Out of Context (Part 13) – Do Muslims Hate Americans?

In Part 13 of the interview, Shaykh Omar takes questions from the audience. The anger felt by many in the Muslim world and other countries, says Sheikh Omar Suleiman, is primarily directed against the American government not the American people. Many are dismayed by American foreign policy in Syria, for instance, where they feel betrayed because Bashaar El Asad was left to butcher his own people for months until ISIS appeared on the scene. There is also a sense that the U.S. is supporting convenient dictatorships at the expense of democracy and human rights, as in the case of Egypt. But the sore spot is the Palestine-Israel issue where we find that the U.S. often unjustly vetoes UN resolutions that would sanction Israel. Mostly the anger is limited to political conflicts in places like Iraq, and against drone strikes, which is why in this country we cannot allow political dissent to be subdued. Muslim and American are not mutually exclusive as the U.S. is home to seven to 10 million Muslims. We must look at the issue in a nuanced way.