Omar Suleiman
speaker
1,922 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2023
last heard Feb 2024
Omar Suleiman’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
And so I think that it's important for us to see the world through their eyes rather than try to see the world through our eyes.
It's important. You're not going to be able to solve this problem unless you're able to do that. And so when Malcolm said that if you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out six inches, that's not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and you're not even willing to acknowledge that the knife is there yet.
those that don't acknowledge what is determined now by any international human rights organization, even Israeli human rights organization, Bet Islam and others, to be apartheid, a state of apartheid and a state of occupation, and now an unfolding genocide, are not partners for peace.
I think the point is that we have to come to terms with the fact that the trauma of the past does not justify the murder of the present, and the fear of the future does not justify the murder of the present. The urgency of the world right now should be entirely focused on ending this atrocity that unfortunately the world has become so complacent with.
Again, prior to October 7th, this status quo was not acceptable, and there was no means in sight in the global arena to rein this in, to make Israel more accountable, to stop this. I do believe in the power of healing. I do believe in the power of growth. I do believe that we have seen ugly episodes of history before. that have been rectified. I also believe in the heart of my people.
I believe that the Palestinian people are people of resistance, they're people of resilience, they're people of courage, and they're people of benevolence and magnanimity, and they're people who have been made to grow under the worst of circumstances. I don't see in the hearts of young Palestinians that have been tormented. I don't see darkness. I see light.
I see the ability to still laugh and find joy despite everything that's happened. And so I think that the urgency right now just has to be towards ensuring that they have a life, that they're not being killed anymore.
So I think that we have to tackle what's implied by that. And I actually want to walk back, you know, I was listening to Nikki Haley when she said in one of her interviews, you know, and why is it that you think no one wants to take the Palestinians in? And she had like this deeply disturbing laugh to it.
Or Ben Shapiro when he said, Israelis like to build and Arabs like to bomb crap and live in their sewage. Or why is it that no one wants to govern the Palestinians? Suggesting that Palestinians are ungovernable and not fit to bring into your countries. And that's why they're being turned away. You know who else faced that bigotry? Jews trying to escape the Holocaust.
1939, 300,000 Germans applied for refuge here in the United States. I think only about 10,000 were allowed in. And we also turned away ships of Jews that were seeking refuge here in the United States on what basis? That they were a national security threat and could not be trusted. They could not be taken in. That's the same bigotry that's driving this.
And I want you to think about it from that perspective, how deeply offensive that is. When you have millions of Palestinians in diaspora, where have Palestinians caused trouble where they've gone? Everywhere Palestinians are, they have overcome significant hurdles to become scientists and doctors. and to grow themselves and to grow the places that they're in.
We have Palestinians that have been displaced all over the world, caused issues for people, right? So it's both racist and factually incorrect. That's not the right question that should be asked. The question that should be asked are why are these people driven from their homes? Not why won't other people around them open their homes to them?
And so I'll just share with you that even on a personal level, you know, it's really interesting because sometimes on Twitter or wherever it is, it'll be like, go back home, right? Why don't you go back home? And I'm sitting there thinking to myself like, sure. You know, my parents were driven from their homes. Yeah, sure. I was born in this country as a consequence of bad policy. Now,
I embrace my complicated identity in that regard, and I hope to be productive as an American, but I am a Palestinian. And Palestinians in diaspora that have been fortunate enough to have the ability to build and to overcome circumstances should not be an excuse for eliminating the Palestinians that remain in their homes under that torment. So this bigotry is not new.
Unfortunately, its manifestation is ugly, and we have to push back on it whenever it shows itself, no matter who it's being spoken about. How difficult has it been for people in Gaza to flee? I mean, they're blockaded from all directions. There is nowhere for people in Gaza to go. They cannot get out. And... The reality is that they don't want to leave. They do not want to leave.
The Palestinian people want to live in their land, in their homes, and to continue to produce an extension of the beautiful culture and legacy that was handed to them. They don't wanna leave.
In fact, those that have fled for whatever reason, or have been able to get out for medical treatment, or because they have some sort of citizenship in other countries, all they're talking about is going back and rebuilding. You can't bomb Palestine out of our hearts. You cannot starve Palestine out of our hearts. I think that's a critical mistake that Israel is making.
And it thinks that if it destroys Gaza enough, if it wipes out all the buildings, that people will never want to come back. We don't want to go anywhere as a Palestinian people. you know, in a way that would remove us from our homes. The Palestinian people are proud people. Yeah, you've met a lot of them, right?
When you sat with Muhammad al-Quradur people in East Jerusalem, what those people have been subjected to, you know, the harassment. Like, think about the tenacity and the character that it takes to still... try to walk back into your home after an intruder has been brought in by the state that's sitting in your living room that is pushing you around and you're saying, I'm not leaving my home.
This is literally what's been happening in East Jerusalem. And we're not going anywhere. I think those of us that are in diaspora, Palestine is not leaving our hearts. And those of us that are still there are not leaving their land. And the world has to make the occupier more accountable, not tell the occupied how to cope.
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