Technology
How Israel Is PREPARING to FIGHT The Gaza Sumud Flotilla | Yusuf Omar
In this episode, war correspondent Yusuf Omar provides an exclusive update on the Gaza Sumud Flotilla as it navigates high-risk waters, facing potential interception by Israeli forces. He discusses th...
How Israel Is PREPARING to FIGHT The Gaza Sumud Flotilla | Yusuf Omar
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Interactive Transcript
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The interceptions are carried out by S-13, which is a train-unit of the Israeli occupation forces.
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These are the same group of soldiers that are believed to have participated in the Ul-Shifra attack,
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when they went in dressed up as Palestinians and shot dead people in Gaza in their hospital beds.
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It's the same S-13 that conducted the 2010 operation, where they shot dead 10 people on the first of the mission.
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The Uma has so much money. It has so much capital. And yet, we're on all the recreational yachts
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that have been purchased or donated, all fishing trawlers that have got engine issues and are
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dysfunctional in so many ways. What a dysfunctional state we're in as an Uma.
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My parents are naturally very worried about us going on the flight to the mission.
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To Gaza, but my dad said the most beautiful thing. He said, he said, we all have to die sometime.
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And at least you would have died during the right thing.
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Let's get back to the podcast.
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As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. We bring to you today a very exclusive
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podcast on a global surmult floatila which is currently entered high risk territory on its way
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to Gaza to break the siege. As we're currently talking, the time is 4.05 pm on the first of October.
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And we're joined with the very special guest, somebody who is actually on the floatila itself.
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We're joined with Yusuf Omar, a war correspondent, award-winning journalist and the CEO and co-founder
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of CTV, a next-gen media company. He's been someone that we've been watching since the floatila
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launched. So Yusuf, welcome to the podcast. I'm glad it's a pleasure to have you. How are you?
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I'm glad to be here. Thank you very much. I think this is a very like an exclusive podcast.
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We don't generally do this kind of content but given the nature of the situation,
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if you could give us an update, what is happening right now with the floatila as it enters this
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high risk territory? This is the most dangerous part of the floatila mission to Gaza.
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They are currently experiencing regular visits from the Israeli Navy who have been surrounding
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their ships in dangerous maneuvers. There's been some drones that have been spotted throughout the
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week. It appears that the Israeli occupation forces are preparing to enact an interception.
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The floatila mission is in the region of the Mediterranean Sea where previous
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interceptions have taken place. It's a really, really high risk situation. As you know, we've seen
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in 2010, the floatila mission was fatally attacked when 10 innocent aid workers were shot dead
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by the Israelis. Everyone's watching really carefully. It's a highly tense time right now.
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You said I have to ask you just on the back of that question. If we were to say, unfortunately,
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that the floatila was intercepted again by the IDF, would you consider that a failed mission?
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Would you say that the efforts have gone to waste? That they went all that way for it to be
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intercepted yet again? What are your thoughts? The Zayers will call this floatila mission a failure
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but it was an enormous success because at a time when global governments failed to act amidst a
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genocide where we witnessed for two years the live streaming of ethnic cleansing of Gaza,
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every day people got up and did something. That, for me, represents the idea that humanity
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is still alive. Could you imagine a world where we watch a genocide take place? People around the
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world say, well, that's not me. That's not my race. That's not my ethnicity. That's not my tribe.
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I'm not going to worry about it. The floatila represents hope. It represents 44 country delegations
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coming together to do the right thing. The global attention that the floatila had on it,
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which then was redirected to the genocide in Gaza was formidable. It really paints
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Israel in such an awful light when they're stopping humanitarian workers, delivering food,
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medicine, baby formula. I think a lot of people that got on the floatila knew from the very get-go
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that the chances of them actually reaching Gaza were very small, were very slim. But does that
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mean it's a failed mission? No. It represents so much hope for the people of Gaza that the world
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haven't forgotten about them. The best thing about the floatila mission is that on this mission,
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26,000 people applied to be there. And only about 500 were able to. That's still a big number.
