[Music] so Mr Omar who are you really are you an Imam an activist or a professor we see that you are not just defending the rights of Muslims but also the rights of other oppressed groups regardless of their religion including black people Mexicans and so forth um you know I I like to think that everything that I do comes from a place of the Islamic framework and understanding my tradition in a way that requires me to be present for multiple issues I've been blessed obviously with not just the experience of being able to study Islam abroad and study it uh especially as it relates to the world around me but I've been blessed to encounter so many different factors of American society different sectors of American society whose experience of Oppression immediately related back to what I was studying and so um on a personal level the prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon Him is described as a mercy to the worlds I think that Mercy looks differently in different situations and to different people but there can be no mercy in the presence of Cruelty and so we're dealing with such an unprecedented amount of compounded cruelty in different situations and scenarios that we almost have to start at that place at at almost every level and with every issue that we're dealing with right now so my religion calls me to be present uh for these things I don't think I'm doing a good enough job but we're trying our best and I know that there are many others that have not only been able to relate the immediacy of the genocide in Gaza to so many things that have been happening for a very long time at home but who ALS Al see that what drives them to Gaza what drives them to Iraq what drives them to so many of the different uh causes abroad has driven them as well uh to the causes at home because it comes from the exact same place yeah so uh while rightwing extremism and hate speech are on the rise in Europe and us what is your experience of living as a Muslim American in the west so I think that there are different forms of hate and the you know the the experience of right-wing extremism and hatred that comes out of just obvious um you know far-right nationalist groups and you know openly white supremacist groups uh it's very lazy it's it's easier to diagnose it's easier to immediately recognize and it definitely creates a greater Culture of Fear and you know Muslims being unwelcome however there are those those that will conveniently use the Muslim Community as a checkbox and to say that you know we welcome you here but you need to assimilate and so therefore we need you to remove everything about your Islam and everything about your faith in order to coexist with us and then there are those who say that you can't coexist with us because of who you look like on the outside so whether it is who we are on the inside or who we look like on the outside uh to most people uh both of those are forms of hate and need to be rejected and unfortunately uh over these last few years we've experienced in the west intolerance uh coming from multiple directions and that type of hatred is not just a threat to us but it's a threat to what these societies claim to be built upon and so we are a test case uh for the standards that these societies have set up for themselves and for everyone else we're a test case for their own thresholds of Tolerance we're a test case for their claims to pluralism and um we force them I hope to interrogate themselves in everything that they represent but in the meantime what I recommend to Muslims and what I say to to Muslims at home and in different countries that are in a similar situation is to start to build their own power to build with like-minded people but to start to build their own power to build their own platforms we are uniquely positioned to be able to fight back and penalize discrimination and I think that if we speak with strength and we mobilize with strength then we'll find many like-minded people that will join hands with us and that will hopefully collapse uh some of these structures of hate that are on a dangerous trajectory I mean it's it's already dangerous but on a more dangerous trajectory uh to where Not only would Muslim life be unsustainable in some of these Societies in the full sense of the word but these societies as a whole would be unsustainable if they don't solve this problem the poison that they have within for which they are scapegoating Muslims and unfortunately um we're seeing that materialized in the political Arena so uh why do Muslims often feel uh the need to justify themselves establish their identity and redefine themselves constantly uh where does the root of this issue lie I think that much of that insecurity probably comes from a post 911 climate you know it's been over 20 years but what happened after 911 is that Muslims felt a deep need in the United States and by extension many uh other countries that were affected by uh that post 911 climate to prove that they were loyal citizens to their countries to prove that they were not the suspicious minority that they had been made out to be and that insecurity which of course was met with a very real uh growth of the surveillance state which has has never really slowed down that insecurity was only compounded by Muslims feeling unwelcomed in spaces of media and in spaces of uh of culture so it wasn't just the political Arena but also spaces of media and spaces of culture and so you know the threats of being driven out or uh being penalized for being you for being a faithful Muslim um has led to I think an overcorrection uh in many ways uh of of trying to prove Pro that we are not suspicious and in the process departing from what makes us unique in the first place I often say to people it's extremely important I say this to my Community First we're a faith community we're Muslims not because we're Brown there are many Muslims that aren't Brown we're Muslims not because we're black in the United States it's the largest Faith Community there are