33: Islam & Israel: Ed Husain, “Bashing Israel is the Muslim liberal's last refuge. It's gotta go!"

"I can go freely to the Western Wall or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, why can't our Jewish and other friends go to the Temple Mount?"

Ed Husain is a vital voice from the British Muslim community with his many speeches and articles on tolerance and pluralism.

He was a teenage Islamist who embraced Muslim nationalism but started life in his father's more peaceful, religious mosque. Now he’s a steadfast opponent of the creed of the extremist.

He's the author of The Islamist, an account of his five years as an activist here in the UK - and The House of Islam: A Global History, which discusses the classical tenets of Islam and the ways in which they're being distorted by political Islam.

Ed explains how the West's thirty million Muslims must acquaint themselves with life in a secular state where they're no longer the dominant population or conqueror.

I released this podcast on Purim, which Ed mentions: his wish that Iran should return to the days of Mordechai, who as Prime Minister heralded a period of growth and civilization in Persia after the threat of mass-extermination by Haman. The story of the Megillah Esther is read day and night on Purim.

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