Yasir Qadhi – Crisis in Gaza – Background and History

			Sisters and brothers, we are now facing a crisis for Muslims, our Muslim brothers and sisters in
Gaza, the likes of which we have not seen for over three decades. And we just found out today that
there is a strong possibility of a ground assault while long was done. And today they allowed a
trickle of aid to come in. There were hundreds of trucks and buses lined up for aid. And the UN only
allowed 20 buses to come in 20 buses to feed over 2 million people 20 only. So Subhanallah we are
facing a crises the likes of which we haven't seen, as we said, for multiple decades. So today, what
I'm going to try to do as usual, time is limited. I want to be specific and practical. I hope you've
		

			listened to my hug buzz and lectures in the last week. I have said bluntly and boldly and clearly
every one of us needs to be involved in the war of the mind, the war of perception, the War of the
media, we cannot be involved in the physical war. That's not our task. We are living over here. But
there is a war that in the long run is even more important, no matter how painful it is to say we're
not trying to trivialize. But in the long run, the war of perception, and the war of PR and the war
of aid. Because all Muslims of America, we are the umbilical cord of that apartheid regime. By we I
mean our country, the only reason that country is doing what it is doing is because it has the green
		

			light from the superpowers and number one is us. If our country pulled back, if our country
withdrew, then the entire
		

			game will change over there. So we have a moral duty and responsibility as citizens of this land.
This is not some stealth, Islamic Jihad. This is democracy in action.
		

			And it's about time as Muslims embraced the power and potential we have to influence politics,
influence the media and influence fellow Americans. In order to do that. Two things are necessary
more than two but I mentioned to number one,
		

			you yourselves have to go out there and engage. If you're not going to engage who will you have to
become voices of reason. Voices of sanity, voices of truth, to counter the falsehoods and the
narrative that is evil and Boulton. It is so easy for me I share he asked her at Epic Masjid to rile
you up. But Wallah, he sisters and brothers, the real job is yours, not mine.
		

			You have the real job, not mine. Because Allah has tested and blessed me to be saved by all of you
here. I don't live in your world. I don't work in your corporations. These days. I'm not even
employed by university I used to be for 10 years and if I had been even my tone would be different.
I have the luxury of bluntly saying I am not going to condemn the fight of an oppressed people. I
have that luxury but you don't. So what can I do to help you all?
		

			Let me help you with statistics and facts. And this leads me to my second point. Number one, you
need to be brave and courageous. And number two, you need to be armed by armed here. I don't mean
Second Amendment even though that is Chaturvedi and Highlander no problem. Anybody comes in says
you're preaching jihad. I say no, no, I'm an American preaching Second Amendment rights for American
Muslims. Okay, but no, I'm not preaching that. No worry, even though we should have that preach that
your preach that he'll preach that I'm actually I'm not a big fan of the Second Amendment. But
anyway, it is what it isn't. So he wants to preach that go ahead. By the way, I wasn't a big fan
		

			until the death threats started coming in towards me. All of a sudden I flipped I became a waiver of
the Second Amendment and I had to get a license and everything and actually did get a gun after the
death threats game against me. But anyway.
		

			When I say you have to be armed to the teeth,
		

			I mean, armed with the knowledge, armed with facts, armed with statistics. And so in the next 20
minutes or so,
		

			I will try to summarize key talking points. I hope you can take notes, or at least listen to the
recording as me going to be posted online. Okay, it will be posted online. And may Allah protect us
from the evils of memory, the Joseph Goebbels of our times, and a Fox News. These are evil entities
that are extensions of the IDF extensions of the Israeli intelligence, and they have no morals like
their own bosses,
		

			sisters and brothers,
		

			you're going to be asked a simple question. Do you condemn the terrorist group Hamas? And do you
condemn the innocent killing that they have done of innocent the killing of innocent people?
		

