 Let me introduce myself first. My name is Iman Kurtam. I am an author. I've been writing books since I was really, really young. And then I became a mother. I had two kids. I have two kids. They're called Zayn and Nima. And I write books, real life stories about what we go through as a family. So this is actually a real life story of me explaining to my kids what is Palestine and why, you know, why should we support it or what we should know about it. I am not Palestinian. I'm actually Egyptian. And so one of the most important things that I want to talk about is it does not matter where you're from. It does not matter, you know who you are. You stand for what's right. No matter whoever the person is going, the person who's going through oppression, whoever they are, we always stand with them no matter what. So this is one of the major parts of my story. Are you guys ready? You guys want to start to see the book? What? Okay, a little more excitement, please. Yeah, thank you. Are you guys excited? Let's go. All right, Bismillah. You did? You have the book? Oh, does anyone else have it? You've read it. You have it? Oh, you have it too? Awesome. Oh, I see. Okay, it is. Can you guys see it? It's called, what's it called? It's called Zayn and Nima. Stand for Palestine. Written by me, Imen Kurtom, and illustrated by Sofia Suleiman. So for the younger kids here, who knows what illustrated means? Yeah? What does illustrated mean? You forgot? What about you? No. Okay, what about you? Wrote the book is that author. So I'm the author, so I wrote the book, but the illustrator is pictures. It's the person who kind of drew the pictures for the book. So I'm the author Imen Kurtom and the illustrator is called Sofia Suleiman. All right, Bismillah. Nima and Zayn came back from school. They were tired and glad to be home. Mama had prepared their favorite food, spaghetti and meatballs and blueberry scones. Ever Zayn exclaimed happily, Nima joined in excitedly. I have a question. We hear like spaghetti. Okay, I've got a few. What about scones? Does anyone like scones or not really? It's kind of like the cookie, I guess. I don't know. You've never tried it? Okay, so that's my, these are my kids' favorite foods, okay? Spaghetti and meatballs and blueberry scones. But Zayn and Nima noticed that something wasn't right. Mama seemed distracted and the phone didn't leave her site. Nima was concerned. She asked if mama was okay. Mama replied sadly, awful things happened in Palestine today. As they were talking about the news, they heard a strange sound. There were lots of people outside and their chants were quite loud. The kids couldn't tell what they were saying. But as the crowd marched near, they started to hear the words and their voices became clear. Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Free, free Palestine! Do you guys want to say it with me? One, I want loud voices, okay? One, two, three. Okay, from the, one, two, three. From the river to the sea. I'm going to give my mic to you guys and I want to hear loud voices one more time. Ready, set, go. Mama said, weird, said Nima, home instead. Mama explained that in Palestine, people are losing their homes. They have no place to live and have nowhere to go. So you guys actually want you guys to go, this image right here is a real life picture of something that happened in real life, the drawing of something that happened in real life. If you guys ask your parents to go on YouTube and look up for Mona Elkort and Yaqub, he's stealing her house and he was, as he was stealing her house, she told him, you are stealing my house. And do you know how he responded? He didn't say, no, it's not me or he didn't say, no, it's my house. He knew. He knew that he was stealing. He said, if I don't steal it, someone else is going to steal it. So he knew that he is being a thief and still he's doing it anyway. So check it out on YouTube, just see the actual video of her telling him and confronting him. We have to stand with them. Mama cried. I'll tell you the details when we get back. Now we have to join the march. So leave your lunch and grab a snack. Mama, Zayn and Mima rushed out the door and started marching with the crowd. Zayn and Mima felt unsure, but mama started chanting aloud. The people united will never be defeated. Are you guys ready to chant with me this time? I want loud voices. Can you guys read it off the screen? One, two, three, louder. Are you at the neighbors to hear us? Okay, ready? Or like, I want all around. Everyone to hear. Are you ready? The whole masjid. One, two, three, the people united will they notice that there were all types of people, old, young men and women. They were speaking many languages and had different shades of skin. There were women wearing hijab and women with long hair. Some had their hair dark and curly, while others had it straight and fair. There were people wearing t-shirts with writing and a cool design. Zayn read the words. It said, just another Jew standing for Palestine. They all looked so different. But do you know what was interesting? They were holding the same flag and in the same voice they were chanting. You guys, this time I want it really loud. I'm going to come down. I'm going to put my mic over here. Okay, does anyone want to talk to the mic and say it? No? Okay, I'll say it. Are you sure you don't want to? Okay, I'm going to say it and I would love it if you guys can say it with me. One, two, three. They finally went home after walking for hours. They were sweaty from the march and definitely needed showers. Zayn asked mama, why are people losing their homes in Palestine? Mama sighed and said sadly, it's a long story filled with crime. A long time ago in the land of Palestine, Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in harmony side by side. They practiced different religions and they were fair and kind. But that was not the case in the continent of Europe. Jewish people had to face daily harm and pain. Then a man named Theodor Herzl, can you guys say Theodor Herzl? Theodor Herzl said this injustice cannot remain, but he came up with an unfair plan. Zionism was its name. Zionism is the belief that there should be a land only for