Ep 226. - The Abraham Accords and the Arab Street with Dr. Tareq Al-Suwaidan (Archive)
As the Israeli war machine is in full motion, the position of the West lays bare the hollowness of its claims to observe international law. With every US-manufactured bomb dropped on Gaza, the vacuousness of its liberal world order is exposed to Muslims and the world. Yet what can we do about this situation? Lately, many governments have queued up to sign the so-called Abraham Accords with the apartheid state, and it has been concluded that the Arabs no longer care for the Palestinian cause. Today, we get a real feel for the ‘Arab street’ and what Palestine means to Muslims in the region.
Our guest this episode is Dr. Tareq Al-Suwaidan. He is the CEO and owner of Gulf Innovation Group in Kuwait and was the General Manager of Al-Resalah Satellite TV - ranked among the highest in the Middle East.
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Transcript -
Introduction
0:00
if your own country is occupied what would you do you would resist using all methods i have
0:07
seen Starbucks here in Kuwait if you go to any branch today wah you will not see one sword they
0:14
have lost the strategic war the only war that they won is killing babies your youth have the
0:22
two powers in their hand they have the power of Islam and they have the power of the western world
0:31
they know what is going on as the Israeli war machine is in full motion the position of the West
0:40
lays bare the hollowess of its claims to observe international law with every US manufactured bomb
0:46
dropped on Gaza the vacuousness of its liberal world order is exposed to Muslims and to the
0:53
world yet what can we do about the situation lately many governments have queued up to sign
0:59
the so-called Abraham Accords with the apartheid state and it has been concluded maybe by some that
1:06
Arabs no longer care for the Palestinian cause today we get a real feel for the Arab street and
1:14
what Palestine really means to Muslims in the region our guest today is Dr tariq Suede Dan
1:20
he is the CEO and owner of Gulf Innovation Group in Q8 and was the general manager of
1:27
Alisala Satellite TV which is ranked amongst the highest in the Middle East he holds a PhD from
1:34
the University of Oklahoma and lived in the US for 20 years dr the Taric is recognized as one of the
1:41
most popular Islamic speakers in the Arab world and was named amongst the 500 most influential
1:48
Muslims in 2022 dr sedan authored more than 100 books on Islam and history he uses Vira as a
1:56
source for leadership and strategic thinking he has trained more than 100,000 students in
2:02
management and leadership skills has established five American and Canadian institutes and boasts
2:08
over 18 million followers on social media dr dan it's really an honor to have you on our program
2:19
thank you for having me and it's a pleasure to have the chance to speak to the Muslims in the
2:26
west and the British audience and your audience in the whole world barafi I know it's uh it's
Is Normalisation Widely Accepted?
2:33
really a a time of tension for so many of us for all of the Muslim Ummah now let's start with the
2:41
contention I placed in the introduction there was a belief that was growing around the world
2:48
that the Arabs uh had given up on Palestine we saw the widening the broadening of the normalization
2:55
agreements the so-called Abraham Accords tell me is this a true depiction of the feeling of
3:03
ordinary Arab Muslims on the street um no it is very clear to anyone who knows the politics in
3:14
the Middle East that the Arabs are oppressed by their own governments we are not free our people
3:21
are not free our armies are used against us and that's that's a a general rule in the whole Arab
3:30
world except few countries uh one of them is my country Kuwait where we have the freedom to speak
3:35
up every country that has the chance to speak up like Libya Algeria uh Kuwait Qatar you see
3:44
huge masses while those who are oppressed are the ones that are are not clear about their position
3:53
it is very clear to us and it has been shown now that the the masses are with always have
4:00
been and are still with the Palestinian cause the governments are not not all of them at least so
4:10
uh we see a a split in the Arab world between governments on this for example
4:15
in the last meeting of the Arab summit the Libyan uh representative he said very clearly that if the
4:25
borders are open all the weapons of Libya will be provided to Hamas that is a very strong statement
4:32
kuwait for example my country uh we were in war with Israel we declared war on Israel in 1967
4:42
our our interior minister announced in in this in these events that we have been in war with
4:50
the Israelis since 1967 this has not changed we are still in war and we do not we do not recognize
4:58
Israel we do not recognize the Israeli passport and that is why for example in the lately one of
5:06
the Israelis he wanted to board one of the Kuwaiti airlines and he presented his Israeli passport and
5:14
it was refused this is a passport that we do not recognize and there was a huge fuzz about it but
5:19
Kuwait was very fixed about this so we see also of course the the the support of Qatar and the
5:27
leaders of Hamas are in Qatar today the if you want to talk about alers then Algeri had always
5:35
been the one of the strongest supporters of of the resistance in Palestine and this is on the