white Muslims there are Latino Muslims there are Muslims across the board we're Muslims because we believe in Islam and we need to operate consistently out of that Faith framework and you know instead of responding to the insecurities and responding to the threats uh outside of us responding to the commands and responding to the imperatives that we find in our tradition much of which is to the benefit of society as a whole because we are called to be people of benefit we are called to be people of Justice to be people of Mercy but we need to not just you know be Muslim by identity but be Muslim by faith be be Muslim in the truest sense of the word and operate from a firm foundation and then build our Frameworks and function in society uh in accordance with that foundation so uh you have participated in many demonstrations what motivates you to do so why do you believe that these protests are important and do you think they can bring about change wi Injustice they address so the prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him says whoever amongst you sees an evil let him change it with his hand and if he can't do so then with your tongue and if you can't do so then hate it in your heart and that is the lowest of Faith um we are not charged with the outcomes as people of faith we believe in a higher power we believe in a god that is always in control and so I start from that spiritual perspective that from our perspective if we are people who are doing good even though that good does not materialize in an immediate uh visible effect God does not let the reward of the good doers go to waste he says in the Quran and if we are a people that are under the uh the boot of Oppression then God says in the Quran that he will reward the patients fully and compensate them Without Limits and if we are worried that the oppressors and the tyrants have become too overbearing and too overwhelming then don't think that God is unaware of what the oppressors do so for us we do what we can knowing that the outcome is ultimately in the hands of God but at the same time we do what we can because we believe that we will be asked about what we were able to do and what we did not do I recognize when I go throughout the Muslim world that there are many Muslims that can't protest they're in Muslim countries and they can't carry a Palestinian flag they're in Muslim countries and they can't protest the cruelty of Zionism as this genocide plays out on their screens and it breaks my heart because some of them will tear up and apologize to me as an Imam a cab driver in a Muslim country and say you know God knows we pray at and we cry when we see what we see and we give whatever charity we can but we just can't protest here we're vulnerable ourselves and I use that to say to those that can protest do you know how much those people wish they could raise their voices for our brothers and sisters and Palestine and other oppressed peoples the way that you're able to now if you think that protests and boycots and uh you know the power of the people the encampments don't work then why is it that these countries are uh so determined to shut them down around the world why is it that Israel is pumping billions of dollars into its media artillery into PR uh to try to shut down these protests in fact ministers directly speaking to the protests we saw Netanyahu uh smear the protesters in the United States as Iran's useful uh tools uh of course while speaking to Israel's useful tools which are the the vast majority of the United States Congress people um why is it that they're trying to shut shut down the right to boycott in these countries which is a form of protest economic protest why is it that they were trying to shut down these encampments because if there is enough of a critical mass and there are sustained protests in different parts of the world that public pressure is going to lead to something now it might not seem proportional because you got millions of people in the streets and then it only moves a needle it only moves an inch but that's significant and if it continues to be that way then it's going to be impossible for countries to continue to do business as usual with Israel uh while it continues to expand its occupation expand its uh its its apartheid and expand its illegal structure um and dominance over the Palestinian people I'm only using one example but you know I remember when um you know Starbucks when when we said we would boycott Starbucks that was uh mocked and uh people were awfully condescending towards those that thought that you know what audacity to to say that I'm not going to buy my cup of coffee from Starbucks anymore but look what's happening right now you're bringing a giant to its knees uh I think that needs to happen politically economically I think that if you were to tell most people um a year ago that this many countries would start to exert pressure on Israel the way that they are even if they're not doing it as much as we want them to do uh that this many people would be sh shouting free Palestine around the world that Benjamin Netanyahu would have an arrest warrant on him um that you know Global public opinion would continue to increase in the favor of the Palestinian cause despite every single social media platform being complicit in suppression I think that most people would say that's impossible so from a rational perspective people power matters and from a Muslim perspective people's efforts are blessed by the all powerful when they are sustained and sincere and consistent so I I hope that things will uh materialize it all goes hand in hand our prayers matter our protests matter our boycotts matter uh it it matters when it's sincere when it's sustained and um when it's Global and so uh you need to know and I say this to everyone that your oppressors are counting on you to get tired they count on you to get tired just as they count on the indifference of most people most people are not um particularly pro-israel or Pro Zionist or or even