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500 is a big number to be on the boat. It's a huge number. But can you imagine how many people are
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ready to sign up for the next one? I'm sure the two of you are ready to sign up. If 26,000 people
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sign up for this one, expect 260,000 to sign up for the next one. Expect 2.6 million people to
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sign up for the one after this. This is an insurmountable threat to Israel's occupation and apartheid
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What do they do when they have continuous waves of floatilers arriving and arriving?
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It's a really big challenge for Israel right now and it's a really big win for the floatila.
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And we're actually watching the live track right now on the global swan floatila.
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The player screened for those at home as well. Official website. So you can watch the live stream right now.
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Right now. Tracking the floatila. At any moment it can be intercepted. The recent floatilers that were
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launched this year, the Madeline was intercepted at the same location where the Gaza Global
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Swamud floatila currently is right now. And they're close. And they're under as well. So at any moment
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they can be intercepted. If an interception were to take place in the next given moment,
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what could those on board expect? So the interceptions are carried out generally by S13,
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which is a highly trained unit of the Israeli occupation forces. You can think about them a little
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but like the US Navy seals. These are the same group of soldiers that are believed to have
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participated in the Ulshefa attack when they went in dressed up as Palestinians and shot dead
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people in Gaza in their hospital beds. Just up as nurses as doctors. Exactly.
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Greta Timber when I was with her, she described to me when this unit boarded the last
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little of it that they were on that they arrived and she said they look like spiders the way that
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they crept onto the vessels. Where the ordinary Israeli might spend two years in military
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conscription or training, these guys spend several more years in training. Having said that,
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does that mean that they are safer? Does that mean that they are more ethical? Absolutely not.
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It's the same S13 Israelis that conducted the 2010 operation where they shot dead 10 people
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on the Florentel emission innocent aid workers and that footage which was smuggled out by
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Brazilian documentary maker reveals that it appears that they were shot sometimes in a
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like assassination mode point blank range. So this cannot be understated that the lives of those
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on the flotilla are currently at risk and this is why we're seeing a global push towards
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government towards the world to step up to let the world know that they will not allow people,
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allow the Israeli occupation force to threaten the lives of these people. So I think it's very
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important for us to realize that their lives are in danger right now as we speak. And if I could add
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to Kamal so I'll just on the back of that Yusuf, what does it mean though that ordinary people like
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yourself are joining this mission? We're not really seeing too many government bodies come on board
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or it's just normal everyday people. What does that signify that just everyday people are saying
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hey what we've seen is just we've just had enough but what does that signify every day person
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joining this global movement to end this each in Gaza? The flotilla is insanity. It shouldn't
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exist. It is absolute madness that everyday civilians who have for the most part no training
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in making a 3000 kilometer journey across the Mediterranean in delivering aid in coming across
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a superpower that are armed to the teeth. This is not the job of everyday people. This was the
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job of governments. This was the job of the United Nations. This was the last resort that everyday
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people had to step up and attempt to break the siege. This should have never happened but to many
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people they've spent the last two years or longer on their social media making as much attention as
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they can to this genocide and the occupation. They've spent as much energy as they can on the streets
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protesting. They spent all of their money to avoid products so that they could boycott, divest.
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For many people this was the natural next step. The flotilla record was effectively the only
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form of direct action where it's like it's one thing to say hey my values are I really care about
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Palestine. It's another thing to say hey I'm actually going to Gaza. Yes. I think that for many
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people this was the last resort. They had enough and they felt hopeless and they felt helpless
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and this represented hope. Definitely does speak volumes to see ordinary people having to try
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to break the siege on boats which are not really equipped for these missions. Many of the boats
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have actually failed. They weren't able to complete the missions. To see the young people and
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the old people and everyone on board these on this flotilla is very inspiring. Do you point
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at a disgusting tragedy. The Umar has so much money. It has so much capital and yet we're on
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old recreational yachts that have been purchased or donated. Old fishing trawlers that have got
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engine issues and are dysfunctional in so many ways. Do you know on the first night of the
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flotilla alone, seven vessels either had to turn around, be rescued by the Coast Guard or didn't
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even make it out of the port in the first place. Simply because we hit a storm. A storm which any
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reasonable boat actually should have been able to weather. What a dysfunctional state we're in
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as an Umar that we don't even have the ability to direct capital to things that matter most
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that this is being run by a series of volunteers that are unpaid. Like obviously there's going to be
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mistakes. Obviously there's going to be failures. Obviously there's going to be issues when you are
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so grassroots and you don't have the support of the global Umar. If we can just direct our attention
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to the things that matter most, could you imagine we wouldn't be 500 people there would be 5,000.