Jews. Herzl tried to protect his people but he ignored other thoughts and views. He decided that Palestine would be the perfect place to make Israel the Jewish only state and the people already living there could simply be displaced. He wanted to kick out everyone who was not a Zionist and take Palestinian land pretending Palestinians did not exist. Over the years, some European Jews began to move to Palestine and Zionism grew. Then came an evil leader. Adolf Hitler was his name. He hurt many people because they were different and not the same, including Jews from Europe. He caused them a lot of pain. Sadly, Hitler's awful actions made Zionism thrive. It forced many Jews to flee for their lives. Some became Zionists and moved to Palestine. When the Zionists arrived, they worked hard to create Israel the unjust Jewish only state. The Palestinians didn't want the Jews to face any harm but Zionists were taking their land and that caused alarm. Until this day, Zionists are stealing people's homes and Palestine shrinks while Israel grows. If you guys look at the monitor right here, that green, this green is what Palestine used to be in 1947 but day after day after day year after year after year Israel steals more land and more land and more land until now even later on it's not even 2005 after that there's more land that has turned into blue. Israel has taken this land and made it their own. The Palestinians defend themselves with everything they own and stand bravely to protect their families and homes but Israel has the best weapon, the best food, the best water. It destroys everything in Palestine with its army and its power. Israeli soldiers stop Palestinians from walking freely in their own grounds. They build walls and barriers blocking them from moving around. These walls separate Palestinians from their families and friends making it impossible for them to meet on weekdays or even weekends. The sad thing is the cruelty is being repeated by Zionists treating Palestinians the same unfair way they were treated. That's why these people stood up shouting today, free free Palestine! They want Zionism to go away. They want Jews, Muslims and Christians living together side by side. Equality is their mission and a free Palestine is their pride. Are you guys to say are you guys ready to say it together one last time? This time I want the ground to shake. Are you ready? One, two, three, free free Palestine! Free free Palestine! And Mima listened to the story carefully. They were quiet and sad. Why can't everyone be treated equally? They just didn't understand. What can we do to support them? Asked Mima. Mama said we will do everything in our hands. We march and we shout and make our demands telling the whole world to stop Zionists from stealing Palestinian land. We must also make sure to use our money with care and never spend it on anything that helps Israel stay unfair. Before we buy anything, we must check out a movement called BDS. It gives us an important list of the companies that support Zionists. It was time to go to sleep. Zayn and Mima crawled into bed, but they were thinking about the Palestinians without a roof over their head. The next day, Zayn and Mima got prepared. They painted a flag and made a sign. They were brave and had no fear. They were ready to stand for Palestine. And here I am. This is my story, but here I am. I want to ask you guys, are you ready to stand for Palestine? Are you ready to stand for what's right no matter who they are? Doesn't matter if they're Palestinian or not. Doesn't matter if they're African American or not. We always stand for what's right because that's what we teach as Muslims. And so I want to talk to you guys a little bit about a pledge. This is a promise that I want you guys all to make with each other in front of each other and in front of Allah. As Muslims, I want you to promise yourselves that we will never see someone going through pain, someone going through injustice, and look the other way. So are you guys ready to do this promise with me? All right, can everyone stand up? And can you put your hand over your hearts? I promise to stand with anyone facing oppression around the world, bleeding Palestine until Palestine is free from the river to the sea. Thank you. You guys can have a seat. And then right now I'm going to end with a little game. It's a secret game that I have hidden inside my book. Do you guys want to see it? You know it? Okay, what's the game? Tell me. Yeah, so let's talk about this. So something very important I talked about in the book and I wanted to make very clear is how the Palestinians always stand to defend themselves. They never gave up. They found the most creative ways to defend themselves. And these are just four ways that I wanted to talk about. These are called signs of resistance. These are signs or symbols to show how the Palestinians stand up for themselves. And each sign of these is hidden inside the book. And each sign of these has a story behind it. Now I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask the easiest one first. Who knows the story behind the key? What is that symbol? What does it say? For people to be free. Okay, so the key symbolizes freedom. How? Do you want to just read it? No. Okay, do you have any, is there anything you want to say about that key? What does it symbolize? They, do you want to? Many Palestinians who were kicked out of Palestine threw them the keys to their homes that Israel destroyed. This key is a symbol to show they will not forget their truth and one and once again. Good job. Can everyone give them a quick clap? So this key is called the key of return. Palestinians have it with them. Whenever they go, it's a sign that they know one day they will return back to their homes. Okay, here, what do you see here? Okay, come on here. What do you see? The extent of the proceeds of the money coming out of it goes to Palestine out of this book. This is my way of, you know, contributing a little bit. Exactly what has been going on in Palestine. Adventures on Instagram. It's a free video. I don't know if I can, no, I can't. Thank you guys for being patient and for listening to my story. I hope you guys do oppression.