Is Real Peace Between Arabs and Jews Possible? My Conversation with Loay Alshareef in Abu Dhabi

Okay, sitting here with my friend Louie al- Sharif who we're sitting here in Abu Dhabi. Hard to believe welcomed and hosted and so grateful to be here and grateful to Lou for all your support for the Jewish people for the state of Israel. >> Thank you so much Ephraim. Your name is so beautiful by the way. Ephrime, the son of uh Joseph. >> Thank you >> and one of the tribes that were divided on the land. Yeah. >> An example of his incredible knowledge. So Lou, you were spending time in Paris. You were raised in Saudi Arabia and learned to hate the Jewish people. I hate Israel. That all changed when you were hosted by a Jewish family in a Jewish home. How did that change the trajectory of your life? >> So that Jewish family had a secret called food. Just kid [laughter] food was so good. No, but uh yeah uh it changed because you started to learn from the source, not from the enemies of the source or the adversaries. So when I started to learn more about Judaism from the source, I found it I found so many commonalities and so many dots to be connected. What Lui knew about Jews before 2010 was the protocols of the [clears throat] elders of Zion and Egyptian TV dramas that depicted Jews as the enemies of Arabs and unfortunately so many novels that were written by anti-Semitic Arab professors about Jews and of course the source of all the Talmud that no one ever really knows what what it says because by the way we we don't have an Arabic translation of the Talmud >> misquote the story >> oh yeah lots of lots of misinformation information. So that changed when I lived with a family. And I want to tell you one thing. I was 27 at that time. For 27 years, I haven't met a Jew in my life. >> Many of those. >> So it's easy to hate the other when you never met them and you don't know them. >> And many of those who hate Jews haven't seen a haven't met a Jew in their life. So >> do you think the opposite is also true? You think there are Jews who generalize about Muslim because they never met. They don't know. >> I totally agree. Or maybe they know only the uh uh those who were like very bad to them, for example. But I I see that extremism is an echo of another extremism and we should fight extremism with the voice of reason and knowledge the most important thing. >> So you met this family and you saw a different side to the Jewish people and that caused you you're an intellectual, you were an educator. You've been awarded for being an educated back in Saudi Arabia and the best educational idea in 2013. It was my idea of presenting the concept of edutainment on YouTube at that time and I was awarded by the minister of education in Saudi 2003. It was a a nationwide contest and I I I have I have the photo of of me being honored on my Instagram. >> Wow. And with the same people who honored you then applaud you now. You have an enormous following in social media and you use it to promote uh mutual respect, mutual love and to support Israel. You describe yourself as a Muslim Zionist. So the same people who gave you that award in Saudi Arabia then how would they feel about you today? >> I don't know. But I just say I'm I'm I'm saying that not everyone by the way uh still received Lui the same the same way that he they received him before. But um I'm so sure that if they would understand where where this um where this kind of stances come from, they maybe would feel still be proud of what I do. So here we are in Abu Dhabi and you're not a you may not be the majority voice but you're certainly not a growing minority voice. You're a growing minority. The UAE is such a moderate and respectful peaceloving uh embracing different people in different religions. We feel very >> but I represent myself alone. I represent myself. >> You do represent but do you represent also a better future of possibility mutual cooperation respect getting along >> as as you say in Hebrew. >> Please can inshallah I hope I hope so. The way I want to thank you on behalf of the Jewish people, on behalf of the state of Israel, thank you for speaking for the truth, standing up for the truth, even at times of personal risk for yourself, even when it's can can be unpopular, but thank you for traveling all over speaking to anyone who listens to. >> It's a holy mission. It's a holy mission. It's it's it's it's I'm not doing this honestly for I'll be very honest with you. I'm not doing this for uh uh how to say this, for >> Yeah. No, no, no. Yes, exactly. But I'm doing this because every time I speak for Israel or for the Jewish people, I remember my faith. It stands on the shoulders of Joshua, David, Caleb, Ephraim, Moses, Habacook, Ili Yahu, Yonah. My faith stands on their on on their shoulders. So I'm I'm honestly defending my faith. >> It's not only defending the Jewish people. Yes, it's the Jewish people, but I'm also defending my faith. The legitimacy of my faith comes from the fact that these prophets that we are named after came from the land that they called Israel. >> Thank you for all that you do. God should keep you safe. God should help you find success. And to those who are listening and watching, please follow Lu online. He's on all social media platforms. They can find you easily there. >> X and Instagram, LL Sharie, follow. And just don't just don't just follow. Comment and share. comment and share because this is the voice that we have to get out. This is the message that we have to make more popular and those who agree with you but maybe feel that they're afraid, they're quiet, they can look up to you and the more they hear you >> they will encouraged encouraged and >> we'll be able to share it as well. So, thank you so much. [applause] Thank you.