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We wouldn't be 42 ships, we'd be 420 ships. That's possible. There's enough people that want to go
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26,000 people signed up. There's enough interest. So why can't we make that happen?
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You said in terms of support. Like you mentioned, we've also seen Navy ship escorts from Italy,
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Spain and Turkey. How effective have these support boats been in the mission?
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It feels like these navies that we're providing support, Spain, Italy, Turkey on paper sounded
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amazing. It sounded like a convoy, like an escort. They were going to help this
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Votula mission reach Gaza. But in reality, they're effectively acting as like an emergency boat.
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If anything happens, we'll be here to support you. Here's some water, here's some food.
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These are navies that have the capability to effectively actually safeguard this mission.
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And yes, they stopped drawing attacks over the last few days. Yes, there's been a de-escalation
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of those explosives that were being dropped onto the Flotula mission. But can they actually commit?
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In any of these countries actually say, hey, we're going to surround the Flotula. We're going to safely
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allow you to pass and reach Gaza because what you're doing is legal under international law and
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Israel's attempts to stop the Flotula is illegal. They're not willing to take that step.
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So that has me thinking, well, is this just PR for you? Is this just publicity? Are you using the
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Flotula as an excuse to show your country that you're doing the right thing, but you're not actually
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committed to this course? Now, we hope that the Flotula is successful. But given the interception,
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does take place, what are some of the consequences that could face those on board the Flotula? We're
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talking about 500 people every day citizens on board this Flotula. What could be some of the
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consequences that face them? Israeli ministers have been speaking about long-term detention in what
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they're calling terrorist prisons for some of the participants of the Flotula. And we can expect,
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especially for the leadership Tiago Yesmine, those individuals that are on the steering committee
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and have been on previous Flotula missions to Gaza and have previously been arrested and detained.
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We can expect that they're going to get a pretty rough time. We can expect that they're going to
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be held for a prolonged period. For the majority of the Flotula participants, I suspect that Israel
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are going to use this as a PR exercise. You'll remember last time when they detained Greta
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Turnberg and the rest of the delegation, they were filming them. The entire time, the Israelis
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were filming them. And they were waiting for any moment where they appeared to just be showing a
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face that's not neutral. And they said, hey, look, they smiled and we gave them sandwiches in water.
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And I think Israel are going to do the same thing now. This is a really good opportunity for them
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to try and repair their global reputation, which has been completely destroyed. But at the same time,
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we are in completely unprecedented terrain. We're in waters that have never been sailed through before,
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in terms of the pure volume of individuals that are going to have to be processed by the Israelis.
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And 45, 42 boats were talking about the sorts of things.
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All over the world. 500 people from over 44 countries around the world. The Israelis are
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effectively going to try and get rid of these people as quickly as possible to process them and
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deport them. Generally, in previous Flotula missions, the participants have been given paperwork.
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And they are asked to sign a document that basically acknowledges that you wrongfully,
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illegally entered Israel. And if you acknowledge this, they release you quite expeditiously.
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Some people will sign that document and no judgment to them at all. There is a valuable role to
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play for many of the participants of the Flotula to get back home as quickly as possible so that
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they can get on the media, they can get on the podcast, they can make as much noise as possible.
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There will be other Flotula participants that will not sign that documentation that will say,
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you kidnapped me and I don't regard the Israeli status as a legitimate state.
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I didn't enter your country wrongfully. I recognize you don't have jurisdiction here.
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And those folks can expect to spend more time in Israeli detention.
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So, were you given training, formal training as to what to do in such situations,
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were you to be intercepted? If you're allowed to share this, do you mind sharing?
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Even not even being able to post on your phone. I mean, you just have to go dark.
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So, what was experience like? The Flotula training was incredibly comprehensive.
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It was three days or more in Barcelona and we were basically trained in non-violence.
