Yasir Qadhi – Fiery Speech at the MIT Encampment
AI: Summary ©
A representative from the United States' Fourth Hall of Fame warns of the "rockets of the world" and upcoming protests in the Middle East, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the complexion of the situation and creating proper understanding of the reality. The clerk discusses the use of anti-emigrism tactics and the importance of peace and human rights, while also addressing the issue of the United States supporting Israel and the money for education and infrastructure. The speaker urges schools to stop being silenced and show their voices, while calling for students to protest against their demands and actions.AI: Transcript ©
Good evening. How are you all doing? Whoo.
It's my honor to speak to you here
today.
My name is Yasser Kadi. I am the
president of the 5th Council of North America.
I have a PhD Islamic Studies from Yale.
I am a cleric and a professor and
the dean of Islamic Studies at the Islamic
Seminary of America. I've been speaking at protests
across the country.
2 days ago, I was in Ohio State
where the state troopers were called in, 40
people arrested.
10 of our sisters, their hijabs were pulled
off. So they they decided to hold a
protest with 2,000 people. They invited me to
speak and deliver their Friday sermon. I was
there. Last week, I was at Yale, spoke
over there, the week before other universities. So
I was speaking around the campuses that are
protesting about Palestine, and I wanna say I
have never been more
optimistic about the future than I am right
now.
It's great to see so many people of
diverse backgrounds come together for a very basic
cause. Now, I don't wanna give you a
long lecture. I'm a professor, so it is
a problem. I'm gonna try not to lecture
you, but I wanna just give you a
few points. Point number 1.
1 of the biggest misconceptions
about the reality of what's happening in the
Middle East is that you are told that
it is super complicated.
You are told that it's a really difficult
situation. There's multiple views and multiple angles. You
are told that there's been conflict in that
region for centuries centuries.
Nothing could be further from the truth. What
is happening in the Middle East is very
very simple. You do not need a PhD
in political science to understand that reality. What
is happening is you have on the one
side an oppressor, you have on the one
side a colonizer,
and you have on the other side the
oppressed and the colonized. You have on the
one side a group of people that have
come in from foreign lands and displaced
over 2,000,000 people from their own lands. Ask
one simple question.
Where are the people of Gaza originally from?
Why are they behind 50 foot walls? I
have visited that country half a dozen times.
I have seen with my own eyes those
50 foot walls behind which it is what
our president Jimmy Carter called the largest open
air prison in the world. Where did those
people come from? Their origin is they are
refugees in their own lands. They have been
displaced from their own houses that are literally
a mile or 2 away. These are refugees
that have been expelled
multiple times in 1947,
in 1963,
in the 2000, they have been expelled over
and over again. You now have 3rd generation
Palestinians
born and raised behind a wall, having been
deprived of basic freedoms, being treated worse than
we treat our animals and our pets. And
so do not let anybody obfuscate their reality.
What is happening in the Middle East is
straight up colonization, straight up
colonization, straight up genocide, and let no two
people have any disagreements about that. That's my
first point.
The second reality,
the second tactic that is used
is to bring up a really awkward incident.
And I'm gonna say that incident. That's October
7th. And to bring up a political party.
But I'm gonna say loudly and clearly, what
is happening in Gaza is beyond one political
party. We are not here supporting 1 political
party. We are supporting
Palestinians. We are supporting human beings.
And history
did not begin on October 7th. I am
not here to justify or to criticize. I
don't care about that one particular day. I'm
asking where did these people come from and
why are there 2,000,000 people locked behind a
massive wall? My question is not about one
day. My question is not about one incident.
My question is is about an entire population
and an entire people that have been driven
out from their lands, that have been stigmatized,
that have been demonized, that have been considered
to be lesser than human. They do not
have a passport. They do not have the
rights of education.
The highest joblessness
rates in the world are behind chazah. The
highest rates of children dying because of malnutrition
are behind the walls of chazah. So, that's
what I'm here to protest. I'm not here
in support of any genocide. I'm here in
support of peace and let nobody else tell
you otherwise.
The third reality I wanna bring up is
that once again, one of the tactics they
use to obfuscate the obvious,
one of the tactics they use is the
false charge of anti semitism.
So let me be clear. I am a
Muslim. I'm a Muslim cleric. We must denounce
anti semitism. We are against anti semitism.
We will not support
anything that categorizes people of all faiths in
a malicious manner. But listen to me. I
am a Muslim cleric. If I criticize the
Taliban for their policies, that's not Islamophobia.
If I criticize Middle Eastern tyrannical regimes for
their policies, that is not Islamophobia.
So then, why is that anti semitism
when I criticize the policies of a nation
state
called
Israel.
There is no anti semitism
in criticizing the policies
that have disenfranchised
2,000,000 people, that have deprived an entire civilization
of basic human rights, of basic dignity to
criticize that policy is not to criticize the
faith. And how can we criticize the faith
when members of that faith are standing with
us and amongst us, and we thank god
for their presence amongst us.
And it is truly sad
that our congress has passed a bill
in which they attempt to silence our free
speech, and they've equated
criticism of a nation state with criticism of
a faith.