that literate about what's going on over there most people are indifferent but that allows them to do what they do um as for those that are aware of what's happening and that have been protesting they've been counting on our fatigue they've been counting on us getting tired they've been counting on us relinquishing this and becoming hopeless and um as as crazy as it is i' I've never been more hopeful of a free Palestine in my lifetime than I am right now uh so inshallah God willing I think that we're going to see it in our lifetime even under the rubble of Gaza I think that the cause of Palestine is rising around the world and so that gives me the ability to continue forward and uh if the only thing is that our brothers and sisters in Palestine and our brothers and sisters that are affected even if it's not Palestine see the solidarity because just as we see their oppression they see our solidarity if the only thing get out of this is that they see us speaking for them and that gives them a little bit of of an added uh energy source to be able to continue then that for me is enough if the only thing we got out of this is that the people of Gaza saw us I would keep doing it um but there is more than that for sure we saw that actually not just like Muslim countries but all around the world people are trying to do something so what more can Muslims and in general people do to support Palestine is there any other way so I think that there are various uh streams right and so you have to see where you're most effective uh in Academia there is uh you know especially in the wake of these encampments um a significant call for divestment and in Western academic institutions you're talking about I think Colombia was in the range of 2030 billion do of an endowment you're talking about significant endowments and if you think about how Israel has counted on the steady stream of funding largely from the United States to be able to carry out this genocide and even prior to this genocide to be able to expand its AP partite that's a stream um the student encampments if you are talking about your protests in the streets that's a stream and if the numbers are dwindling they are noticing and so we need to make sure those numbers don't dwindle if you're talking about being a voting block if you are constituency what changed slightly the tune of the White House in the United States even though I'm by no stretch was it enough it's one Michigan um Rose to the occasion suddenly the word uncommitted uh was a uh household name um because 100,000 plus people Rose to say we will not vote for a genocidal president um again even in in this primary so everyone needs to find their Lane and needs to excel in their Lane and all of these efforts will come to fruition obviously look as a person um as a Muslim and and I believe in my faith and I believe that there is no more potent tool than prayer and so prayers are are mocked right now because they're usually used um you know very insincerely uh to to diminish the importance of other actions to me it is the most important action from which the you know the the energy that is needed for us to continue uh you know is derived but beyond that uh you know you can't take away that sincere elderly woman that lives in a Muslim country where she's not able to say anything publicly you can't take away her voice at night when she cries in the privacy of her home and she cries out to the lord of the worlds and so all of these prayers mean something and they don't just give us the resilience that we need those of us that are active in these spaces to continue but they also will have a tangible impact because we believe in the promise of Allah we do believe in it um if we don't believe in it then we're wasting our time we do believe in it and there is light at the end of the tunnel for us the light at the end of the tunnel is the promise of Allah and that's going to materialize on his time um but uh we want to make sure that we were pushing people along the way in the tunnel uh to that light that's been promised to us all so what will end the war in Gaza and bring peace to Palestine well first and foremost there needs to be obviously an immediate uh you know ceasefire and I think that we're close at any moment um I think that Netanyahu is prolonging uh this genocide obviously to save his political career which is quite an indictment of him as as as just a a person a human being if if he can even be referred to that way anymore um there needs to be an immediate ceasefire the people of Gaza need to breathe um and I say that to be honest with you because I speak to people there right and when you speak to them there look they just this has gone on far too long um and as much as the movement around the world is translating into some serious gains for the free Palestine movement as a whole right now they just want the war to end they want this genocide to end and so there needs to be an immediate ceasefire and then there needs to be a prosecution not just of Israel uh for the genocide but the United States needs to be held to account as well I say that as an American um yes that makes my life difficult as an American citizen and and many other people in the United States but the United States government should be on trial at the ICC it is just as complicit in this genocide as Israel is so there needs to be a full prosecution of everyone that was involved um in this genocide and then there needs to be an immediate sustained momentum in ending the occupation as a whole in apartheid because the same human rights organizations that are calling out the genocide had already published extensive reports about apartheid and occupation it's not rocket science it's literally not rocket science right I mean this is occupation this is a partide that preceded genocide you need to peel back those structures the reason why Israel is escalating its settlement expansions escalating its occupation is because it recognizes that it has reached a place in which this is not