Waqf, PA leadership attempt to rewrite biblical history
We told you before about the ongoing (low-burn) violence and media circus surrounding the Jewish state’s adding two major tourist and spiritual pilgrimage spots to a list of sites of “Jewish cultural heritage.”
Well, on Friday, worshipers at the Western Wall were stoned by rioters on top of the Temple Mount and 15 Israeli policemen and dozens of the rioters were injured in the resulting scuffles. (Don’t Islamic leaders mind their followers using the high ground of what is ostensibly a holy site to attempt to maim worshipers below?)
So let’s go over this again: Israel added two spots to a list that designates sites of historical and cultural relevance. And this caused Palestinians to riot? (Continuing the long tradition of the Palestinian Authority using violence or threats of it where other governments use diplomacy.) And countries ranging from Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab league states, to–predictably– the UN felt the need to condemn the list-making (while not condemning the violence fomented by the PA). And, of course, the U.S. hasn’t retracted the State Department’s comments on the matter, which were that the Israeli list was “provocative and unhelpful.”
So what are these sites anyway?
What exactly are these sites? One is Rachel’s Tomb, which sits on the edge of Bethelehem close to Jerusalem. The second is the Cave of the Patriarchs, which sits in the middle of Hebron. Just how “provocative” is it to add these to the list of sites of Jewish cultural import?
Rachel’s Tomb is identified in Genesis 35:19-20: “So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.” As the Bible relates, the site has been holy to Jews for thousands of years — more than a thousand years before Islam even came into existence! (And holy to Christians hundreds of years before…)
The case of the Cave of the Patriarchs is even more ironic: Genesis 23 records how…
Read More » Comments (1) »Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 7:34 AM | Stand For Israel
“Son of Hamas” disowned by terrorist father
Last week, we told you about Mosab Hassan Yousef, the heroic son of a Hamas leader who turned on his father’s violent ideology and spied for Israel to help fight Hamas terror and save lives. Now comes word that he’s been disowned by his father following the revelations.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, who converted to Christianity 10 years ago and now lives in California, went public with his role on the eve of the publication of “Son of Hamas,” a memoir about his life that’s due to be released this week.
According the the AP report, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas official in the West Bank, released the following statement:
“I, Sheikh Hassan Yousef… my wife, sons and daughters announce that we have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab,” …
The decision was taken following “the man who is called Mosab’s apostasy towards God and his prophet… his betrayal of Muslims, his cooperation with the enemies of God and the damage he caused to our people and our cause.”
The younger Yousef fled the Palestinian-controlled West Bank in 2007 and went public with his conversion to Christianity the following year. Death threats soon followed.
Although Israeli officials said that the younger Yousef had been Israel’s top informant on Hamas and had provided intelligence that stopped numerous planned attacks and led to the arrests of Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas military chief in the West Bank, and Abdullah Barghuti, the bomb maker behind an infamous 2001 suicide attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, the older Yousef, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2005, denied his son had access to Hamas secrets and that members were warned to avoid him as early as 1996.
SFI sends prayers and deep gratitude to Mosab Yousef.
Comments (0) »Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 9:52 AM | Stand For Israel
New book tells story of Hamas founder’s son who became a Christian — and spied for Israel
Israel is buzzing with the news that one of the most valuable Palestinian informants to Israel’s security service is none other than the son of one of the founders of Hamas.
In an interview published in full in Friday’s Ha’aretz magazine, Mosab Hassan Yousef discussed the decade he spent passing information about Hamas to Israel, exposed of a number of terrorist cells, and prevented dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.
According to Ha’aretz, Yousef–the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of Hamas’ founders and its top official in the West Bank– was considered the most reliable of the security services’ sources on Hamas,:
… earning himself the nickname “the Green Prince” – using the color of the Islamist group’s flag, and “prince” because of his pedigree …
During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel’s plan to assassinate his father.
Perhaps even more dangerous for Yousef than spying for Israel, however, is the fact that Yousef converted to Christianity 10 years ago. Yousef, now 32, fled the West Bank in 2007 and now lives in California. In 2008, he went public with his conversion — also in an interview with Ha’aretz.
After the article about his faith ran, the al-Qaida-affiliated Global Islamic Media Front released a statement calling for his death. Quoting Mohamed, the statement said, “Whoever alters his religion, kill him.” [emphasis theirs]
It is only now–on the eve of publication of Son of Hamas, his new book, which is being released by Tyndale next month–that Yousef is going public about his work with Israel. The book a childhood spent being groomed for the Hamas leadership, about his conversion and faith (his…
Read More » Comments (0) »Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:52 PM | Stand For Israel
Israel looking to grant Evangelical Christians official status
The Israel foreign ministry is looking to grant Evangelical Christians a recognized status which would confer a package of benefits–including tax and customs breaks for clergy–enjoyed by a number of other “recognized” religious groups in the Jewish state.
According to Army radio, the Ministry would recognize Evangelicals “as a sovereign group or an independent church, like other churches recognized by Israel,” said Bahid Mantzur, head of the Religious Affairs Division of the Foreign Ministry, according to the Jerusalem Post, which noted that Foreign Ministry officials are particularly eager to grant the status, given the tremendous support Evangelical Christians have shown consistently for Israel.
Officials from the Interior Ministry, however, are reluctant to support the move: “If the Evangelicals are added to the list, dozens of additional streams of Christians will demand to receive similar recognition and be eligible for benefits, and the state is not able to withstand such a surge,” an Interior Ministry spokesman told Army Radio.
While officials from the two ministries work it out, we at SFI would like to grant our own special status to our readers and other Christian lovers of Israel. In a world in which the Jewish people and Jewish state have known so much hate and prejudice, we are deeply grateful and moved by your loyalty, generosity and love.
Comments (3) »Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 4:24 PM | Stand For Israel
Christmas in Jerusalem, 2009
An Arab man passes Santa suits on sale in Jerusalem's Old City (Courtesy of ISRANET)
Thousands of Christian pilgrims visited Jerusalem last week to celebrate the upcoming Christmas holiday. In addition to buying seasonal gifts in local shops, pilgrims visited local churches in the Old City, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
A Christian pilgrim lights candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre right before Christmas 2009. (courtesy of ISRANET)
Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 2:22 PM | Stand For Israel
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