Been taking and will continue to take during the holy month of ramadan to support and campaign for the people of gazza. First we take a look at some of the actions that have brought the attention of the world to the crimes of the zionist regime. The past five months have seen a number of actions taking place around the world in support of palestine against the zianist entity and those are expected to continue throughout the holy month of ramadan. In has gone past, theyve been campaigns during shahara ramadan surrounding dates, asking believers to ensure the dates they have for their iftar, arent israeli. This year, the islamic human rights commissions check your dates campaign, takes on extra significance as theyve released list of date brands that are certified to be palestinian. The zinis regime regularly labels their stolen dates as jordanian or from the west bank or sells them on supermarket brands without always mentioning the country of origin, so the Campaign Urges believers to constantly ensure that theyre checking their brands. Other campaigns are focusing on exerting financial pressure on the zinis entity and its supporters. Barkleys bank in particular has come into focus as campaigners call for a boycott of the british Financial Institution due to the more than one billion pounds theyve invested in the zionist economy. Another major. Company which has come on the fire has been starbucks who sued the Workers Union when they declared their solidarity with palestine. The global coffee giant has been targeted by protest and boycots ever since severely hurting the companys bottom line. While painting of the man behind the balford decoration, lord balford was destroyed by campaigners at the university of cambridge. Perhaps the most impactful actions have been undertaken by the palestine action. Group who have managed to bring to holt the activities of number of facilities belonging to the israeli weapons manufacturer elbit systems, forcing them in many instances to close down their factories completely. All these actions and so many more of heaped immense pressure on israel and its supporters across the world, highlighting their barbaric and savage nature, stripping away any vestige that they are in any way a civilized or moral. People now joining us on the show this week to discuss the importance of activism against oppression, especially during shahr ramadan, our two very special guests, were joined by fatima merchant who has years of experience and organizing demonstrations for causes in palestine, nigeria, yemen and others. She has been an avid campaigner for human rights and is the cohost of the liberated voices podcast. Were also joined by brother ibrahim abul assad. Ibrahim, is a ukbased palestinian researcher, photo journalist and activist. Assalam alaikum to you both. Thank you so much for joining us on eye on islam. Sister fatima, if i could begin with you, what has been your experience of the muslim reaction in the uk, particularly to the ongoing genocide in gaza . Well, as we know that this didnt start on october 7th, um, there has been a huge shift in attitudes, particularly within the muslim communities. Um, i think. Its clear to see that instead of of it being seen as more of a political issue, its now become one that is seen as humanitarian as it should be, um, especially with the lead up to, and now alhamdulillah we are in shahr ramadan, um, its become more mainstream within the Muslim Community as it should be, there is still a lot more that could be done, absolutely. Um, ibrahim, uh, there is lot of variety in the actions uh, to be taken, weve seen, from cultural events to boycott campaigns in your opinion. And what are the most effective ways to campaign against the zionist regime during this holy month . First and foremost, id like to say happy ramadans for many people watching. Um, to answer bluntly to. Mobilize and campaign outside these arms factories that make the weapons that are used to kill palestinians as well as many oppressed people across the global south for and as well not just these arms factories but to apply pressure upon all the pressure points that zionism has here in the uk now what is that universities they have a substantial amount of deals with companies that create weapons as well as components or have different types of investments in occupied palestine. So what we really need to do now is up our level, up our game when it comes to applying pressure upon these pressure points, upon these institutions that are zionists that work towards israels effort to occupy israels effort to kill, israels effort to displace, israels effort to main palestinians from the river to the sea. Mean, just quickly, you mentioned obviously universities, what what could some students do, lets say there was students watching this, what are some effective things . That maybe they could do in on their campuses, well not just students, but Everybody Needs to know the Political Climate that we need to operate in, now it being students, we need to know what is a zionist organizations, what are zionist organizations that are present at campus, on campus, and one organization that every single student and propalestinian advocate needs to know about is the ujs, the union of jewish students that works towards demonizing and effort criminalizing palestinian. As well as students are literally advocating for the rights belonging to the palestinian people. Very important point is that Nina Friedman who was the former ujs president has spoken on video at event full of ujs alumni. She clearly says, not my words, Nina Friedmans words, that the ujs alumni have members in the israeli military, the israeli political office, different um buocracies within israel. So how is the ujs not clearly an extension of zionism here in the uk, students need to know who the ujs is anytime that you see a ujs event you go to your local power sock, you inform them, you go to power sock such as that you see in soas university, that you see in ucl, as well as that you see in countless other londonbased universities and nonlondonbased universities and demand that any event organized by the ujs or zionist organizations should