Tareq Al-Suwaidan, the general manager of Al-Resala TV, is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait and a popular Islamic motivational speaker and TV preacher.[1] According to Forbes magazine (Arabic edition: Forbes Arabia), Al-Suwaidan ranks second in annual net income among Islamic motivational speakers in the Muslim world, with an estimated net profit of $1 million in 2007.[2]In a 2006 interview, he said that he had arrived in the U.S. at age 17, attended high school there, and "graduated from the University of Oklahoma in the United States in petroleum engineering with a minor in management" and subsequently stayed for 17 years.[3]
Following are excerpts from an interview with Al-Suwaidan, which aired on Al-Quds TV on June 4, 2011:
Tareq Sweidan: "Israel cannot withstand the will of the people. Ultimately, there will be a decisive battle. We must postpone this battle, because we are not ready, but we will get to this battle.
[…]
"The entire nation, and especially the countries bordering with Israel, must provide direct support to the armed resistance, and not just pay it lip service. Secondly, the Palestinian youth must realize that it has no alternative – and indeed, none of us have – other than armed resistance. That is the only solution for this nation.
"Therefore, any regime, or authority, that does not support this approach, and does not embrace the option of armed resistance… In such a case, your Palestinian youth must shout the slogan: 'The people wants to topple the regime that does not want the resistance.' Wishy-washy regimes that don't know what they want..."
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Interviewer: "You bear the responsibility for what you are saying…"
Tareq Sweidan: "You are not responsible for this… I'd like to say one thing, with your permission. The Palestinian Authority, with its spineless positions, has a major part in the loss of the Palestinian cause. When the PA is replaced, and becomes serious about confronting the Zionist enemy, and about the option of resistance – that's when we will have hope.
"That's why I call upon the Palestinian youth to adopt the slogan: The people wants to change the PA to an authority that views resistance as its strategic option.
[…]
"The other day, I was asking myself: Why shouldn't I personally go on jihad? First of all, my body cannot tolerate it. Secondly, is what I am doing any less important than jihad?
"I would like us all to feel that we are in the same trench. There is such a thing as media jihad, political jihad, and a form of jihad that I strongly encourage young people to undertake – electronic jihad.
"Some of our youth are extremely clever. I hope that a group of hackers will get together, and will wage resistance over the Internet, targeting Israeli and Zionist sites and destroying them electronically. I view this as better than 20 jihad operations." […]
Endnotes:
[1] http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html, "Help cure West's ills, Muslims told", Catherine Porter, Toronto Star, Monday, January 6, 2003, Ontario edition, Section: News, p. A08
