Loay Alshareef from Abu Dhabi, an Arab peace activist, spoke at the rally held at Tavistock Square, bringing together Muslims and Oct. 7th massacre survivors from the Nova music festival to say 'No To Terror.'
Alshareef said, “I would like to say one thing to Hamas sympathizers, ‘I am really sorry to disappoint you in your mission to prove that the enmity between Arabs and Israelis, Muslims and Jews is eternal. It is not and peace is the only way forward and the Abraham Accords have proved that."
"I am proudly living in the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, the country that was the first to make the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020. Of course, having peace with Israel requires courageous leaders and the leader, Mohamed bin Zayed, was courageous to make this decision for peace. What's happening right now in Gaza is an ugly war that Israel didn't ask for, an ugly war that I was so proud from day one that I stood against Hamas and their atrocities, and I was so proud that I took the right decision to stand with peace because peace as I said is the only way forward,” he added.
Alshareef continued, “When I see the flag of Israel, I don't see a flag of a country that is 75 years young, 3,000 years old. I see a flag that has heritage for prophets and kings, that we as Muslims revere and honor. I see in this flag the battle between David and Goliath. I see in this flag when David proclaimed Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state of the kingdom of Israel at that time. I see the flag of Solomon when he was the king. I said see the flag of Ezra and Nechemiah returning to the land of Israel in 586 when the Babylonian exile took place. I see Yehuda Maccabi fighting against Antiochus Epiphanes and I see Jews leaving the land of Israel at 70 [CE] and returning back in 1948. This is what I see in this flag.”
Alshareef said that “this is my second time in Britain. I was welcomed by amazing people from the UK. To be very honest it was a great 10 day stay. I was only disappointed at one thing. I was disappointed at seeing a genocidal chant on the Parliament that many people do not understand that the chant ‘from the river to the sea,’ means one thing, mass murder of Jews and the annihilation of Israel. This what it means and for those who really care about the innocent, for those who really want this war to end, I can assure you I'm not an official, I don't work for the Israeli government, I don't know how they think but I know for sure what they believe in. I know that this war can end, not today, not in the next hour, but in the next second, if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its weapons.”
At this point the crowd started chanting “Bring them home now,” regarding the hostages still being held in Hamas captivity.
Alshareef concluded by saying, “I'm proud of being part of this mission, which is actually part of a prophecy that prophet Isaiah talked about when he lived in the land that he and his other brothers of prophets called Israel. His words, the following words that I'm going to say, are inscribed outside the United Nations. These are the words that really give me the strength to be strong and courageous. His words are ‘nation shall not lift up sword against nation, they shall learn war no more. Peace is the only way.’ God bless the Abraham Accords and may we all work for peace, so that our forefather Abraham can look down to the sons of Ishmael and Isaac coming together and working on their commonalities, rather than fighting over their differences. Thank you.”