			In my hutzpah, I have said, I have no problems telling the generic truth, which is our religion does
not ever sanction the killing of innocent people. I have no problem saying this. But I personally
don't need to condemn specific actions because I'm not in the place you are, I will only condemn i
power asked and public I will say, I will only condemn. If we fairly condemn all sides, the minute
you want to fairly condemn, I will be at the forefront condemning my own no problem. But if you're
going to be selective in your outrage, and if you're going to pick and choose who to condemn, then
I'm sorry, I'm not going to play according to your rules. That having been said, you might not have
		

			that type of luxury. So I say to you, Islamically, there is no problem condemning haram tactics, and
the killing of innocents is a haram tactic. So if you want to condemn you go ahead and condemn no
problem. But once you've done that, now, you've gotten that big elephant out of the room understand
the whole perception, the whole freezing, Do you condemn? This is a setup.
		

			This is a setup, you're being set up. It is not a conversation, it is a put down. So you need to
understand this is a what is called a red herring, red herring, you throw in an argument that is not
fully relevant. And you spend hours and hours talking about an irrelevant argument, because it is a
red herring, go ahead and just take the bait and then move on. Not a problem. Say yes, I condemn the
killing of innocent people. Now, once we've done that, they're going to say, Okay, does Israel have
the right to defend itself? Go ahead, say, yes, every people have the right to defend themselves.
Now that they've thrown the red herrings at you. They don't know what else to do, because you've
		

			actually played the game properly. Now, immediately, you go in for your round. And you say, you have
said the killing of innocence is a crime. And you have said, a group has the right to defend itself.
Now, is it permissible for the Palestinians to defend themselves? Is it permissible for the Israelis
to kill innocents, you need to go in for facts now. And in order to go in for facts, you need to
memorize key statistics, key knowledge you need to study sisters and brothers. Because the vast
majority of people who are going to engage with conversation with you have no idea of the realities
of Gaza, the realities of the West Bank, the realities of life under occupation, they have no idea.
		

			And they think these are one people, these are another people and for no reason the Palestinians are
attacking the Israelis, they are that disconnected from reality, you will have to be patient, you
will have to control your temper. And you will literally have to quote them facts and statistics and
figures. In order to do that. You're gonna have to study beyond the 15 minute lecture by me. I will
give you some references. I will tell you where to look up. But I'm going to summarize for us here
in the audience. Understand
		

			that Rosa?
		

			Rosa
		

			was not assigned to Israel, even under the 1948 Partition Plan. It's not legal for Israel to be
there, according to any law. And that is why even the United Nations calls it occupied territory.
You need to know this fact that Azusa is occupied territory. When was it occupied? What happened in
1948? As you're aware, we don't agree with this. But if you want to be legal say Israel was assigned
55% of the country and the Palestinians were given 45% Even we don't like that, but it is what it
is. And Israel immediately tried to grab more than 55% in the process.
		

			They expelled over 200,000 Palestinians to a strip of land next to Egypt called Huzzah. So LAHSA was
under Egyptian control, the Gaza was under Egyptian control. And even in 1948, a quarter of a
million Palestinians had to flee for their lives, and they took refuge in Gaza. In 1967,
		

			Israel launched a second offensive to grab even more land. And in 1967, it acquired the entire Sinai
Peninsula from Egypt. It literally came in and took it. And it acquired the West Bank novelist and
all of these cities, it simply grabbed them, and it attacked Jerusalem. And it acquired Jerusalem as
well. Jerusalem, the United Nations said should be neutral territory, nobody should control that
single handedly, Jerusalem should be not controlled by Israel. But in 67, Israel launched an
offensive and they acquired they gobbled up Lhasa, the West Bank and Jerusalem. This is where the
story begins. Not the seventh of October, not the Hamas attacks, the story begins by greed, by
		

			oppression by occupation.
		