5:44
official level and on the masses but if you take the masses in anywhere in Saudi Arabia
5:50
in Egypt I assure you that the masses except for the few except exceptions which is very very few
6:00
are all with with the resistance and with the liberation of Palestine it is our problem Yahi
6:08
is with our governments that have been in in relationships clearly or under the table with
6:16
Isra even those who claim resistance many of them are in clear relationship for us at least
6:25
from under the table so um no it is uh very clear and we see we see the situation today you take the
6:33
demonstrations everywhere except in the places that are oppressed you don't imagine how large
6:41
demonstrations in the whole Arab world so there this is a misconception that I I hope I have
6:48
cleared local leaders and organizations started a water trucking
Donate to Baitulmaal
6:56
program as part of fighting hunger and malutrition program of Battlem battlem staff has donated about
7:05
24 trips of water tracks such as this one that you can see behind us people were dying here there was
7:13
no water kids were not going to school it has become a major issue and this is not the first time we've responded we've responded even in the past seasons but we need to find a sustainable
7:22
solution we are here on behalf of Betel Mal to meet and understand the need of these beautiful
7:27
people here this water tank the truck comes here and it supplies this well for water that
7:32
is sustainable for uh a whole week we are also distributing food rations to affected families
7:39
by drought in this region we are distributing this food to vulnerable communities who need this food
7:44
parcel we're waiting for your donation dr tar that's very clear but there is a another version
Religious Acceptance?
7:52
of the feelings in the Arab street and we see that version sometimes played out in the circles
7:58
of prominent religious figures in the region who argue that normalization is a good thing we have
8:05
had 75 years of uh Palestinian resistance but they argue this has failed this hasn't
8:12
rechieved the target and maybe normalization is another means to that end normalization
8:18
will make life easier for Palestinians and uh in the process it will make the the region far
8:26
more calmer how would you respond to to those religious clerics who endorse normalization
8:33
yeah I have not heard one one religious clerk that said this not one in the whole Arab world
8:42
this these are politicians talking these are some some Palestinian politicians politicians that are
8:50
under Abu Mazin and his followers this is some of the those who have normalized relationships with
8:58
Israel but not not one not one prominent religious leader have said this as a matter of fact it's on
9:07
the on the contrary for example the official the official MUI of Oman Khalili yesterday went on
9:18
TV and said these are our enemies and we hope that the resistance will be victorious about among them
9:27
and he made a huge dua long dua for the resistance to to conquer them and this is official this is
9:34
the official religious situation of course this is a situation with every religious clerk in in
9:40
Kuwait in Algeria in Libya in but even in the countries even in the countries that have made
9:50
relationships with Israel which is by the way we considered these countries traitors to our cause
10:00
even the religious people in these countries none one of one of them said what what you have
10:06
mentioned not one of them this is only politicians and these politicians even those for example for
10:14
we have one lady politician here in Kuwait who before these events voiced a little voice that
10:24
why don't we reconsider our relation and maybe normalize she she she went into the elections
10:34
that which happened about four months ago and she got only 400 votes in the whole country 400 and in
10:42
these events wall we did not hear her even once not in any capacity so these people are hiding
10:51
now especially after what they the whole world have seen of the war crimes that Israel is is
10:58
is committing against our people in Palestine how would you respond to that argument that resistance
Resistance after 75 years
11:05
has failed after 75 years okay it's very very simple so what's the alternative to resistance
11:15
peace so the Palestinians Yasar Arafat and the others made peace with Israel 30 years ago what
11:23
have they achieved let's look did they achieve a Palestinian state no even the lands that are
11:32
officially occupied and this is by the United Nations resolutions for example the West Bank
11:40
it is full of settlements today and the number of Israelis living in the West Bank alone have
11:48
exceeded 600,000 so this is what what peace have achieved now did it did it even uh to take uh out
12:01
the the the misery of the Palestinian people no let's let's even look even deeper than that let's
12:10
look at West Bank there's no Hamas there in West Bank there is no resistance there in West Bank now
12:17
how many have been killed in these events more than a hundred just from the West Bank how many
12:26
imprisoned 1,500 so there's no Hamas there's no resistance this is an oppressive re regime this is
12:35
an apartheid state that does not recognize the the people of Palestine let's even take a deeper look
12:43
at those who are living in the Palestinian land that was occupied in 1948 and these Palestinians