not be held. On our campus . No, absolutely. Um, and fatima, i would say uh, just before we, move to some of the spiritual dimensions, do you think muslims have been doing enough . Mean, do you think that as as a community in general . We see the young generally are more maybe mobilized and active and on campuses have been doing stuff, do you think maybe we could be doing more . Absolutely, you should be doing more, especially as a student, youve got that position where you can be doing more, um, within universities um, there is so much opportunity to stand up, especially because these are the institutions that are complicit, you know, and um, essentially youre paying the university, and the university is paying to kill, so um, absolutely, you should be doing more, um, the students should be standing up, not just um, in the ways previously discussed, but um, theres this campaign of of silencing going on, uh, wearing even the palestinian badge or um, having any sort of political standpoint um can be demonized, although its not legal, yeah, so thats where you need to understand that if its not illegal, yeah, dont be intimidated, dont do it, and i guess you know we weve spoken already about some of the physical, material actions that we can take, what are some of the spiritual actions or some spiritual dimensions to this struggle that muslims can engage in specifically during shahar ramadan . Absolutely, so as weve seen in. Rafa, um, the children, they look up to the sky and they dont know whether its dinner or or death, its a devastating situation, and so when we are fasting, usually we think, okay, we are doing this for patience, we are doing this to have subur, um, to find that inner peace, these palestinian children, theyve been doing it for months now, yeah, and if we cant empathize with them, not just a. Material level, but a spiritual level, then what are we doing . We need to look within us and as we are fasting, we need to find that thats um spiritual side within us that empathizes with these kids in ghaza, that empathizes with the struggles that these people cant have a break from, there is iftar, there is nothing, mean grinding up animal feed, subhanallah, and here we are thinking that we might have dates from israel and and who cares, yeah, its horrendous, so when youre doing your zikir, when youre doing your fast, when youre going about your daily life and you think, oh, im hungry, oh, i feel thirsty, find that part of you that connects with the rest of the ummah a spiritual level. Yeah, and uh, quickly, ibrahim, do you think that we muslims sometimes underestimate the power of da, like, uh, maybe some people say, oh, pray for the people of palestine, but actually its a power, its the weapon of the believer as far as we understand, 100 , as much as we must always pray for the people of palestine, um, we should also must make an active duty in for example, making sure that we are not breaking our fast on israeli produced dates that was produced on and stolen palestinian land, of course we should always pray for the people of gaza, but we should also make sure. That we are not our actions are in line with our actions are in line with our prayer and they dont contradict cuz what frankly is very bitter sweet very bit of sweet that were breaking and were surrounding by our loved members our family members but palestinians are surrounded by the rubble of their homes, eating animal feed, breathing in White Phosphorus for breakfast, its disgusting and quite frankly is harrowing and i think what we saw recently seeing uh mosque and london invite genocide enabler rushi sun my opinion is quite disgusting because i dont think any individual that has advocated for the killing of any people regardless of their religion or regardless of their race or creed for profit should be welcome anyway yeah whether it be this room my house your house and my religious son or your Religious Center absolutely absolutely no absolutely thank you now with the uh large scale crackdown as weve mentioned touched on on Student Action on campuses across the uk, iron islam attended a propalestine fundraising event a London University and heard from the students directly as to why they planned this action specifically during the holy month of ramadan. In my opinion um doing being proactive and standing with justice or standing for justice rather is inherently islamic um and so i think its something that we actually need to do um regard it being well with regard sorry to it being. Public or private, um, i, i think what were doing here today isnt necessarily something that you need to be a muslim to do, um, even though we said its inherently islamic, um, if people differ to that, then you can turn around and say, well, look, this is humanitarian course, um, and i dont think anyone has any valid basis to use uh, how public or private their religious beliefs are to stand with whats right, im first year law student, im also president of the sjp. Society, students for justice in palestine, and were here today because weve seen that individual efforts arent enough, we need more combined efforts, so thats why weve come um, weve like coalitioned with different societies and were trying to make like a big scene here so that we can really get our message across, um, weve tried our best to communicate with the university, express how unhappy weve been that theyve been neglecting the israel of palestine, they havent they havent shown enough. Attention to it, they havent respected our requests, weve asked them to raise the flag like they do for other causes, they havent um respected our request basically, so were going to try our best to put a scene here and display the flag everywhere possible and keep chanting free palestine, we feel to point pushed to have to do something, um, theres now a coalition of societies, it started off as two or three societies, but were now i think 15 or 16 societies in total. Together, so its clearly something which is supported by very broad and large um element of the student base. Um, and theres even academic staff, members of staff who have voiced their solidarity with the cause as well, and the fact that they want to see