			If you want to begin 67, that's fine. If you want to go back to 48, that's fine as well. You need to
tell them you cannot start the story. The movie does not start from the seventh of October. The
story starts from before now how about do you want to go you have to judge how much time you have,
you really wanted to go back, go back to the ball for declaration if you want to do but most people
don't have that bandwidth, at least go back to 67. In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and
occupied Gaza. And throughout the 70s and 80s. It now has control of around 750,000 people in Gaza
in the 70s. There were 750. Now it's 2,000,002 point 2 million, that same population. And they began
		

			to restrict the lives, the jobs, the education, the movement of the people in Gaza, they took
control. And they started banning all types of protests, all types of political activity. And they
started rescinding permits, Lazar is connected to the ocean has is connected to the Mediterranean,
Mediterranean Ocean, one land one border with Egypt. And then in large Mediterranean Ocean, the
people of Gaza would farm and they would fish. That's how they're earning their livelihood. Israel
comes in and says in order to fish, you need a permit. In order to farm you need a permit. In order
to build houses, you need a permit. Now, technically, every country has this if I want to go hunting
		

			in America, I need a permit. But what's going to happen when the Palestinians are not given permits,
and settlers who come from America from Europe are given permits right outside the border. The land
is there. But the people that are living on it are not allowed to farm the land. The ocean is in
front of you. But for technicalities, you're not allowed to fish in the ocean. Only the people in
Tel Aviv the Israelis can come over they can take and come in and fish in front of you. You will not
be given a permit to fish. You want to build a house technicalities, you're not going to get a
permit to build a house, you want to correct the sewage system, you're not allowed, by the way for
		

			30 years, the sewage system of Gaza has not been allowed to be corrected. The same pipes that were
built 30 years ago, 40 years ago are still there. Can you imagine the problems that they have here?
Why? Because Israel did not allow permits? What are people going to do? Well, whether we get
permission or we need to build houses. And so they build houses and houses, they build buildings in
Gaza without permits. What's going to happen? Your son was found throwing a pebble at the tank.
Israel is going to come in and say oh, your son did this. Guess what? You don't have a permit for
your house. Why do you not have a permit for your house? Because you weren't given one you kept on
		

			applying. You kept on going and they kept on delaying. So there will tear your entire apartment,
your entire house down and the UN comes America comes Oh, I'm sorry. This is not he just didn't have
a permit. You see, they're playing games here. He didn't have a permit. They didn't have a permit to
now because the electricity, the water, the internet, everything is controlled by Israel, the land
outside controlled by Israel, the ocean controlled by Israel. So throughout the 60s and 70s the
oppression continues to rise and even the most trivial of issues you want to visit your family
outside of
		

			As you need to get a permit in the 70s, they built a fence wall so that if you wanted to go outside,
you needed to show a permit. The people of Gaza do not have passports, you don't have passports
because you're not you can't get Israeli citizenship because it's not Israeli land in the first
place. Not that the Palestinians don't even want Israeli citizenship. So the people of Gaza are
stateless, they're powerless. They have no lives. They have no potential for jobs. Their education
is not even second, it's third class. So Israel continue to increase the laws against the people of
Gaza. Until finally, again being very quickly in 1987. The first intifada comes what is the
		

			Intifada? The Intifada was a mass protest began in Gaza, and also the West Bank.
		

			Both of us and the West Bank are occupied. But the West Bank has a slightly better livelihood than
Kazaa for reasons that are self evidence, the location, the strategy that people the Intifada begins
in Missouri and the West Bank 10s of 1000s of Palestinians march in protest. And the Israelis
respond with the one weapon they know best sheer brutality, to imprison to kill to shoot people that
are throwing pebbles.
		