sustainable it is losing uh every single War outside of itself every single War outside of itself uh International pressure public opinion um young Jewish people in the United States uh it's losing the the opinion of young Jewish people in the United States it's us losing the uh the the the support of otherwise very steady structures uh in the past in media so it's it's losing at every level we just need to make sure that we sustain the momentum but for now we need this ceasefire to come into place a permanent ceasefire the rebuilding of Gaza and hopefully use what comes out of that um to rebuild all that has been stolen from us and I'll say this because I get asked this question in many settings as a Palestinian American and you haven't asked this just yet but it's on the back of the mind of many people people say well what's the ultimate solution what's the solution for you was I say look you came into our land and ran us out of our land and oppressed and killed and maimed and sexually abused and tortured and have continued to expand this illegal occupation on us don't ask me for the solution I'm fighting for Freedom we're fighting for freedom and for us freedom means full Freedom just like it would mean for any other group of people and so we're trying to free ourselves from the shackles of occupation and aparte so when you start throwing around like a term like two-state solution or one-state solution uh the solution is first and foremost get your boot off of my neck and then we can talk the power differential makes peace talks and makes talking about this eventual solution in the presence of an expanding occupation absolutely insincere um baseless and uh and insulting and so uh let's not talk about how we're going to to piece together these desparate parts of Palestinian land into a state uh side by side with whatever you want to salvage while you're continuing to further disappear those lands and while you're continuing to further exterminate Palestinians and suppress the voices of the pro Palestinian movement around the world and so for me right now um it is we have to resist in every way in our capacities wherever we are um against this brutality against this monst city that um many people have uh waken up to in this last year that that previously um were're were completely ignorant or indifferent so as we see increasing bias in the mainstream media nowadays uh what power and responsibility do people with large social media followings have in shaping public opinion if you come social media well here's the thing when we talk about social media every single platform has tried to shut down the prop Palestinian voice and they failed now if if they are using these levers and you think about it in terms of percentages because that's what social media companies or people that work at these social media companies will actually tell you from the inside is that you know they increase the sensitivity filter from 20% to 80% in the wake of Gaza and so the mere mention of certain terms uh immediately leads to a shadow Banning and in some cases even suspension of these accounts but with that increase uh with the 20 to the 80% with the Sensitivity I mean these people have even censored I mean on Instagram God is sufficient for us and the best protector that was censored uh on Instagram to where that would immediately land you in the hidden comments I've been shadowban multiple times on every single platform your voice is only strong because of the strength of the collective voices around the world where your average young person of conscience in turkey with your average young person in Nigeria with your average young person in Ireland and so on so forth all of that has coalesced beautifully into a movement that cannot be shut down without threatening the existence of these platforms as a whole you try to shut down this many voices you don't have enough users on your platform eventually and so they have failed to suppress altogether but they are trying and we should not suppress ourselves with our hopelessness and our pessimism um if anything we should all be increasing so it's not just people with large followings yes if you're a celebrity and you're an athlete or you're someone with a large platform and you still haven't said anything I'm not even talking about those who have uh said pro-israel things they have been disqualified long ago in my mind but those who haven't said anything uh you need to be looking in the mirror right now and and and trying to find your own humanity and trying to find your own moral conscience because there's no excuse for you at this point but I'm talking about even those people with 100 followers 200 followers uh the whole process of virality now and and what what cracks the algorithm um in many ways um we have seen that it's not about your follower count it's about how compelling your content is and so everyone use your voice and and keep going because these platforms can try to suppress your voices but they need you as users and if if they come to a place where uh it's impossible to silence your voices and maintain you as users that's a good thing and I think we're already kind of there so lately we saw that like United Nation officially said that uh Israeli settlements are illegal actually what does it mean for Palestinians do you believe that that can change something I think that when you look at these little victories in isolation they don't mean much but I think that when you look at the whole picture they mean a lot and so Palestinians are not waiting on the United Nations that's important they're not waiting on the same structures that have enabled our oppression in the first place to somehow become our uh means of salvation but the small victories Within These systems the cracks the uh the moral victories the number of countries that are now officially recognizing Palestine the amount of politicians that are now shying away um from the same type of iron support for Israel that they used to express granted that you know