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The most important thing that the Flotula participants can do as they experience an interception
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from these vicious Israeli soldiers is to do nothing. And those Flotula participants have not only
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been trained in how to de-escalate conflict, how to de-escalate violence, how to not raise an eyebrow,
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don't say anything, don't do anything that's going to antagonize the Israelis.
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But they've also been vetted through that process. From the 26,000 people that applied the 500
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that are on the ships right now are truly the best of the best when it comes to their ability
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to contain their emotions, to be level-headed because you only need one loose unit,
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one person to be a weak link and it gives the Israelis an opportunity or an excuse to create
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incredible amounts of violence to kill people potentially.
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I saw in 2010 where they actually killed nine people on board that Flotula.
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And then I'd later. They argued that there was a resistance, there was a form of resistance.
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So, to contain yourself in such situations, after seeing these people,
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kill babies for the last three years, it's going to be incredibly, I guess,
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trying on the soul to just look, I have to stay calm, I have to be patient, I can't show any
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hostility in their face, it will be very difficult.
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100%, you are looking at soldiers that have been active participants in a genocide.
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And the Flotula delegates are being asked to say nothing, do nothing, remain calm.
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And I think that they are and will be entirely capable of that.
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And the training is, and the life streaming is, and I know, live streaming every moment right now,
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they have not gone off live stream for the past 24 hours to ensure that Israel cannot
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doctor anarity or manipulate anarity. But going through that process, Yusuf, did you
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mentally prepare yourself? As you know that you're, you're here with us now, but you were on
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the boat at one point, did you mentally prepare yourself for a situation like that where you would
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have these people come on board with force? Like, how did you prepare yourself for some of that?
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Mentally. An interception is the scariest thing in the world.
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You have highly armed, potentially drugged up soldiers that are boarding your vessel,
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and they're looking for an excuse to kill you. We were trained in these scenarios,
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and even role-playing it with pretend Israeli soldiers had me shivering, quivering, absolutely
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terrified, because you have no control over your life at that point. When you have people with guns
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that are effectively going to be forcing these participants faces down on the deck of the ship,
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and you can't even see around you, you can't even see what's happening, you don't know what's
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going on, you lose some of your core senses, you lose your ability to see, and you know,
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it's likely that the Israelis will have the participants with their hands behind their back,
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across their legs. It's incredibly vulnerable, a situation to be in, especially while knowing
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it's illegal for them to even try to arrest you on this mission, knowing that they're fully in
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the wrong, but you have to calm yourself for maintenance. And I think the worst part is,
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Israel have shown how little they care about their international reputation.
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They've shown their ability to kill, not just international, they've shown their ability to kill
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white people with that remorse, right? They killed Rachel Corey in American citizen.
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We found out over the borders of Sami Frank, another Frank in Australia. No consequences,
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whatsoever. So I think it's naive to think, hey, Israel will be nice and peaceful because
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there are international zon board, they've proven that they don't care about that.
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Yeah, Yusuf, you're actually someone who's not a stranger when it comes to this kind of violence,
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and we've been following your well-documented journey on the Flotilla, but there was a point
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quite recently made I add where the boat that you on, and it crept me if I'm wrong, but the family
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boat, they were called the family boat, it was targeted with a drone and with a bomb. So we were
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watching videos of you reacting to your ship getting essentially bombed by the IDF.
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Getting attacked by a drone was probably the worst night of my life, although they didn't
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claim to be and they said they couldn't talk about it, and they wouldn't make any comments.
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We kind of know who did it. Tell us what was going through your mind when that was happening.
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That was the scariest night of my life. Our vessel was parked off the coast of Tunisia.
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Most of the people were on land getting supplies, repairing boats, and we got asked if there's anyone
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that could volunteer to do a night shift to watch the boat because you're always afraid that Israel
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might sabotage the mission, right? They might board, they might mess with the engine.
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There's any number of things that they could and have done previously. So I've volunteered to go
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out there. It's not a very fun job. Got a little dingy out, went out like 9pm at night,
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and my shift to do night watch was like 4.30 in the morning, so I went to bed on the top deck.