			The Israeli tactic is very simple. They will respond to any violence with at least 10 times more
violence. That is their response. It has been the case for the last 40 years. In the 70s and 80s.
They began instituting brutal policies, if your family member was caught, being involved in
political agitation throwing a rock or stone, the entire family would be penalized. This is the law
in Israel. In the 90s, actually late 80s 90s, the Israeli Supreme Court allowed to listen to this,
the breaking of the bones of children who throw rocks at the Israeli security. It is legal, it was
legal for Israeli IDF soldiers for police to literally find a child that is throwing a stone that
		

			is, you know, doing whatever it can do to fight oppression. And literally right then and there,
break his hand into with a rock. I wish I could show you footage. But it is gruesome, but it is on
YouTube. It is on YouTube, Israeli soldiers breaking the bones of children. This was sanctioned and
considered legal.
		

			I want you to understand now you tell your interlocutor. What will it take to allow Palestinians to
defend their rights? You want Israel to defend its rights? What will it take for the Palestinians to
defend their rights to live, to be free to be treated with dignity? Obviously, when you're going to
treat an entire population in this manner, what is going to happen? Their levels of anger are going
to rise. It's human nature. And their attacks are also going to rise. In response to this. Israel
decided to lock in Gaza, effectively as an open air prison. And so in the early 2000s, they spent
billions of dollars much of it is coming from our taxpayers. They spent billions of dollars building
		

			a 50 foot cement wall, you have to see it to believe it. It is as tall as this wall over here. I've
seen it multiple times. You go there and you see this, literally an entire massive cement wall with
barbed wire at the top. behind that wall is a slum 2 million people, no jobs, barely able to educate
because they're not allowed no careers. They're not allowed to learn, earn live a dignified life,
their movement is controlled 100% If you need to leave you need permission, you will not be granted
permission except with a long list of conditions and even then the whims of the guards whatever they
want to do in the 1980s By the way, and the 1980s a, a neutral agency did a survey of the people of
		

			Azusa and I have some statistics over here. Over 50% of the this is in the 80s Not now now is even
more over 50% said that they are their immediate family members had been tortured by Israeli police
over 50% said that they or their immediate family members have had their houses destroyed. Over 17%
said that sorry, overseas
		

			60% said they faced harassment at the checkpoints, harassment by the guards at the checkpoints. And
I have a whole bunch of other statistics. Now imagine, you cannot live you cannot build, you cannot
move, and you are trapped in an open air prison. Multiple authorities have claimed that it was a is
the largest open air present in the world, including our own president Jimmy Carter, multiple
people. Nelson Mandela has called this to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, his
grandson, his grandson said I visited Gaza. And the apartheid that they face listen to this is in
many ways worse than our apartheid in South Africa. Now, I need you to understand this point,
		

			somebody who lived under apartheid, somebody who witnessed real apartheid, when they visit husba.
They say this is worse than South Africa. These aren't Muslims. These aren't clerics. This isn't
Hamas. This is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This is the grandson of Nelson Mandela. Why is it worse, I
need you to understand this point. In South Africa. The whites wanted the blacks to be second class
citizens. They never wanted to destroy them. They never wanted to eliminate them. And they hate
them. They just wanted them to be second class citizens, you're lesser than us, they would say. And
there's different jobs, different status, but they were allowed to live freely in their own
		

			encampments, there was no restriction on their lives where they lived, there was only a restriction
in certain areas where the whites lived.
		

			As for the people of Gaza, the Israelis don't want them there. They actually would prefer if they
weren't existent. If they could, they wouldn't annihilate them. That's the reality, but they can't
because of public pressure. That's why they want to kick them out. The South Africans, the whites
never wanted to kick the blacks out. So the level of of apartheid, that exists in Gaza is worse than
the apartheid in South Africa. And the people who said this lived under a South African apartheid,
it's unparalleled anywhere in the world, because the people that are controlling Gaza don't want
these 2 million people alive. They want to do everything they can to just kick them out to Egypt, to
		

			Jordan to other places, they don't want them there. They want to make life a living * for them.
So how long before they're going to attack back? And therefore as I said, as the attacks increased,
the Israeli response has always been the same response. There is no negotiation. There is no two
state solution on the table. God, God forbid, they never want a one state solution. The one state
solution, which would be everybody lived together. Israelis don't want it because numerically,
Palestinians outnumber them was a three to one four to one, if you were to have a one state
solution, a pure democracy, give everybody equal rights, the Palestinians will outnumber them. So
		

			here's the brutal reality, oh, Muslims, Israelis don't have a proper solution in sight. There is no
solution.
		