Nothing could be further from the truth, which
leads me to my 4th point.
One of the reasons why we're standing here
today
is the fact that our own country,
our own country I was born and raised
in this land, and I love this country,
and this country really is one of the
greatest nations on earth, yet still
there are aspects of it that really distress
me. And of those aspects is the fact
for that for reasons beyond my understanding,
for some bizarre reason, it is our country
that is directly
aiding and abetting that genocide.
It is our country
that unilaterally
do you know Do you know that in
the last 50 years, our country has utilized
its veto in the UN almost 95 times,
and 50 of those times,
more than half have been in favor to
make sure that no other country criticizes the
policies of Israel. We have used our veto
for Israel more than we have we used
for ourselves.
Are we interested in our country or in
another country? We have given more in foreign
aid to Israel than we have in all
other countries combined.
Every single year, we give 1,000,000,000 of dollars,
and I'm wondering, we have homelessness problems in
America. We have education problems in America. We
have so many issues here. Listen, Why are
we involved in a war that has nothing
to do with us?
Why are 1,000,000,000 of our dollars being spent
on the wrong side of history?
As an American citizen,
this is insulting and I have to stand
up and say enough is enough. Are we
not tired of going to war? Are we
not tired of spending money on bombs? Are
we not tired of killing and killing?
No more money for bombs. Let's spend that
money on ourselves for education.
Let's spend that money on our own infrastructure.
So I'm here as an American to protest
against my own country when it is on
the wrong side of history, and when it
is aiding and abetting the wrong side and
helping genocide?
Do you know that every single large bomb
that falls on innocent
Palestinians, it is made in the US of
aid? Do you know that most of the
technology that the IDF uses to target innocent
civilians, It is made and sold by the
US of aid. Enough is enough. This is
our country aiding and enabling genocide and true
patriotism.
True patriotism
is not to listen to status quo. It
is not to tow the party line. True
patriotism
is to speak out when your country is
wrong and try to correct it to make
it right. And I consider myself to be
a patriot of this country, and I want
my country to be morally superior than all
other countries. That's not gonna happen if we're
aiding and abetting a nation that is committing
genocide against an innocent population. So that's the
4th reason I'm here.
And the 5th and final reason,
which is truly something that should incense every
single one of you.
The clear double standards
that are being demonstrated
across this noble country.
The double standards of attempting to silence your
reasonable demands and to silence your
that you have the right to protest and
you have the right that your voices are
heard. Why is it that selectively
across the country and has spoken at half
a dozen rallies, Across the country,
our voices are being silenced
only when it comes to Palestine.
Across the country, I'm from Texas, I flew
in from Dallas. At the University of Texas,
the governor sent in the troops against students.
40 students at UT were arrested. 40 students,
some of them my own sons and daughters
friends. They were arrested for protesting.
The governor
sent in the state troopers.
Have we not learned from history? Vietnam all
over again. You're gonna send an army
army against your own students. Anytime the government
sends the army against the students, history has
shown the government was wrong, the army was
wrong, and the students were right. And all
of you are right, right, right, right now.
Students,
I wanna say loudly and clearly
that collectively
our voices cannot and will not be silenced.
They cannot
silence the truth. They cannot silence the genocide.
They cannot silence all of our voices. They're
scared and that's why they're sending the troops
in. They're scared. And so administrations
are passing laws so that you are not
allowed to protest. I was at another campus
and they told me administration is meeting at
night to make new laws that are unprecedented
to target the rallies for Palestine.
That's so unethical.
That is so hypocritical,
and we will not tolerate anybody of conscience.
Anybody who believes in the constitution
must stand up for the rights of our
students to protest. For the rights of them
to not face violent police mobs, to not
face the army being called in against them.
So we're protesting
for the freedoms we cherish in this land.
We're protesting so that nobody ever takes those
freedoms away. We haven't seen these types of
scenes since the 19 seventies
when the troops were sent in, when students
were protesting against Vietnam. And unfortunately, that resulted
in a bloodbath as you're all aware, but
that bloodbath was the turning tide and the
people's perception of Vietnam changed. This is not
the only time students are protesting. Students have
protested across these centuries of this country. They
protested in favor of the civil rights. They
protested against discriminatory
policies, against African Americans in the 19 forties.
They protested against Vietnam in the seventies. They
protested against is against the against South Africa
and the apartheid regime of South Africa. In
every single instance, the students were right and
the government was wrong. Therefore, I wanna conclude
on this note. All of you, every one
of you, you should be proud of yourselves.
You are standing on the right side of
history.
You are standing with the people who are
oppressed. You are standing for that which is
ethical, that which is moral. You're standing for
truth and justice and decades from now when
there will be a free Palestine, you will
be able to tell your children that I
did what I could, and I spoke out,
and I attempted to influence, and I was
a part of that revolution
that call for the freedom and the dignity
of a civilization that had been oppressed for
far too long. So may God bless you
and may God bless this country to be
correct and guide in its morality. And thank
you all.
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