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At like 11pm, I just heard this like sound, this loud bang. I opened my eyes and a ball of flames
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was in my face. I could feel the heat against my eyebrows. I'd never been more afraid in my whole
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life. I knew exactly what had happened that we'd been hit by a drone. But it's one of those things
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that you're trained for, but when it actually happens, your entire mind goes, you see a whole
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life flash before your eyes. I got up. I started screaming for help. As loud as I can. You know,
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when you're screaming as loud as you can and you feel like nothing's coming out, that's how it
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felt. I was like, help, help, help calling to other boats, calling to the captain and crew to
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wake up because they were all below deck. I was the closest to the explosion. I was on the top of the
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deck. Yeah, it was absolutely terrifying. And to your point, Israel have neither confirmed nor
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denied it was them. I mean, they were asked in a press conference this week whether they were
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responsible for the drone strikes on the flotilla. If they weren't, it would be pretty easy to just
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say no, but they didn't. They just said, we're not going to discuss it. At the end of the day,
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who would bomb a flotilla mission delivering aid to Gaza? Who has been bombing civilians for not
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just last two years with decades? It's a sabotaging boats as well. And as we speak now, the live stream
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is getting cut out. So the transmission is being jammed. So we can anticipate that an interception will
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take place at any moment right now. As we speak on that point, do you feel as though your specific
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boat was targeted because you had some of the most prominent people of the flotilla on board,
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people like Gritte? I have no doubt that our vessel was targeted by the drone strike because it
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was the core leadership vessel that had Gritte Tunberg, Tiago, a lot of the steering committee that
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run the flotilla. Israel have incredible intelligence. They have visibility on all those boats. I
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wouldn't be surprised if those boats were bugged and they weren't listening to the conversations,
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right? They're very, very capable of that. Having said that, it was very clear that they weren't
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trying to kill the participants on that strike. Israel can drop 2,000 pound bombs on residential
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towers in the Gaza. They've proven their ability to turn you into vapor before you even make your
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last surre, right? They know exactly how to kill people if they want to. I think these were threats.
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I think these were scare tactics and they weren't effective. You're talking about not only yourself,
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but the fear that you had for all the other, you're not talking about just yourself, but the fear
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they had for the other people that were on the boat. Tell us yourself, what was life like on the
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boat? I mean, now you're traveling with people who are essentially kind of like your family.
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So what was the relationship like between you and the other participants on the flotilla?
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The flotilla was the hardest thing I have ever experienced. I've run like ultra-marathons. I think
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I'm a pretty like tough guy when it comes to like difficult situations. This is a different level
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of war. You are a war correspondent. I've been a war correspondent. I've been in Syria and Congo
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and Sudan and all these different places. This is different. Like you are dealing with so many
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variables. The sea is a variable. Massive storms that derail everything and set you off course
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and everyone's vomiting and your mattress is swaying from side to side at night and people are
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trying to cook and the pans are falling off the stove. So there's the sea and the weather as
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its own thing. You're out in the sun for 16, 17 hours a day. There's also so much to do in a boat.
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You're constantly cleaning and fixing and mending. You're just busy. There's just tons of rolls.
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On top of that, these boats are packed. I was on a boat that was probably built for like eight
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people and there were like 20 people on board. Within a few days, the water desalination system had
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broken down. Again, they're old boats. Now you got 20 people in no running water. No taps.
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You never have showers, by the way. The only showers you have is if you get in the ocean. But imagine
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no taps. Now the whole hygiene of the boat goes down. The toilets, if you want to flush them,
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imagine that you've got to go three stories down to get the toilet. Two stories down to get to the
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toilet. You've got to come up. You've got to get a jug. You've got to fill that jug or bucket
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with saltwater from the ocean with a rope. You've got to go back to the toilet. You've got to pour
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it down just to flush your toilet down. You've got that dynamic. And then of course, the scariest
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bit of it is the threat of attack. And you're trained to spot drones and it's really hard to see what
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they are. And then once the drones actually started attacking the vessels, gosh, the entire
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your mind starts playing games with you and you don't know when your last day is going to be.