things that are different. Um, but weve heard theyve been outright scared to do so. Uh, one member of staff earlier today came and slapped this a wall, um, and actually told us, we had a conversation with them afterwards he was genuinely scared, he was trying to conceal his identity um and he was a jewish men of stuff and which goes to show that this isnt you know just a muslim cause um its its a global cause its a humanitarian cause and i feel like i said when we started this obligated to to speak out um and i think most students most students are starting to see that as well now uh fatima we just saw some footage from event there uh a London University and i think one the things that came through from that event is attempts to intimidate students on campus, to maybe make them feel like they could be harmed in their studying or their prospects or some kind of consequences could come upon them, um, what advice would you have to particularly the younger students in terms of how to face down these attempts at intimidation, whether it be by extremists on campus like ibrahim was talking about in the union of jewish students or even members of staff. Of course, well first of all well done to those students that put that action in place, that is what we need. Um, you cannot uh feel intimidated by these people because they have no backing, there is no um there. Theres no ground for them to stand on essentially. For the younger students in particular, youve just now entered into a space where youve found this this new, this new found power. Um, and you need to recognize that as as a student. Lot of student activism is is undermined, but actually it plays huge part in getting things done, in changing the way people see things in even in legislation. So it is so important that as a younger student, look to those that are older than you in perhaps higher years or even alumni and and see how theyve interacted with the difficulties they faced um because this isnt something new, we know that this issue has been ongoing, so there are sources and resources out there where you can look to, and you should find power and solidarity with the students that youre with, because now youre no longer just one, youre part of a bigger hole, yeah, yeah, you have the Critical Mass just to. On that note, i think to the students that are watching to one organization and one movement definitely worth for following and also asking for assistance if you do feel any trouble on campus is yffp you front for palestine based in the north of england in manchester as well as pym britain that is based in london because they are youth lead they themselves have gone through many of these very similar experiences on the back of the ujss effort. To demonize and criminalize anything of anybody calling for the rights belonging to the palestinian people, so those two, what that organization and the Palestinian Youth movement are amazing avenues to get in contact with if you are experiencing any form of trouble on campus, and you need to speak to somebody more experienced that can help alleviate the situation. Just um, sorry, sorry, on that note, i think its really important actually that students remember that they do have their rights and as ibrahim was saying, it is so important that you are educated in that sense, so when you are holding these actions, um, dont be intimidated because you have rights, so make sure you know them and therefore can use them, sure, um, and ibrahim, i would want to come back to the question of uh, you know, shahar ramadan and in terms of religiosity, what would you say to those who say that actually people or or or muslims shouldnt be uh concerning themselves with political matters in general or even during this. A special time of the year, then i think it contradicts lot of my own personal beliefs and as well as lot of beliefs of the Muslim Community, when we see injusticces unfolding across the world. I think um, i myself as human being, i myself as a muslim, i myself as a ibrahim cannot just sit there and continue to digest my food while palestinian boy is starving and has been starving for over 150 days and looks to the sky and doesnt whether thats food coming from the above or if its a bomb raining to steal the life of his mother, his brothers. Sister as well as his father, i think its shameful, i think shameful, nothing, nothing, other words to put in between, i think theres much more that muslims themselves as well as the Muslim Community, the Muslim Community are amazing in terms of what they have done for palestine, as well as we need to take it many more steps for. Um, sister fatima, weve seen uh many reports of the british governments attempts to try to redefine extremism. In order to maybe try to tamp down support for palestine amongst people in the uk, muslims and nonmuslims who have come out to support palestine, do you think theyll be successful in their attempts . Theyve tried, theyve tried and theyve tried again and were still on the streets, so whilst yes we can see they are having an impact, people are starting to understand that it doesnt matter what they say or how many times they try to redefine extremism or how much they try to broaden it or how much. They try to snatch you into this loop or that loop or this label or whatever, what actually matters is is whether you are able to continue going out, so as long as we have that right, and as long as this is democratic, democratic um country, you will have that right, so dont be intimidated, and mean they theyll keep trying, they wont stop, they wont relax, but neither will we, um, do you think thatl be successful uh . Ibrahim, but also do you think that its a sign of their desperation that theyre trying to crack down in this way, that they may be are worried about how much uh the narrative has changed, and you know, especially the young generation, i just want to take it very quickly somewhere else, in america theres a debate going on and expected to be passed very soon that tiktok will be banned, yes, the Main Driving Force of this, nothing to do of course with china and everything to do with the fact that the adl, the jewish Extremist Organization is worried