progression in your rhetoric is not enough uh if you're still pushing the same policies of harm all of these small victories mean something in the grander scheme they don't mean much in isolation so I think that most Palestinians um can see uh that that things are changing globally what we're what we're dealing with now is a race um I think that the uh settler iial regime of Israel not just the right-wingers but even you know y laid when he was in charge and and what his party represents I think they recognize the global shift of opinion and how unsustainable this is going to be and so unfortunately they are escalating as a whole the Israeli regime under any Administration has escalated as a whole to try to steal as much as they can and to and to uh to gain as much as they can um before it it reaches a point of absolute unsustainability and at that point are we forced to accept status quo because um they've just dug in too far and I say this with much confidence Palestinians are not going anywhere Palestinians who are not in Palestine have not forgotten Palestine um if you were counting on erasing Palestinians from their land uh Palestinians will be at the door until their keys work once again and if you counting on Palestinians um forgetting where they came from and Palestinian Consciousness going away look at the streets around the world uh if anything this has re-energized people around the world and it's not just Palestinians I often tell people from a spiritual perspective that when we when we go home inshallah God willing I'm a Palestinian I've never been able to go to my stolen land but when we go home we're going to have a lot of people with us that otherwise would have been indifferent to the land altogether um people that who who who found themselves um in this cause who found their own moral conscience in this cause people that found Faith the amount of people that have embraced Islam in the last year has been remarkable because Gaza opened their eyes not just to the ugliness of what allowed for that genocide to happen but the beauty of the faith that had been distanced from them for all these years and so I think of all those people that will be locking arms with me inshallah and that will be locking arms with us to enter Palestine when it is free um God willing and and I believe it will happen so our enemies are are making a failed calculation in my opinion and um the small victories will all translate into a a major victory God willing so I will switch it to uh some other genocides that happen I'm a Serbian Muslim and I'm coming from balans where we saw also genocide in seran so you're old enough to remember the genocide that occurred in s in 1995 and uh are now with witnessing the events in palestine's Gaza in the social media era how important are informal conversations and the sharing of information about such events how do you use your platforms to influence public opinion so first of all on a personal level I I was so deeply connected to that growing up and I'm actually finishing translating my mother's poetry um may God have mercy on her she wrote much poetry about about that genocide and connected it to the Palestinian cause as well as k at the time um Iraq and Afghanistan and other places but she had a deep connection to what was happening there we actually took refugees into our home uh when I was a child growing up um as a result of that um from both Bosnia and Kosovo by the way uh for short temporary periods of time um I had the the blessing of visiting um just a few years ago and I read her poetry that she had written a few decades earlier uh there in Arabic and then I went and I visited Sanita and the stench of genocide is still there but I can tell you this that the same resilience that I see in the mothers of Sita is the same res resilience that I see in the mothers of Gaza people are still hurt um you know we're going to be going into the 30-year anniversary next year people are still finding bones and remains and the janaza are still happening and I anticipate in GZA the same will be true that digging under the rubble for the next several years and truly accounting for the casualties will be a generational effort but if people can rebuild from that then people can rebuild from this and I do believe that the human Spirit when it is connected to the Divine is so unbreakable and the Palestinian people like those people that I met in s berit are connected to the Divine and so they are so unbreakable they'll come back from this and the stories will bear witness to the ugliest most ruthless um tools of Oppression that we had known up to date but I believe that there will be a day that there will be universities that will be named after Hind and wa and and so many others and that that that we will rebuild from this so that I have that hope um and going to S banita which was one of the most profound experiences of My Life um I never emotionally shook it at all especially the display of the shoes of the children and the elders and across the board um you know where they where they lined up the shoes in the same place where those people were were massacred um going there actually as as much as it broke my heart it actually filled my heart as well because I met mothers who had lost every single member of their family and they still had the most beautiful of smiles and they still had the ability not just to function but the ability to express sympathy to me when they knew I was a Palestinian and to say to me that you'll get through this like we got through this that your people will get through this the way we got through this and so I believe and um I hope sooner rather than later so how how is important is it is to like talk about this uh on social media like about these uh events that occurred in the past and to to try to prevent on this way maybe the one that sure I'll say something that might be a little bit explosive here but I'll take the risk I know many people that operate out of the UR genocide that operate out of the