Full Transcript: 'Muslim Power'

The Woke Army's Abrar Omeish pushes the anti-Israel agenda

Transcript of the video.

- Sept. 7, 2019, American Muslims for Palestine fundraiser Hyatt Regency, Arlington, Virginia

- [Abrar Omeish] I'm not gonna wear a jacket in here. Uh, it's a pleasure to be with all of you this evening. As mentioned, my name is Abrar Omeish, I'm running for Fairfax County School Board at large. And I wanna make the connection tonight between, you know, local politics, what's going on on Election Day, and what we're talking about right here. When we talk about the Palestinian issue, and it affects us deeply, and families are affected, and we know how, you know, how important it is to us. These are conversations that start in the classrooms that our children begin attending. These are the conversations in the history textbooks that they're reading, that they're learning from their world history teacher every day. When they read it, and they open a textbook, and we have this, you know, recently in Loudoun County is going on, when they read Muslims, terrorists, Middle East, Palestine. And I think that word is not even mentioned in the book, right? These are things we have to be paying attention to on the local level right here. When a teacher in Texas is fired from her job 'cause she believes in BDS [Boycott, Sanctions, Divest], these are things that impact students on a daily basis, they impact our staff, our teachers, and they control the narrative, right? And so, ultimately, why do we find ourselves in a situation today when it's still difficult to speak up on Palestine, or when there aren't many allies in power? Because the narrative was controlled many years before, right?

From the classroom, the assumptions were made, the facts were told in a particular way. So, I'm running for school board, and there are so many different reasons, and so many things that impact the Muslim community in relation to this, but I really wanna wake up our community. Because I will tell you folks, wallahi [I swear to God] I have been going, everyday, nonstop, going places, and the Arabs are worse than every other Muslim, but Muslims in general, we're not awake. Wallahi [I swear to Allah] our voter turnout rates are low. It's a shame, because we're here tonight, ...we're upset, we're worried about all these things, we complain. We love talking politics at the dinner table, but it doesn't go much further than that.

And I implore you, you know, there are folks, Delegate Ibraheen that was here, who are out there doing really tough things. And it's not easy on this battlefield, but we need the Muslim community to turn out, because when we turn out, we are numbers, we are money, we're votes, and that means power. And that's how we end up having a voice, because they understand that they need to listen to us. I cannot tell you, so Alhamdulillah [praise be to Allah] because of the support of some folks in this community, we made it past the uh endorsement election, which, it's like a primary, and we won that part. And wallahi [swear to Allah], I cannot tell you how many times people talk about, one second, I'll tell you.

How many people, how many times people talk about the Muslim power. "Oh, Abrar's got a community." "Abrar's going to bring in all these people for the Democrats." Why? Because they saw us show up! And that meant something, and now we're making decisions, there's a change, you're the difference! So, this is just a big, but like, repeating before, what he said, it's slow... We're not there yet. I'm just giving you an example of how some of you in this room made the difference. But how we need to continue doing that, and the impact of doing that. So, when a Muslim sits in an elected office, and says something, that's taken seriously because people know there is a community behind that person, and there is weight to that..that talk. And when the, you know, Chief Mandela...mentioned, what?

Mobilizing! We need to do that right here! Fairfax County, northern Virginia, it starts locally, folks. When we are, you know, stand as witnesses before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala [Allah the most glorified, the most High] for justice on this earth, as he commands us in the Qur'an, right? Where does that start? We can talk national level, but it's right here, in our communities, next door. And we're gonna be accountable for that! So, we're gonna...Please what do you want to say?

- [Audience Member] Takbir! [Signifying: God is great]

- Oh. ... So, why am I here? I'll shed some light real quick, because I know I must get off the stage. So, the Fairfax County School Board manages, who knows, how much money? Three million. Al right. What's another guess? A billion? Oh, okay. Lemme hear some guesses. Five million, alright, what else? All right, how about we change that M to a B? The Fairfax County School Board manages three billion dollars. That's just one school board in northern Virginia. That is over half of the Fairfax County budget, okay? We're talking big money, and this gets funneled, the school board entirely makes the decisions on this. These are just examples of, again, power of us needing to be involved. So, who can tell me when Election Day is? Alright, alright, not bad. November fifth, okay? I wanna hear it, what day is it?

- [Audience] November the fifth!

- Okay, so for all you who didn't know me, everyone who wasn't able to give some money, and those who did. This is the way we can express our voice, right? This is the way where we can start a change, and begin...if I make it, I'll only be one of 12, that's not even a starting point yet, right? But, inshallah [Allah willing], we continue the conversation, ...we can mobilize our community to start talking about the textbooks, and talking about the teachers, and what, you know, what they're talking about in the classrooms. And when a child is bullied, or harassed for, or called a terrorist, 'cause that happened to my own brothers in public school, those are, that's when we can actually make a change, because they know the power that stands behind our electeds. So...November fifth, I'm counting on all of you, no excuses.

If you're not registered to vote, if you don't vote, send your family, your neighbors, we are all responsible. I want each person to walk outta here with 10 people, you gotta think of 10 people you're gonna make sure are gonna show up on the polls on Election Day as well. Okay? We have a thing we say, friends don't let friends not vote, okay? So, but in all seriousness, the deadline to register is coming up. If you know anyone in the community that's a citizen, and above 18, and is not registered, you guys, I need you to do this. I'll be outside, I have, you know, flyers, and all that stuff you need. Talk to me, we'll be in touch, we're really accessible. And last point, for those who think it's too big to understand, I know a lot of this, you know, policy, and what's going on, and three billion dollars, and where it could go, it's complicated. One of the things our campaign is really trying to do is break it down for the community. So, if you follow my page, everybody like our pages, so that you're alerted and all, you know that, we really try to break it down in a simple way for your, you know, a high school, middle schooler can understand it.

- Taher Herzallah American Muslims For Palestine: You enjoy the...

- What's going on in the school board? Why does it matter? What are the issues? Let's break it down. Asra Nomani: It's a good education, thanks. [Taher Herzallah blocks the camera.] ...last time we talked about the budget, and we're gonna continue doing this. So, anyway, may Allah subhana [Allah, the most glorified] bless all of you, inshallah [Allah Willing], this is historic for our community. Don't forget, November fifth. Are we be fired up? And we're ready to go! Alright, we're ready to go on November fifth, everybody, jazakallah khair [May Allah reward you with goodness]

- [Speaker] Thank you very much, Sister Abrar, ...American Muslims for Palestine is a 501 3. We do not endorse any political candidates. Anyone who asks to have a platform, we allow them to. So, thank you very much, and everyone please make sure, November fifth, to go out, and vote for whoever you choose. Before we move on inshallah [Allah Willing] I unfortunately have to give you all some very bad news. Brother Mark Lamont Hill was not able to attend tonight, unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, he was not able to catch his flight to here. But inshallah, we look forward to seeing him again, and seeing you all again soon. American Muslims for Palestine, we hope to get all the support we can get, and we're glad to have you all tonight. Before we get going for the night, I'd like to also come down, Brother......his book is outside. If you guys are interested, please see him, and purchase a book tonight. Before we get going, I'd to give some shout outs. Shout out to Dr...for helping set up this event ... and maybe you should do all that again. Thank you to all... Thank you very much...

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