Professor Sami Al-Arian, Deported From The U.S. For Terror Links: Our Goal Is To Dismantle The State Of Israel; October 7 Gave Us Ideas On How This Can Be Done; Israeli Jews Can Go To Muslim Countries From Morocco To Indonesia

Memri

03-03-2025

In a January 14, 2025 talk at the Islamabad, Pakistan Institute of Policy Studies, former South Florida University professor Sami Al-Arian, who was deported from the United States to Turkey due to his terror links, argued that "dismantling" the "Zionist regime" is the solution to the Palestinian issue. He stated: "This is not a Palestinian problem, it is an Israeli problem." He asserted that Zionism came about because Europe "opted to export its excess Jews" to the Middle East, however, Palestinians find this unacceptable. Al-Arian suggested that if Europe cannot take Israelis in, they can go to Muslim countries, from Morocco to Indonesia, where they can live as immigrants without sovereignty. He said that the October 7 attack has given many ideas and thoughts and drawn a "map of how this could be done."
Sami Al-Arian was charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. He was convicted, served time in federal prison, and was deported to Turkey, where he currently serves as a professor of public affairs and the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul. On April 26, 2024, Al-Arian posted a photo of his wife, Nahla Al-Arian, at the Columbia University encampment on X – formerly Twitter. On May 1, he addressed the student encampment at the University of Chicago and on May 6, 2024, he published an op-ed in support of the anti-Israel campus activism on the website of Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.
Sami Al-Arian: "Our goal should be to dismantle the Zionist regime. We are not talking about killing Jews, here, because as I said earlier, the Jews in Islam – we have no problems, because we recognize them. We do not fight the Jews because of their faith, we fight the aggressors – the Zionists. And since we brought this in, let me define who a Zionist is. A Zionist is any person who believes, acknowledges, or recognizes that Jews has a sovereign right in Palestine, exclusive right in Palestine.
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"If you believe in a two-state solution you are 78% Zionist, because you believe that they have a 78% right to settle in Palestine.
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"This is not a Palestinian problem, it is an Israeli problem that is going to impact and effect every single person, not only in the Muslim world but across the world.
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"Our civilizational solution to the problem of Zionism is this: Zionism started because Europe could not integrate its Jews, it was persecuting its Jews, so it opted to export its excess Jews to this part of the world, and to make sure that they will stay here, to make sure this part of the world will stay in the state of weakness that it is, and we say that this is unacceptable – you cannot do that at the expense of the Palestinians.
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"If Europe cannot take it, then they can be immigrants in any part of the Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, but not at the expense of Palestinian rights – just as immigrants, not as a sovereign state.
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"When you look at [October 7] Al-Aqsa Flood – it gave us a lot of ideas and thoughts, and it basically gives us the map of how this could be done. This is not a final battle, this was a very important battle to understand where we are and where we are heading."