Syrian uh genocide that operate out of the uh you know out of stbonita and the genocide that took place there who will say that their institutions have had a curious amount of interest from Zionist organizations to fund them and the one condition of those Zionist organizations in funding them is to say don't say anything about Palestine and so I know people that have left many of those institutions or tried to challenge their funding Partners uh and this is across the board I've heard it from those specific three cases and that's why when Gaza happened it was it was very curious when you saw some of those organizations that I have supported I I will never uh remove my support for a just cause because the institutions that are supposed to represent that just cause have sold me out I won't sell out those causes so I don't penalize the average o or the average Bosnian the average Syrian uh or whatever it may be because of that uh that that shameful institutional response from some of these institutions but getting to the bottom of it that's really what it was is that there has been an interest um by Zionist organizations to silence those institutions that study other genocides that study other Mass atrocities so that they don't speak on our behalf because there's power in us coming together and we have to reject that and I hope that enough people of conscience to Ross the board say no our causes are completely uh tied together they are interrelated and we can't be faithful to our own while betraying the other and so um that's where the push back has to happen so I know many people that have lost their jobs at museums at advocacy organizations at media institutions because they refuse to be silent on Palestine and their uh their leadership asked them to not say anything on social media or to not express any support or tie their cause to Palestine because that would risk their institutional standing uh especially in academic settings and and and their mainstream potency as well as their funding in some cases and alhamdulillah I think that people fight back so I I for me that's where your integrity comes into play if you have to betray someone else's cause in order to give legs to your own then you have to ask yourself why you're committed to a cause in the first place and where what framework you operate out of in the first place I will never inshallah and I hope a lot of other people feel this way will never betray someone else's cause uh for the sake of my own and when we come to Muslim leaders what do you think is behind the Silence of many Muslim leaders on the Palestinian issue why do they stay to level what is happening as genocide do you have a message for them first and foremost the Abraham records need to be immediately repealed I think as we witness what is happening right now in the United States in terms of the election cycle um there's this sort of renewed interest in expanding the Abraham Accords now is the time to fight back and to say that the Abraham Accords need to be repealed these Accords were done in a way that erased the Palestinian voice from the table and basically um unfortunately in some ways proved Israel's point that we can go about doing business with the Muslim in the Arab world while still um continuing our oppression and expanding our oppression of the Palestinian people effectively wiping out the Palestinian cause because that is a major point of Leverage and um it's not just the Abraham Accords it's any trade deals uh with Israel um any economic Partnerships security Partnerships these need to be done uh these need to be you know repealed and there needs to be pressure in every single country to make sure that this does not happen again where Israel is given the signal that you can continue to expand your oppression your occupation your apartheid and you will only be economically and politically rewarded from our side because that would put us in Greater favor with the United States you're making a wrong political calcul calculation first of all you're making a wrong human and Faith calculation that's disgusting uh for you to betray the Palestinian cause it's disgusting for you to betray those thousands of innocent children that are dying on your screen and where children in your countries are seeing that and are being told by their parents that these are your brothers and sisters your own populations will not accept this from you in the long run your own populations will reject this and you can only silence for so long you're making a wrong calculation about the Palestinian people you're making a wrong calculation about your own people you're making a wrong calculation about the uh growing political winds that will lend themselves to the favor of the Palestinian cause inshallah just like apartheid in South Africa fell and the United States was the last Ally uh apartheid will fall and the United States that lonely Ally uh will not be able to exert the pressure on you that you think that it can the popular opinion in the United States is changing the political winds one day will change as well get with the times see what's actually happening globally follow that Global shift it is a shame it is a shame when we see more pressure coming from populations and from governments that don't have the bond of Faith or that don't have this so-called era Bond and they do more than you uh this will turn the hearts of people around the world against you it will turn your own people against you and it's not politically as smart as you may think it is it rewards you economically in the immediate term it will stigmatize you as it will stigmatize the actual uh illegal Israeli sether Colonial regime and project for all time and anyone else that was complicit in this so read the winds first and foremost try to ReDiscover your faith ReDiscover your Humanity than read the winds more properly I think you're making a major uh miscalculation and more importantly uh uh you're making a major mistake with your own faith and with your own with your own