that the Younger Generation who get their news from tiktok. Are seeing things how they are, and do you think this is whats reflected in government policy here . Theyre so panicking, especially that younger people are not supporting israel anymore, that theyre trying to do all of this, ban protest and call people extremists to try to. Because of how successful these actions have been 100 . Um, just before starting off, i think the only extremist thing is whats coming out of the Cabinet Office and coming out of rishi sunaks mouth, the fact that he is supporting an entity that is committing genocide and actively spoke about their genocidal intent. I think with the question regarding tiktok is very interesting question because we no longer have two camps where it is the left and the right, instead it is the old and the young and the old. Will soon die and the youngs continue to get old and the young do have the dominant view that paleside should be liberated from the river to the sea because they are seeing the injustices and their mind hasnt been tampered with institutionally by going through their ages of life, so i think that is very telling, i think what is very telling is the fact that protests our right to protests is what allowed us to have the establishment of the National Health service here in this country, it was working class. Going to go out to fight in world war ii, coming back without a leg, without an arm, without any form of service, healthwise, taken to the streets, demanding their right, given that fought blood sweat and tears for your country, the least you can do is accommodate me in terms of healthcare, that is how we had the nhs, that is the same people that Boris Johnson wanted us to clap for at 8 oclock and you are now saying that you want to strip our right from protesting, you are when protesting literally gave something that this country regards itself as one of its great its greatest achievements, National Free health service, and just to conclude, i think we shouldnt get lost in everything thats been taking place post october the 7th, thinking thats happening in the vacuum, because just like how it didnt take place on october the 7th, the attempts to criminalize palestinian activity across western europe did not take place post october. This has been an effort to criminalizing our right to protest before last year, and we see it accelerated in places like germany where organizations are unable to receive state funding if they support bds and were soon on the trajectory to see that happening here in the uk, so none of this should be seen to have happened in vacuum, whether it be the events that led up to october the 7th or the events that led after october the 7th. Um and just very finally uh fatima, maybe actually i want to pick up on that last point that brother ibrahim made about funding, so there are attempts and there have been actually legislation passed in many states in the us where you wouldnt get access to you know funds and uh contracts or other other access to public money if you support bds or youre antizionist is that a good thing though, i mean what we really want is our communities to be independent from the state right and not be reliant on the state because weve seen of those who do take money from the state uh, to promote narratives like prevent and others have actually been very compromised, so in the longterm isnt it good that people divorce themselves from being reliant on these you know kind of authoritarian western regimes . Think i want to just flip that its head quickly because the way we look it is so important, when you are given money by the state, the state doesnt give it to you without its its you know expectations exactly so. Now rishi is pledged what 117 million to the security of of mosks and and muslim faithbased schools and and whatever of the next four years, what does that, what does that come with . Thats not just coming out of nowhere, there is a reason that its coming out now, and theres a reason that its this amount of money, and theres a reason that its based to the Muslim Community, when the muslims have been vocal, now its suddenly time to fund them, to silence them essentially when. You know when were all happy in in our place and and the muslim you know community is more worried about um spiritual issues rather than perhaps Current Affairs or or the idea of you know prevent is something to help us all and its not biased or whatever, well when youre silent and youre already within their pocket they dont need to buy you to put them in your to put you in their pocket, does that make sense . Yeah, so its its so important that not only are you scared, you shouldnt be scared of not receiving funding. You should be scared of receiving funding, exactly, this has been my position, because what are the strings that come attached with it . Thank you so much, sister fatima and brother ibrahim as well for your time and your excellent contributions, and uh, thank you at home for watching, its all we have time for today, but you can join us again uh next week for another edition of iron islam. Assalamualaikum. This week on expos a we touch upon the western narrative of the parliamentary elections in the Islamic Republic of iran as it centered around made up tales about iranians abstaining from voting in protest against the government. In the meantime, most Opinion Pieces published by wellknown Mainstream Media rejected the idea that iran is. Democratic country essentially recycling tired stories and narratives with no fresh perspective. Also this week we cover social media reacts to the famin brought on by the ongoing zinus israeli genocide in gaza as well as the air drop surade of aid and expired food on gaza residence. Right here on expos a, the truth is just a revelation away. The headlines as the us israeli genicidal war on gaza continues for the 162nd day a new strike on a refugee camp kills at least 36 palestinians. The onslot on gaza is not preventing israel from committing more atrocities in the occupied west bank as the Regime Forces conduct new violent rates, and people go to polling stations across russia a second day of president ial elections