|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Meet-my-new-friend-Hussein-540470
Meet My New Friend Hussein
(Jerusalem Post) Dov Lipman - Hussein Aboubakr, 28, was born to a traditional, middle-class Muslim family in Cairo. He recalls how the movies of his childhood were filled with Jewish villains who were stopped by good Egyptians. The No. 1 comic book character was "Man of the Impossible," who went around the world destroying Zionist conspiracies. Obsessed with super-villain Jews, Hussein decided to study Hebrew via the Internet, and to then infiltrate these evil plans. After Hussein learned Hebrew, he was completely shocked by Jewish history: Here was an ancient Middle Eastern nation indigenous to the Land of Israel, with an ancient connection to Jerusalem. Hussein became horrified by "everyone around me telling me pure nonsense." After numerous arrests for blogging about his criticism of anti-Semitism and the mistreatment of women and Christians in the Muslim world, he fled Egypt and received political asylum in the U.S. Hussein now teaches Hebrew in California and advocates for Israel. In his words: "In Israel, no one will be tortured for writing a blog, and no one will be imprisoned for simply writing their ideas. Israel gives hope that the Middle East can have Western, moral values with human rights, liberty and freedom." The writer served as a member of the 19th Knesset and is the executive vice president of government and community affairs for Innovation Africa.