			There cannot be a two state because they don't want to give an actual state, they cannot just absorb
them back in. So they're stuck. And the only thing they know how to do then is more repression, more
repression, more repression. But where will that head? Where will that lead? Even? They don't have
an answer.
		

			Allah who was Stan, it's either gonna be Allahumma Stan,
		

			I don't even want to use the word here. But an elimination of these people will not understand. Or
it's going to be an all out war. I can't see a third option, unless the Israelis actually agreed to
a one state. And if they do, then it's up to the Muslims and the Palestinians if they want it or
not. It's not my position to say yes or no. But they're never going to want this. So then what is
the alternative? What is the solution? What is the future? Here's the brutal fact. That's why every
piece talk has failed. That's why even the super powers don't know what to do. What do you do with 2
million people? What do you do with them? 2.2 million, there is no solution. So when your
		

			interlocutor one, your boss, when your colleague comes, you need to bring it back to this reality.
These 2.2 million people, they've been locked up by the oppressor. What would you do if you were
locked up? What would you do for three generations? You have no future no hope. There's no clean
water, no jobs there. No security, constantly harassed, constantly intimidated. And then you bring
in if you really want to, you don't have to, but to bring in this country. And its founding fathers,
our founding fathers I say this as an American. I am an American at the end of the day, they
revolted.
		

			Because
		

			the stamp price went up by a few pennies
		

			that's why they revolted you know this the Stamp Tax because they were going to tax T. They killed
soldiers and King George's army. They rebelled against England, because the price of stamps went up.
		

			If you think it is permissible to rebel and revolt and become violent, because the price of stamps
went up, then what do you think about a people who have no future? A people who for three
generations have been locked up? When will they have the right to fight for their freedoms, we can
agree the tactics, whatever they might be, we can agree, but do they not have the right for
freedoms. So bottom line, and with this inshallah conclude and pass it over to
		

			Hassan Shibly, bottom line is very simple.
		

			Do not get involved in the tactics of a particular organization. I didn't even mention them today in
my talk, because I don't need to, when people are oppressed, you're going to have multiple tactics,
you're gonna have tactics that are more peaceful, you're gonna have tactics that are more violent.
The solution is not to talk about the violent tactics, the solution is to solve the oppression.
		

			The solution is to go back to the core of the reality, what the government what the media wants you
to do, what the Israelis wants you to do is to concentrate on one organization and its tactics. And
I'm telling you don't fall for that. Don't fall for that. If you need to get rid of the
organization, call us organized, if you want to, I'm not going to do that. For the record. I'm not
going to do that. But I have the luxury of not doing that. But if you don't have the luxury No
problem, just get rid of the organism has the organization's evil as as evil as you want it to be no
problem. What do we do with 2.2 million people? Bring it back to the bigger question. What do you do
		

			with the people that have been mistreated, that have been occupied that have been forced to flee?
What do we do with people who have no future that are being kept in jail? Solve that problem? You
want me to condemn or condemn as what you as you want? Will you condemn what's happening to 2.2
million people? This is the narrative we need to change and I'm going to give you two or three
references and resources. Firstly, one of the best websites that I encourage everybody to write down
if Americans knew dot orgy if Americans knew dot o RG this website is made by an American lady a
Christian American lady she visited Larissa she visited fell asleep as a patriotic you know,
		

			evangelical Christian, and what she saw completely changed her mind and even though she's still a
Christian, but she is now an ardent supporter of Palestinian rights and she's done an amazing job if
Americans knew dot o RG
		

			if Americans knew dot o RG one word if Americans knew dot orgy secondly, to people you need to
listen to and their books read if you want to get more advanced
		

			or you can even listen to their interviews online.
		