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But none of the things that I described are anything in comparison to what the Palestinian people
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go through every single day. The bombs that are dropped on the floor. So a fireworks compared to
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what are dropped on the people of Gaza, the food and the seeds that they're experiencing. The lack
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of access to water, all these contrived conditions that Israel put the people of not just Gaza but the
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West Bank to under to make it so uninhabitable that they hope Palestinians choose to leave. It
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pales in comparison. So I think the Flotilla experience is hard, but it's like it kind of gave me a
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sense of like, wow, Palestinians are tough. Wow, they're tough. For 77 years, they've enjoyed
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harder conditions than this and they haven't gone anywhere. I guess it's called the global
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Samud Flotilla, named after the famous Samud, the resilience of the Palestinian people, which has
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went across the world. It's a viral sense of resilience that is via the entire entire world.
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On that, you also experienced a sense of global solidarity from Barcelona to Tunisia. We saw the
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famous viral clip of a Greta getting a frog hat stitched while in Tunisia. What was that global
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solidarity like, especially amongst those that were participating? The Flotilla gives the whole
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world hope that we can end this occupation in genocide once and for all. My parents are South African.
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They went through apartheid South Africa in the late 80s and early 90s. They said to me that it was
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inconceivable that apartheid would end. The apartheid regime was so strong, the British and the
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Americans were also on the wrong side of history. But do you know what changed it? It was global solidarity.
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It was millions of people around the world. It was screaming to free Mandela. It was millions of
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people that were questioning why the ANC were terrorist organization, or at least that's what they
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were labeled at the time. And it was obviously an internal struggle, but it was also the external
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community that started boycotting South Africa. Didn't allow them to participate in the rugby
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world cup. Didn't allow them to participate in international events. And you know what we're seeing
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that moment happen right now with Israel. We saw a massive event take place at Wembley Arena.
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Yes. Wembley Stadium was exactly where the Mandela Tribute concert happened. We're seeing
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history repeat itself. So the global summit Flotilla really encapsulates this idea of global solidarity.
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It really says, wow, people from Portugal and Brazil and all over the world are rocking up in Barcelona,
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joining this mission, putting their own lives on the line. And let me tell you something.
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The majority of people on the global summit Flotilla that I met were not Arab. They were not
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Muslim. They have no skin in the game, so to speak. They're just conscious human beings.
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I fear if we ever lose global solidarity, we've lost humanity. We ever lose the ability to care
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for one another. What do we have left? What point is that to live anymore?
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Yeah, but for now, like the Flotilla keeps hope alive. It keeps humanity alive. It keeps the idea
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that we still care for one another. That sense of compassion you serve. What did it mean because
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of you saw as you were documented, your family came over to see you off in Barcelona. Tell us what
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was some of the fears that your parents had for you to set out on this mission? I mean, quite
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evidently saw how they played out, but initially, how were they feeding towards you saying,
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hey, I want to do something. I'm going on this boat.
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You know, my parents were naturally very worried about us going on the Flotilla mission to Gaza,
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but my dad said the most beautiful thing. He said, he said, we all have to die sometime.
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Like, he said, we all have to die sometime. And at least you would have died during the right thing.
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And like that really stuck with me, like the acknowledgement that like, in our tradition,
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death is just a part of life. And my parents had the maturity and the passion that they were comfortable
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with that risk for a greater cause. That is not to say that they aspired for me to be a martyr,
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not at all. That is not to say that I had any aspirations to live my life, not at all.
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But they believed that everyone has to die. And if this was how you were going to die,
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there's worse ways to go. Except, except, it might be of the famous quote of the Sahaba.
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It is built one death so that it being a part of Allah. It's a final one. That's crazy to think of
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that. Were there any like memorable moments of solidarity that will stick with you for the rest of
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your life or at least change you for the rest of your life? There's so many incredible stories from
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the Global Summit Float Teller. But one that really sticks out to me,
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if you think about like Greta Tunberg's Green Hat is a really good indication for a positive world.
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What I mean by that is during this journey on the Float Teller, many things go overboard.
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I lost a battery pack. I saw a mattress get blown overboard on one of the other boats.
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And on one of the days, Greta Tunberg's Green Frog Hat, which he saw a kind of before, goes overboard.
