CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad ‘Happy to See’ Oct. 7 Hamas Terror Attack

EXCERPT:

AWAD: "It's truly honoring to be here another time to speak of a platform that I believe is probably the widest and most effective platform for American Muslims and people of other faith traditions and the pro-Palestine movement to honor support the work for Palestine in the United States. The recent month and a half has shown the importance of what we can do, what we have done, and what needs to be. The subject of this discussion is Gazan context. The transformation that affected the region. I would like to let Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid (ph) to focus more on the region, on the transformation in the region. And I'm sure he will touch on issues and areas beyond the region. I would like to acknowledge the following. That when we talk about Gaza and it transformed the region I believe it also has transformed the world. The world beyond its borders. But I don't want Gaza to stay abstract in people minds. Gaza -- I would like to break it down to the following. Gaza, the people. Gaza, the men. Gaza, the women. Gaza, the children. Gaza, the leadership. Gaza, the history. The people of Gaza who we have, and many people around the world, started to learn are not only under siege, they're not in the largest open prison in the world but they are in the largest concentration camp in the world. And that would break any society, would break any people, will starve any people, will destroy the morale and hope of any people. Sixteen years, thirty years, fifty six years, in fact, as deep -- as deep in history as 75 years old since 1946, the people of Gaza more than any part of Palestine have endured the most, the harshest, the most destructive weapon system that has been created by superpowers, including the United States. The people of Gaza by any material calculation, they would have been history, they would not have resisted, they would not have stayed alive, they would not have done what they have done for so many decades. So, I hope, unlike so many people who only woke up to October 7th, the people of Gaza have been aware and living every day of October 6th, 5th, 4, 3, 2, 1 and September 30th and all the way to 1956. The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in. (Cheering and Applause) And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense. (Applause) And this is not me emotionally speaking. This is what the international law says. That an occupying power has no self-defense from the territory it occupies, while we hear the entire world, hypocritical world is denying occupied the right to self-defense and granting the right to be aggressive to the occupier."