How Moataz Salim went from Grad-Student to Congress: Palestinian-American Activism, Gaza Pre-Oct 7th
Apr 30, 2024Season 4Episode 38
Daniel Corcoran / Moataz Salim
In the halls of Congress, Moataz Salim, a Palestinian American grad student turned activist, passionately advocates for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Gaza war. His journey from silent observer to outspoken peace advocate is both poignant and powerful. Through Moataz's perspective, we witness the harsh realities of life under siege in Gaza, juxtaposed with the freedoms we often take for granted. This episode delves into Gaza's struggles, highlighting Moataz's transformation and the emotional toll the conflict takes on Palestinians worldwide.
In the halls of Congress, Moataz Salim, a Palestinian American grad student turned activist, passionately advocates for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Gaza war. His journey from silent observer to outspoken peace advocate is both poignant and powerful. Through Moataz's perspective, we witness the harsh realities of life under siege in Gaza, juxtaposed with the freedoms we often take for granted. This episode delves into Gaza's struggles, highlighting Moataz's transformation and the emotional toll the conflict takes on Palestinians worldwide.
Today hear how a full-time grad student now finds himself walking the halls of Congress calling for an end of the war in Gaza, meeting with congressmen and congresswomen and their staffs, advocating for a ceasefire in the Gaza-Israeli war. Welcome to Overcoming the Divide, a platform dedicated to insightful political discourse and debate. This episode features Motaz. Salim Motaz is a Palestinian American who's enrolled in grad school full-time but has recently turned to activism, advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza. He works with anti-war organizations such as Code Pink and goes to the halls of Congress on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:
This conversation is part one of a larger conversation that will be released next Tuesday, May 7th. I understand how this topic is fraught with tension and anger and sadness and all emotions across the spectrum, but I am dedicated to hearing people out, hearing their perspective, and MoTest brings a valued perspective to the table. If people are angered by it, upset, disappointed, and you would rather hear another perspective or additional perspective, I should say please feel free to contact me on Instagram at Overcoming the Divide and recommend someone I talk to on the show, but without further ado, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:
If I asked my cousins what life is like in Gaza on the day-to-day, they would say things are normal for them because in their context, I mean not right now. Obviously this is for October 7th and not when Israel is doing one of its campaigns where they quote unquote mow the lawn like an Operation Protective Edge in 2014, for example, people go about their life, they have jobs, they have families, they have sort of like different relatives in different parts of the Gaza Strip, but underneath all that is this reality, that sort of everyone collectively accepts, which is we are under siege. For example, let's say, like one of my family members who lives in Gaza wants to visit the West Bank or vice versa, it's a extremely difficult process because they're separated. There's a lot of landmass that is considered Israel between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and to be able to get out or to come in, you need a permit from the Israeli government. You need all kinds of background checks. Able to get out or to come in, you need a permit from the Israeli government. You need, you know, all kinds of background checks, and so things are restricted, for sure, and there are certain foods that are not available.
Speaker 2:
I don't have the list off the top of my head, but I mean I think, for example, like pasta was banned for a long time until.
Speaker 2:
This is kind of a weird story, like John Kerry visited Gaza at some point and then questioned the Israeli government as to why they felt there was a security threat with pasta going into Gaza and they couldn't come up with something. So I think they might have reinstated it around then. But there are certain food items that are restricted, certain imports, anything that's imported into it is controlled by the Israeli government, so that has an effect on what people have access to in terms of food, in terms of certain items like soccer balls, for example. So it's kind of like people try to live as normally as they can, just go about their day, about their life, but there's always an undertone of we're under siege and we don't have the same level of freedom that the rest of the world has. But also a lot of the younger people don't even know that, because all they know is yeah, and now kind of finding yourself here advocating for your family in Gaza.
Speaker 1:
You are also a full-time grad student, but now find yourself in the halls of Congress on a regular basis. How did that come to be? What drove you to that Quick PSA? This country needs you. The goal of the show is to retake the public square and fill it with insightful political discourse and debate that is beneficial to people's lives and helps them make more informed decisions and think about issues in a more holistic sense, and the only way to do that is having conversations at scale. So if you find value in this conversation, enjoy it. I please ask you to hit that little link button, copy it and share it with a friend who may, like it, become part of the movement to improve public discourse in our society and in this country. Thank you. Now back to the show.
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean as someone who's Palestinian, as someone who's from Gaza, you sort of carry that with you, no matter what. You sort of carry that with you, no matter what. What I mean by that is to say that, like I grew up even when I wasn't in Gaza, you know, you always follow the news and there are crimes being committed against Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank on a daily basis, even before October 7. And this is something that doesn't really get talked about unless something major happens, I mean in mainstream media. So for a long time, when I was here in the United States, in North America, really, because I went to college in Canada before I moved here for grad school, I actually would hide my identity, like I wouldn't necessarily tell people I'm Palestinian, or I would just, once I became closer to someone, or someone was a friend that I trusted with that information, I would tell them that the reason for that is justifiably.
Speaker 2:
My parents and a lot of Palestinians can attest to this. We're told to keep it hush-hush. It's a controversial topic to bring up, like people always have just to be, just to be palestinian, literally just to be palestinian. Yes, because even if someone means well sometimes when their reaction will be like, oh, and they'll get kind of weird with you, and it's almost like they want to say like I'm sorry that you're from there, because it's a place that's always, you know, experienced occupation in terms of Gaza siege and, like many, many you, you know, like military efforts against it every couple of years, every two, three years, honestly. But the really scary part is that there are people who just like there's, you know, this very powerful Zionist ideology and establishment here in North America, especially that like views us as bad for like a better term right now, just it's just being palestinian carries a lot of charge with it um, I seriously so what happened recently was just like after October 7th.
Speaker 2:
It was a buildup of many years, especially when I moved to the US and I saw the kind of sentiment that people have here. It was really shocking just to hear a lot of misinformation about Palestinians, sort of claims that people who say free Palestine are anti-Semitic, or from the river to the sea or things of that sort. Even before October 7th, I mean, I've had things within my own program where we had these Zionists who are my classmates and you know, advocating for Palestine whatsoever, even within this space, was very difficult and came with a lot of blowback. After October 7th and after seeing the way that the Israeli military sort of responded to that, which didn't happen in a vacuum, I just couldn't anymore.
Speaker 2:
I couldn't do the hiding, the identity, I couldn't not speak up, I couldn't just sit and, like you know, for the first few months, like November, december, I was just, you know, listening to podcasts, the news every day, just like consuming all these horrific videos. Horrific news. News started coming from my own, uh extended family in Gaza. Um of this family was struck by an airstrike. This other family had to, uh, relocate to the south. Um, everyone had to go south and as more time passed, more, more deaths, more deaths. So I found myself at some point really not able to even pay attention to my environment that I was in, whether it be grad school, whether it be the gym, you know, just the day-to-day stuff.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Especially because it felt so normal, like everyone was just going about their day, not a care in the world. It seemed that way and I felt like I was losing my mind, honestly, because while I'm here and talking to people and you know, socializing and whatever it's just my people are being slaughtered and, and you know, a genocide is going on. So I was really driven to just okay, you got to do something about this. And I saw, like what code pink was doing in the day of benjamin um in congress and I you know, because I was going to protests and the sort, but the protests were like once a week or maybe once every couple weeks or there might be an action here and there, but I saw that they were going to Congress every single day, putting the pressure on every single day, and that's kind of what I felt I needed to do. I needed to work every single day towards helping my people and being a voice for my people.