			Miko Pillet who came here we invited him to Epic. Am I K O. P E. l Ed Miko Pillet his father was one
of the generals who led the campaign in 1967. To conquer these lands. His father was one of the
senior generals in the military. His grandfather was one of the signatories of Israel's
constitution, the founders of Israel, he comes from as patriotic Israeli Zionist family as possible.
We invited him to Epic two years before the pandemic three years ago, I invited him he was right
here. Miko Pillet his own niece was killed in an attack by a person from Gaza. A Palestinian did an
attack and his own flesh and blood was killed. This was back in the 80s.
		

			And he wondered what would cause so the one who killed the Palestinian lady who did it? She was a
1718 year old and her his niece was also 1718 year old. He began to think why would an 18 year old
girl be so angry she wants to go and blow up a bomb in a crowd where another 18 year old girl dies.
And up until that point in time, he had never bothered to study the Palestinian side. When he began
to study here in America, the Palestinian side he completely flipped and he is now one of the most
ardent
		

			untag antagonist to Zionism even though his family pedigree is as high as you can get. So make sure
you listen to Miko peel that he came here. He has multiple talks online, one other person Amen
		

			And there's so much more but again toxin books, Elan puppy i l a n Ilan puppy a p a p p e. Again,
I'm quoting the Israelis and I don't even need to quote Palestinians for this. Ilan Poppy. Ilan
Poppy did a PhD from Oxford University, born and raised in Israel complete Israeli through and
through. And he went to the PhD in Oxford University. And in Oxford, his PhD was about the creation
of Israel. And he came across the documents from the British government about the Israeli tactics
and whatnot. And this caused him to change his entire mind and career.
		

			Ilan Poppy, has done the most extensive documentation of Israeli genocide against Palestinians,
beginning not to 1967 in 1948, and documenting every single act of genocide and ethnic cleansing, he
uses the term genocide and ethnic cleansing. And this isn't an A Rob is not a Muslim is not a
Palestinian. This is an Israeli historian who began to expose the crimes of his own country, for
which he got death threats. He was fired from his job in Israel, he could not work in Israel, he had
to flee the country. And so now he is a professor, as in Canada, or America, he's a professor
somewhere over here. And of course, the Israelis hate him with a passion. But he's saying these are
		

			facts. These are facts. You guys intentionally had it. In your mind, this is what he says. And
that's why you need to listen to him to ethnically cleanse as many Palestinians as you could, you
wanted to kill them from day one. And these are all the proofs that you have, and you still want to
kill them. You can imagine he's not too popular in Israeli circles. I wish we supported him and did
more, but it is what it is. He's an intellectual. He's an academic. He's a historian, and he has
actual evidence from the beginning. This was your plan, ethnic cleansing and genocide. He's accusing
the Israelis have this and he has seven books on the subject, different eras different going back to
		

			1948. You don't have to read all the books, just listen to him talk, do a Google go on YouTube, Elon
Poppy, he actually gave an interview two days ago in Berkeley, where once again, he mentioned all of
these facts here. These are facts you need to know. So bottom line,
		

			you need to do your homework. You need to memorize key talking points. And then you need to go and
engage in dialogue. And I want to bring in Hassan Shibly with a question. Yeah, Hassan, you are the
lawyer, you are the jurist, you are the fuckery of American law.
		

			What happens if your corporation doesn't like you talking about Palestine? What rights do we have?
If you put a Facebook post and you say, I support the Palestinian cause. Next day, your boss calls
you and says, Is this you? You say? Yeah, that's me. And he might fire you. What is the legal
backing that we have here? When it comes to our First Amendment rights expressing our positions? And
what recourse do we have if we get pushed back?
		

			Either
		

			call
		

			me, Ms. De hatin doll Seanie with
		

			me, we went to fifth
		

			Sunday
		

			we took my journey
		

			down