12:52
have been issued Israeli passports and they have no no choice but to take that have they been
13:01
treated fairly no they are secondass citizens and so on and so on and so on so the only thing that
13:11
Israel understands is force let's take the other side by force we took back Sinai by force we took
13:20
back Gaza by force we took back southern Lebanon so there is no chance to ask Jalal to you and to
13:31
your to any person in your audience if your own country is occupied what would you do you would
13:40
resist using all methods and you would not accept that half of your country is taken by peace and
13:49
the other half is taken by force you would not accept that so you would resist and this is the
13:55
only the only solution for the Palestinian people we have been in in this situation for a very long
14:02
period of time 75 years of occupation and we have seen that it is by force that the Israelis
14:12
listen and this has happened so many times in 1973 when Egypt took and conquered them in in
14:20
the battle when in in 2004 in 2006 in 2014 and so on so many 2018 it was only force that made them
14:32
listen and believe me it we have tried peace so our only chance is force we will free our country
14:41
with force dr sedan I hear an argument here in in the West that um this is very much a David versus
The West vs resistance
14:50
Goliath struggle the Palestinian resistance groups may have shown some level of strategic ability in
14:58
these past three weeks but the collective weight of Israel and the West is just too powerful for
15:06
uh for resistance groups to overcome how would you how would you respond yeah okay let's let's even
15:13
look at the these events a very simple question since the antifa when they started with stones
15:25
jumping to the war of 2014 with the small rockets here and there now in these latest events Israel
15:35
has been crying and the whole US support came to them even the president himself came to them never
15:45
happened in a time of war does that mean that the resistance is weak it means that they are the ones
15:52
that are weak how much weaponry have the US sent to them and France and UK and others and all of
16:01
their their leaders came over who is weak they are the ones that are weak well we have one in
16:10
all in all areas in all areas even today today on the front page of Washington Post it says
16:20
that the social media is full of celebrities supporting Palestine it I follow the Israeli
16:32
newspapers and they say we have lost the media war and of course they have lost the strategic
16:40
war the only war that they won is killing babies that is the only war which is cowardness i mean
16:50
with your huge weaponry and you are the fourth army in the world and the the maximum you can
16:57
do is kill more than 3,200 babies already this is only children this is not counting the others
17:06
3,200 and if any of your audience is still neutral I I say to them do you still have any
17:14
humanity so do you think things have changed this time i we have seen um uh battles uh for the last
Is this time different?
17:25
15 16 years between Israel and Gaza or shelling campaigns really between Israel and Gaza we have
17:32
seen as you said going back to the 75 year occupation we have seen flare ups the first
17:38
inifad the second inifada do you feel things are different this time oh definitely definitely h you
17:46
change how see um let me go back to s the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his companions
17:54
were oppressed for 13 years in Mecca and they went to Medina and in the first battle they
18:02
The second battle battle they lost you don't always win you lose some battles that's even
18:09
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the third ba battle what happened in the I'm
18:14
talking about the major battles the the third battle is that the the that the ditch that the
18:24
the the companions built around Medina yes they they brought a huge army a huge army by the way
18:32
their army part of it was the Jews 3,000 Jews were in that army and 7,000 of the Arabs but
18:41
3,000 Jews came to crush Medina to crush Islam and they were stamped by this trench for about
18:50
uh a whole month what happened during the month it was it it was a test of faith and the prophet
18:59
sallall alaihi wasallam started the battle with about 1,000 person with him at the last days it
19:08
is only 300 300 in front of 10,000 and then they couldn't win and they couldn't stay by the way
19:19
Israel is in the same situation if they keep this for three four months they are the ones
19:25
that are going to lose because their economy is is collapsing the their econ their their uh shik
19:35
money is has lost already 30% they have pulled this reserves 360,000 where did they come from
19:44
they came from jobs and all of these jobs have stopped and of course their airline crushed their
19:51
uh tourism crushed u their their stock market 10% down and so on they have lost in the first
20:03
three weeks only the first three weeks they have lost more than 100 billion while while
20:10
the the whole support of the US to them is 14 billion even America cannot support them now
20:19
because they have a huge war in Ukraine Ukraine that that's happening and they cannot support
20:26
both so who's winning who's winning we started this conversation by talking about the so-called
Young and Old Divide?
