On October 6th, 2024, the eve of the first anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, Ali Velshi delivered a powerful and hopeful speech during his show on MSNBC. The video and full transcript are available below.
Velshi's monologue is a poignant reflection on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, capturing both the frustration and despair of a seemingly intractable situation, while offering a glimmer of hope for a different future.
His words are a beacon of hope, reminding us that it is through embracing dialogue, nurturing empathy, and committing to understanding that we can begin to create a world where peace and justice are not just aspirations, but realities.
Velshi consistently emphasizes the suffering of all people involved in the conflict, regardless of their religious or political affiliations. He demonstrates empathy for all sides, acknowledging the shared humanity of Palestinians and Israelis. He highlights the impact of generational trauma on the conflict, suggesting that understanding this dynamic is crucial for finding solutions. He urges listeners to move beyond simplistic narratives, embrace complexity, and prioritize facts over ideology. He underscores the importance of recognizing basic human rights as a foundation for peace and reconciliation. Despite the bleakness of the current situation, he offers a vision of a different future where dialogue, understanding, and respect for human dignity prevail.
In the spirit of inclusiveness and mutual understanding, Velshi, a Canadian Muslim of Indian origin, quotes:
We particularly appreciate the following:
The Emphasis on Mutual Understanding: His call for "mutual understanding, respect, empathy, and pluralism above all else" is a powerful reminder of the values that should guide our interactions, both within our own societies and on a global scale.
The Recognition of Complexity: Acknowledging that "this isn't simple" and that there are "a lot of non-starters" to the conversation about Israel and Palestine is crucial. It avoids oversimplification and encourages a nuanced approach.
The Value of Dialogue: His insistence on "a very tough conversation... better than no conversation at all" is a critical message. It's through open and honest dialogue, however difficult, that we can begin to bridge divides and find common ground.
The Call to Seek Solutions, Not Just "Being Right": The statement "It's a call to seek a solution above seeking to be right" is a powerful call for humility and collaboration. It encourages us to move beyond the tendency to score points and instead focus on finding workable solutions.
The Importance of Validating Others: Velshi emphasizes the need to "validate one another without accepting opinions which we cannot countenance," demonstrating the importance of acknowledging and respecting diverse perspectives without necessarily agreeing with them.
The Power of Connection: The quote from Muriel Rukeyser Riser is a beautiful and powerful reminder that "we will begin to change the world" when we recognize the connections that bind us together.
Ali Velshi's words are powerful, and his call for understanding and empathy is especially poignant in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His words offer a reminder of the need to move beyond simplistic narratives and embrace the complexity and shared humanity that lies at the heart of this issue.
We should continue our collective efforts to promote dialogue and understanding. It's a challenging but essential task.
"Tomorrow will mark one year since the tragedy of October 7th 2023. Much remains unresolved in a part of the world where living without resolution is commonplace. Neither Palestinians nor Israelis should be punished, kidnapped, or killed for the misdeeds of their governments, or those of the worst among them, or those who came before them.
I had hoped in the days since October 7th that things would have improved in that part of the world and in the way we discuss it here in America. But hearts have expectedly hardened, and the collective dehumanization that preceded October 7th is worse than it was a year ago.
We're not meaningfully better at even discussing this fraught issue, let alone at striving to solve it. There are no two sides to the MiddleEast. There are dozens of sides, and we as humans are capable of holding many of them at the same time. The people who populate that much troubled land, regardless of the political views they hold, or the perilous situations in which they live, are in many cases genetic cousins, and whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or Drews, they are descended theologically of the same Abrahamic faith. And perhaps most importantly, they're all children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren of trauma, generational trauma that imprints on one the ability to dehumanize others. But it doesn't have to be like this. Or at least it doesn't have to end this way.
Awful things have happened in the last year in a place where awful things have been happening for the better part of 100 years. There's plenty of blame to go around for the situation in the Middle East but blame solves nothing.
It is my sincere hope, one year later, that we reconcile around this matter for the sake of everyone involved, that we step back from othering people because of their long held and possibly valid views on the issue, that we cease to see political disagreement on how to solve the Middle East conflict as a battle against an enemy that we must defeat.
Noga Tarnopolsky, the Israeli journalist who was on air with us a year ago, reminded me that the problem with competing dialogues, the sort of which we've been occupied by for the last year, is that, while they might be intellectually or emotionally satisfying, they're fundamentally unproductive. Noga believes we should resist the urge to privilege whatever narrative occupies space in our brains, and replace it with the difficult truths that exist on the ground. We must admit facts that inconvenience our ideological positions for the sake of those who continue to suffer, and to die, and to live in fear. Noga reminded me of our responsibility as journalists to push away from bias and toward generosity in our public dialogue about the Middle East.
Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer who was also on air with us one year ago as this was all unfolding, added that the ability to move forward in the region relies on a universal recognition of the most basic and fundamental rights of humans, all humans. So my wish is that in this coming year we collectively understand that the region is beset by terrible governance. Institutions that are not broadly supported by citizens and a whole lot of really bad actors. But despite that, the region is populated by passionate people with the most human of desires to live in peace, to control their lives, and to have responsible and accountable government. These are people who hold a multitude of political opinions across the entire political spectrum, much like we do in the United States. Imagine if those various and multiple views could be well debated, both here and there, within a context that allows people of vastly divergent political persuasions to live peacefully, either among or adjacent to one another.
We're in the middle of the days of awe on the Jewish calendar where we aim to get written into the book of life for the next year. My additional hope for this year is that a great and enduring understanding emerges around Israel and Palestine, replacing the mistrust and the hatred that is literally killing people daily; and that we in the west support and encourage mutual understanding, respect, empathy, pluralism above all else, both in the region and, perhaps equally importantly, among ourselves here.
It is our lot in life, and it's not a bad lot, to live among those who have different views. It was the basis of the founding of this nation almost 250 years ago. When we get it right, which we sometimes do, it is America's finest and most valuable export. Now don't misunderstand me. I know this isn't simple and there are a lot of non-starters to this conversation. But a very tough conversation is better than no conversation at all which is largely where we've arrived. Let's resolve to have those truly difficult conversations respectfully and forgo simply scoring points and accusing those with whom we do not agree of having nefarious motives. Let's really stretch ourselves to try to understand and maybe even articulate the opinions of those with whom we strongly disagree.
I'm not suggesting that anyone sacrifice their views or their strongly held beliefs, nor that we overlook atrocities but this is a call to let go of our prejudices and our preconceived notions. It's a call to seek a solution above seeking to be right. For my part, I'm going to contribute to having even better conversations with more people from a broader spectrum of perspectives on the Middle East than I've had until now. It's not going to be easy but nothing ever is as it relates to that part of the world.
The Jewish American poet Muriel Rukeyser Riser wrote: "If we look long enough and hard enough, we will begin to see the connections that bind us together, and when we recognize those connections, we will begin to change the world." So, let's change the world. Let's redouble our efforts to look long and hard at one another to validate one another without accepting opinions which we cannot countenance, to respect that conflicting ideas and opinions can be held without resulting in war, and death, and destruction."
— Ali Velshi,
2024 October 6th.
