Muhammad Ibrahim Hussein is a former schoolteacher and later businessman in the West Bank. He has a Quora account where he shows that he is all for peace, and truth, in the conflict.
Proud Palestinian father of three boys and three daughters.
Proud Palestinian husband of my heavenly wife Alia.
Proud Palestinian shopkeeper.
Former school teacher who was fired for advocating peaceful coexistence and normalisation with our neighbour Israel.
He has answered many questions on Quora, and the ones I've seen are well written and accurate, consistently advocating for peace and coexistence.
Many of his answers to questions he submitted to Quora have resulted in his being harassed online.
A few weeks ago, he answered the question "Was Jesus a Palestinian?" this way:
No! Jesus was NOT a Palestinian.
From Palestine? Palestine (Syria Palestina) was the name given to Israel by the Romans at least one century after the death of Jesus and over 400 years before the birth of Islam. Muslims first came to the Land of Israel when their armies left the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century C.E. to try and conquer the world.
While our Palestinian leaders and UNWRA like to falsely claim Jesus was a Palestinian, they merely say this sort of nonsense in order to score political points in the international media and in order to help ignorant people sympathise with our Palestinian cause and to loosen these people’s purse strings so they donate as much Christmas “aid” money as possible.
...Jesus a Palestinian? I am sure you haven’t heard that one before. He was actually Jewish and if he tried to get into Palestinian Authority controlled Bethlehem today, his chances of survival would be minimal, because my fellow Palestinian brethren very much tend to stone to death, kill and maim Jews who get lost in the West Bank.
As a result of this answer, Hussein was arrested and beaten by the Palestinian Authority. His wife Alia writes on his behalf on his Quora profile page:
To our dear Followers and Supporters all over the world and especially in Israel,
Muhammad can’t use his hands at the moment and therefore I am writing this update on my husband’s behalf.
On January 4th 2018 Quora banned my husband for seven days for writing the following perfectly truthful answer to the question “Was Jesus Christ a Palestinian?”.
This ban was allegedly requested by our fellow Palestinians working for the Palestinian Authority who have been intimidating us since my husband started writing about the truth here on Quora.
That same night Muhammad was then detained by our Palestinian Authority security forces and tortured so badly he had to have shoulder surgery and treatment for severe burns to his hands…
I am sure you will agree with me that nobody should have to suffer such inhumane treatment at the hands of their own people / government.
After several long and loving discussion I have convinced my husband to stop writing here on Quora, because his safety and life are of course more important to me and our family than his determined advocacy for peaceful coexistence and normalisation with our neighbour Israel.
The past few months gave us renewed hope and optimism that at least on the Israeli side there is a real will for peaceful coexistence and normalisation between our two people. Please keep up your good work and answers, which we will continue to enjoy reading, despite no longer actively participating here on Quora.
It is with this in mind that my husband and I wish to thank from the bottom of our hearts all of our followers, supporters, and readers for their kind words of support over the past few months. We really appreciate you very much and wish all of you future good fortune, peace, and happiness.
With kind regards,
Muhammad (a.k.a. MIH) & Alia
This was not the first time that the Palestinian Authority detained and threatened Hussein for his online posts.
Here is a man whose only crime is wanting peace and not being willing to say exactly what Mahmoud Abbas wants him to say. You are invited to read his scores of posts answering people's questions about life as a Palestinian.
Any true liberal - or anyone, really - who believes in human rights should be outraged at this attempt at intimidation and censorship of a true advocate of peace.
This episode should be widely publicized*. The only way that the Palestinian Authority can reform is by being publicly pressured to act in accordance with humanitarian law. Those who sweep this under the rug because they don't want to embarrass the "most moderate Palestinian leader" do not understand that their silence is what causes human rights violations like this one.
Mr. Hussein is a hero, and should be treated as one.
(h/t Josh K)
*UPDATE: I am told that even many pro-Israel members of Quora are dubious about Hussein's authenticity. I have not gone through all of his posts, but the ones I have seen are pretty identical with Zionist talking points. So this requires more research.
UPDATE 2: I was given some more information about his posts, including how his way of describing things is inconsistent with how a Palestinian would talk, and how he has not once said a single negative thing about Israel, which seems unlikely for even the most pro-peace Arab. I am now very much doubting this story.