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And I posted a video on my first social media saying, hey, Greta has lost her hat if anyone
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get a new one. Amazing. And I really didn't think arriving in Tunners, anyone would be able to find
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a green frog hat. When we arrived, there were thousands of Tunesians with flares making tons of
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noise. There's some passion about Palestine. And in that mix, tons of families came forward. They
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managed to weave their way through the crowd. And they gave to Greta Green Hat off to Green Hat,
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some of them were bought in stores. Some of them were hand woven. And that for me, that idea that
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Greta had lost her Green Hat on the Float Teller. And 24 hours later, dozens of Tunesian families
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had found a way to get her another Green Frog Hat. That for me encapsulates global solidarity.
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That is, everyday people coming together to solve for a solution and help another person out.
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And if you extrapolate that idea out on a global scale, that's where we say, hey, we're going to
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buy boycott and divest because we support you. That's where we say, hey, we're going to protest
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and we're going to stop our country sending weapons to Israel. That's global solidarity. It's
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such a beautiful idea. So I saw it play out with Greta's hat, but it has global ramifications too.
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It speaks for them, given that Greta is a non-Muslim caring about a Muslim cause. And of course,
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there are non-Muslim Christians in Palestine as well, but overwhelming it's a Muslim cause.
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And to see her go out of her way to support this cause, although she has no skin in the game.
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And then to see in a reciprocative manner, the Muslims go out of their way to look after this.
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It's beautiful. It's very beautiful. If I could ask you perhaps more personally,
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you said, how did you, if I could say, wrestle with your faith, going on this mission,
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going through all the highs and lows, figuratively and literally, how did that impact you?
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On a spiritual level. Yeah. There's a saying that there are no atheists on a sinking ship,
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right? That when you're in a moment of crisis, you really decide what your faith is and what you
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believe in. When you cry for help. And in my case, I was on a boat that had just been hit by what
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his beliefs have been Israeli drone strike. You cry to God and you say, yo, save me from the situation.
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I'll be the best Muslim ever. You make promises with yourself and with your creator.
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I think I definitely am on a constant journey with my faith.
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And I think during this mission, I was a lot more spiritual than I've probably been at any point
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in my life. And that's kind of sad because that speaks to the idea that I call on Allah when I
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need protection, when I need safety, when I need a safe passage. And you at least myself don't have
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that same level of passion or dedication when times are good, when times are cruiser.
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Or year round. Yeah, exactly. And that sounds like quite a transactional relationship to have with
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your creator or the religion. Like your friend would never tolerate that. We only hang out with them
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when you're having a time and then when you're having a great time, we're like, I'll see you later.
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So I think that's a realization for me coming out of this that I need to be consistent in my
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commitment to my faith and my spirituality and my religion and not just leaning on Islam when
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times get rough. We really thank you for your vulnerability and sharing that with us. I mean,
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you know, you've arguably done something that's quite impossible to think that's impossible for
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people like myself. People who are just watching you on the screen, you know, we were really proud,
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especially myself to see someone like yourself gone as journey, documenting it as well as you did.
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It was so consistent and I still believe you're still pushing content about your journey now today.
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So I really wanted to thank you for that and sharing that with us.
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A lot of reward you, brother. What do you stuff?
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To be good, we need to acknowledge to sacrifice someone like you so fast to make,
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to come out of his way to like condemn the genocide. At a time, well, many people are silent,
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especially those who are already those in position. So, Juzakalov.
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I appreciate it, but I don't feel that way. Like I feel like God has given me everything.
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I've got the privilege of three fantastic international passports. I've got a family that
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have enough affluence that if my life went to like down the drain, I could move back in with my
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parents, right? They don't depend on me financially. I've been gifted with a media platform at CNTV.
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We now have eight million American subscribers on Snapchat and social media platforms.
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I've been gifted with an education and skills to tell my story. I know I'm a good storyteller.
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I know how to tell my story. And this is all a huge responsibility.
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In our Islamic tradition, there's this idea that wealth and privilege is a test.
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And I think I'll be asked, what did you do with it? What did you do with all that privilege?
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What did you do with that platform? What did you do with the microphone? Did you use it for self-gain?