Humanity in the process with this betrayal so we mentioned us and uh in the US presidential race we observed that both Republican and Democratic leaders are supporting a state that is committing genocide how do you think the US elections and their results will affect the Middle East and the Palestinian issue well first and foremost I hope the Palestinian issue will affect the US elections I don't know what it's going to look like in November I don't even know who's going to be on the ballot yet you know and so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I will say this that I hope that somehow the anger that the average American now has about what has transpired the presence of Muslims and swing States will have a significant uh Factor on what the outcome of the United States elections are going to be I don't know what that's going to look like just yet but I can say that you know uh the current democratic presidential candidate if she thinks that what we're looking for are just more added statements of concern and no reversal of policy then she's going to get the same treatment if she's on the balot end that Joe Biden would have gotten uh which would have been absolute rejection and those that would say well Donald Trump poses a better option um uh he's a con man he's a fraud uh he's a racist he has shown himself to be who he is I'm under No Illusion that he's any better he is just as financially beholden to the Zionist lobby as anyone else and so I don't think anyone has ever done worse than what Joe Biden has done um because he's literally executed a genocide on his watch and anyone that's been a part of that deserves to be held accountable I'm not running to the hands of Donald Trump who's the third party candidate that's going to be on the ballot is it Jill Stein is it Cornell West do Muslims vote uncommitted does does a mainstream candidate surprise us with some major reversal because they're reading the swing States they're reading the room all of that is still to be determined but there is a story to be told under the presidential election as well which is in many of these races these districts have shown a significant switch and APAC is no longer able to buy the votes so we have to continue to show up there on one hand we have Kamala haris which is like uh strongly supporting Israel after 7th of October we have Donald Trump who's also supporting and doing this Pro pro-israeli lobbying uh what do you think how it will impact Muslim communities and what can Muslims in America do like between this deep sea and the devil Muslims need to be present at the polls but they can't put all of their strategy into voting and so we need to figure out how to expose more people in the United States to the reality of these parties and these candid Cates that they are beholden to I think that most Americans are absolutely outraged when they see how much political and economic capital goes to supporting a foreign regime period and especially a foreign regime that is guilty of what it is guilty of and what that translates into in terms of benefit for the American people so I think that we need to find ways to expose the reality of these parties of these candidates uh to the broader American public so that we can Galvanize more support um but you know I'm actually happy that Muslims are no longer under the illusion um that one party is better than the other as it relates to Palestine this has exposed people and hopefully in the wake of that exposure we can have more effective and efficient action so while tasins were demonstrating outside of the US Congress to protest speech of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu elected us officials were busy inside applauding him 70 times how do you see this star contrast between the US public and the US politicians what does this tell us about the state of US democracy so it tells us that the entire construct of a US democracy is an absolute farce that there is no US democracy that it is nothing but hypocrisy that it is nothing but a mere illusion and that many people are starting to see through it um 78% of Americans wanted a ceasefire but that did not translate into any type of congressional representation not in the senate or in the house and certainly not from the White House so it shows that the Gap is real that our politicians are more responsive to APAC than they are to uh their people and I think the more that people know that the more outrage you're going to see and the more consequential that's going to be in the districts uh of these Congress people there is a story to be told as well that over 130 uh Democrats did not attend the speech of Benjamin Netanyahu and they had to fill the seats that's double the last time that Netanyahu spoke uh in Congress so while you had the uh the 55 plus standing ovations for Netanyahu and you had that Shameless display of servitude uh to a foreign leader uh who is on trial for genocide you also have a real story to where some politicians feared being present I don't count on the principles of politicians I count on the consequences to politicians you had so many politicians that feared being present that day and that's a story as well the minor victories so I think that we are seeing a change of calculation on their part now APAC has been pouring millions and millions and millions of dollars into making sure that any uh Congress person that is critical of Israel is driven out at some point you're going to anger people enough to where your money will stop working at some point you're going to lose the critical support that is necessary at some point the margins will become the mainstream and so you know the emperor has no robes the emperor has no robes the Empire is exposed um and that makes me glad it's disgusting to witness but at the same same time I'm glad that people are seeing it for what it truly is and I hope now that we can start to see meaningful change as a result of that thank you so much thank you thank you for having thank you for your time