20:34
Arab street and again I live here in in Britain and Western commentators often comment about the
20:42
divide between the elderly and the Shabbat the the youth uh the majority of the Arab street today are
20:50
young people in the Muslim world the majority are young people and there is this belief that
20:57
uh the young the youth in the Muslim world they don't experience the same level of
21:03
uh fear uh uh that maybe uh uh you know impacted the elderly generation do you see I mean you are
21:12
someone who who speaks to many of the Arab youth through your strategic uh leadership conferences
21:19
do you see that difference between young people and old people in the Arab world and is that a good sign okay let's let's leave the Arab people aside let's look at the American people i saw
21:31
today on the news a statistics about this question the divide between the youth and the adults in
21:41
America and their support of Israel between these generations it has shrunk started with
21:52
84% about 30 years ago now it is at 48% and that is in America itself my my children are
22:06
in the states studying there and they tell me that what is happening in campuses is is
22:13
unbelievable Today please anyone of you just open the website and take a look at
22:21
Washington Post and see the front page today and you will see that they they mention in on
22:31
the front page it is unbelievable that the amount of support on social media that the
22:40
celebrities have announced even the celebrities in the state so now let's go back to the Arab
22:48
masses yeah for example let's let's take a check on one very simple the boycott the boycott for
22:58
Starbucks and Burger King and McDonald's and KFC and you do not imagine what's happening
23:06
here i have seen Starbucks here in Kuwait and they have they have I don't know at least 100
23:15
branches in this small country i have seen one of the branches with people lining up for more than
23:23
half an hour to get a chance to get a coffee now I swear if you go to any branch today wah you will
23:31
not see one sword to the level that they have they made announcements on newspapers and everywhere we
23:42
have no relation with Israel yes you might not have a relation with ship with Israel that your
23:47
mother company have announced its support to to Israel and if any of you have any relation with
23:56
any business in the west please tell them that if they do have any relation with Israel any support
24:04
with Israel we will crush their business in the whole not Arab world the whole Muslim world today
24:11
there is a huge movement a huge movement not only among the Arab youth am there is a coalition that
24:18
is happening in the whole Muslim world and I have been supporting that so I know what's going on in
24:25
the whole Muslim world in the whole not Arab world the whole Muslim world a coalition among the youth
24:31
to crush any business that have any relationship with Israel so yes when Israel 10 million people
24:40
you will lose two billion it is your choice do you think uh these boycott plans are long-term
The Boycott of Israel
24:50
um I remember uh Dr suedan after the Iraq war invasion or after the Afghanistan invasion there
24:58
was a similar campaign to boycott McDonald's and Burger King uh but these places became full
25:04
within a few years time um that is true that is true how how uh convinced are you that this time
25:11
around it's going to be different yes okay this is very important question i have seen that too
25:17
and I have seen the boycott not only in the Iraq war even before that and what is different what
25:24
is different is that at that time there were calls and there was a response what is different today
25:33
today it is not calls it is organized it is a permanent organization that is what's happening
25:43
this was not at that time happening this is the first time I've seen this yes I I might
25:50
look younger than that but I am 70 years old and I have I have I have followed all of these
25:57
events for a long period i have I I was aware of the 1967 war so what is happening today is
26:07
different not only on the military front even on the boycott it's a very simple check you
26:14
want to know a check just take a look at their stock market prices and you will see what's
26:23
happening then you will know that this boycott is successful and this is a warning to any business
26:31
that is supporting or even thinking of supporting Israel we will crush your business in your in the
26:39
whole Muslim world two billion will boycott you it is already being organized and it is
26:46
a permanent organization and it is your choice dr i sent a Twitter message out yesterday about some
Are Boycotts Long Term?