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Did you use it to get famous and to get your way into nice hotels? And that's no way to live.
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So I don't think of it as being heroic. I don't think of it as being like a conscious decision.
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I think of it as being a responsibility. And I don't even think we're doing 1% as much as we
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should be doing for the cause and more broadly for the Oma. And I think that's why over time,
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you'll see CNTV better aligned with serving the Oma. And in short, I think that's an exciting
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journey that we want to go on. You said you've been granted with an insurmountable amount of
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blessings in your life. And as a result of this trip, we can see that you've not wasted any
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full talents. Mashallah. I'll ask you one question on the flotilla before we wrap up in
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Shahrallah. If I were to say to you now, use of the flotilla was not successful in reaching Gaza.
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And it's been intercepted. And my question to you would be, how do we get the momentum going?
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I think. Right now, with hundreds of, right now, the biggest responsibility is for people that
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are off the vessel not on. The people that are on the flotilla mission are going to be silenced.
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Their phones are going to be taken away. They will have no ability to tell their story.
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They will be tarnished by Israel as being Hamas. Israel have already come out and said,
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these guys are funded by Hamas. These guys are Hamas. None of it is true. It is the responsibility
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of people around the world to boy, to protest, to take to the streets, to email their governments,
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to get on the media, to make as much noise as possible to say, our citizens have been illegally
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kidnapped by a rogue state. And we demand their release. And more broadly, we demand that our country
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ends their complicity with this genocide. That means in Australia, in the UK, in the US, the
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onus is now shifting. The people on the flotilla have done their part. They have served their role.
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They now need us who are off the boat, who have the opportunity to continue to make noise,
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to make as much noise as possible, to ensure they're safe release. And more broadly, we redirect
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their attention to Gaza. People need to remember that the freedom of Palestine like South Africa,
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and so many other liberation struggles before, is not a sprint. It's a marathon.
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And we need to be able to continue to create energy. My biggest fear around this entire genocide,
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and I'm already seeing it happen right now, is that the West is starting to throw Benjamin Netanyahu
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under the bus. And maybe they will imprison him in Israel. Maybe they'll hand him over to the
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ICJ. But they'll basically say, like he's the full guy. Oh man, that guy was really messed up. He did
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some bad stuff. And then they'll resume the status quo, the occupation and apartheid system.
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We see this with Trump's Gaza plan. Trump's Gaza plan is not a peace plan.
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It is peace, but peace is not justice. You can have peace in a prison, where you can imprison
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people and it's a peaceful prison, but it's not justice. At the end of the day, we need to
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absolutely accept nothing until Palestine is free. If this genocide is over, this fight is not
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over. And to be honest, people need to understand that we're winning. It might not feel that way when
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over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed. It might not feel that way when Palestinian children
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are in prison. But globally, we are in the majority. Even the US, if you look at the latest
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Pew studies and Gallup studies, young Americans are more pro-Palestine than ever before. We are
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winning. Netanyahu knows this. He is terrified. They've lost control of Hollywood. Hollywood
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are now starting to slide with Palestine. They've lost control of social media. Hence they're
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trying to buy TikTok to re-allign the algorithms. And to be honest, it's too late for them.
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It's too late. They're now desperately trying to get, I call them, Zion Daily and these kinds of
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publishers to put out content that speaks about, hey, we can all coexist and be best friends while
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you maintain an apartheid system. They've lost the media narrative and that's the beginning of
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Israel. It's going to get a lot uglier before it gets better. Unfortunately, you tend to see when
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a monster that is Israel is in a corner, they will just attack even more. But we are definitely seeing
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the inflection point. We're definitely seeing the light on the other side of the tunnel.
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So it's so important for us all to keep going.
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Definitely. Well, Yusuf, thank you for your words and thank you for your time.
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Thank you for joining us on the One Path podcast and we've been in contact for some time now.
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But it's an absolute honor to have you here and for sharing your story with us and we pray that
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Allah blesses you for all your efforts and we pray that this mission is successful in reaching
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Gaza in Shah Allah. And to the viewers at home, thank you for listening and until on the next episode,
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Salamu alaikum.