslims worldwide against the state of Israel, cannot but go on.
The book of Esther. Just as relevant today as it was when it was written.
Hmmm. I thought the symbolism in Esther - Haman from Agag from Amalek from Esau - is explained in Hebrews 12:16. It is no less a war of extermination, beginning within ourselves, but not at all related to the Ishmaelites.
Posted by: Looney | February 28, 2010 at 05:00 PM
I don't see any reference to Esther, Haman, or Agag in Hebrews 12:16.
Aside from that, explanations of prophecy are rarely if ever exhaustive. Case in point: in Acts 8 and elsewhere, the servant of whom Isaiah speaks is identified with Jesus. In Acts 13:46-47, the servant is identified with the apostles. In Isaiah 49, the servant is identified with Israel. None of this should surprise, given passages like 2 Peter 1:20.
Posted by: JohnFH | February 28, 2010 at 05:12 PM