26:55
of the actions the organized actions our Muslim countries can do to boycott Israel and actually
27:03
everyone who responded to me said the problem is we're not unified we don't have Muslim countries
27:10
do not work together in an organized fashion so you've described very well there that the
27:15
Muslim masses are beginning to organize but why do our countries remain in such a mess where they
27:22
don't organize together to collaborate to bring down this occupation you're talking as if these
27:30
these governments are sincere to their ummah they are not they are not most of these governments
27:38
are traitors let's let's take examples you can see the example in anywhere in the Arab world
27:47
the normalization of relationships between Israel and Egypt is one of the longest it's
27:55
it's the first one in the Arab world come David accord and that happened more than 40 years
28:01
now few months ago one Egyptian singer took a picture with one Israeli singer wallah he
28:15
don't imagine what happened to him all the masses were against him just for taking a picture take a
28:24
if anyone of you is following what's happening take a look at the amount the the the number of
28:31
people demonstrating in Egypt against the Israelis and this is a country that has a normal highest
28:40
relationships with more than 40 years more than that take a look at even one voice raising them
28:49
their voices for Israel in the whole Arab world in the whole Muslim world yahi even more than that we
28:56
have seen demonstrations in the whole West we were amazed by the demonstrations that happened in UK
29:03
we were amazed and now how many demonstrations have been bro this Jewish state in the whole
29:11
world how many people attended etc etc etc so who is winning again if we're talking lives then again
29:23
we don't fear death and they are with Allah in the highest level of heaven if they are talking
29:29
buildings we will rebuild but in every other front we're winning in the west uh we have many
Message to Western Youth
29:38
talented Muslims and um uh many of them they want to do good for Islam they want to contribute to
29:46
Islam especially amongst young people i have been amazed in just these last three weeks how many
29:53
uh tech entrepreneurs have come together how many businessmen have come together how many academics
29:59
and thinkers and they're trying to join up their work um what is your message to the Muslim youth
30:06
in the west this is very important again you know and I think your audience know that I lived in the
30:14
west i lived in America for 17 years so I know the west from the inside and I I I took my high
30:22
school from there all the way to my PhD all all in the US and my children were raised born and
30:29
raised in the US from preKG all the way to PhD so I know the west very well and I have been in touch
30:37
with the Muslim youth and I have been training them the first training I gave Yahi was in 1986
30:44
so I have been I have been and still in touch with them after 50 years in da'wah I am I'm swearing by
30:54
Allah I have not seen a better Muslim youth generation than the present
31:04
one this is amazing what is happening their awareness of what's going on is amazing partially
31:14
thanks to social media but but that was a support for us this is amazing the the
31:21
the professionalism that I have seen in them I have not seen in all the generations that
31:30
I've been in touch with and I have trained the youth from the east and the west yahi
31:37
for example I do a leadership training in Istanbul every year for about 130 young men
31:43
and women that we choose from all over the world usually from 30 countries in the world
31:50
every year year after year the best among them are the youth that are coming from the west better
31:58
than the whole youth in the Muslim world of course there are exceptions but in general I'm talking
32:08
what is this this is amazing they have been raised with an Islamic value with adherence true
32:16
adherence to Islam with a huge awareness and in every part of business or professionalism in every
32:26
area of life they are really really high standard so your youth have the two powers in their hand
32:38
they have the power of Islam and they have the power of the western world they know what is going
32:46
on and there's something psychological happening when I went to the state I was a student i never
32:58
migrated i never applied for for their uh passport but I have seen many of my friends begging to
33:07
be become Americans and they had this inferior feeling in in their heads and in their actions you
33:14
do not see this in the second generation and third generation they are British they are Americans
33:21
they are French they they should act like that this is your country and you should pressure your
33:29
politicians to change their stand and you should make them fell down in elections if they don't so
33:38
you don't have this fear that the migrants had so use it use this all of this so use Islam and your
33:48
area of of business and use your your citizenship to to support your ummah this is what you should
33:58
do please remember to subscribe to our social media and YouTube channels and head over to
34:06
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