An interview with Salah Amleh at the GEC- Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Melbourne in September 2023 https://genaustralia.org/ about the young business entrepreneurs he helps to empower & succeed in Palestine.
Salah is the co-Founder & Director of Growth for Training & Development (GTD), fostering the growth of start-ups by equipping them with essential business skills for long-term sustainability and the National Host of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Palestine, a yearly celebration of entrepreneurship, held globally each November. As the Palestine host, Salah leads a week-long series of events organized by dozens of partners and targeting thousands of participants throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
This interview that I conducted at the 2023 GEC- Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Melbourne in September with the facilitation of the GEC https://genaustralia.org/ ,is part of a much larger project that I have created around disadvantaged entrepreneurs, but because of the persecution that the innocent Palestinians are facing from the mainstream media and many of the global leaders, I thought that it was pertinent to publish the entire interview now so people can see that the innocent Palestinians are not the terrorists that they are being painted as.
So I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Salah, who is a successful entrepreneur and a devoted family man.
Much like all of us, he enjoys socialising, uplifting others and cherishing life's moments, especially with his young family, including his wife and two young children, along with both of their elderly parents.
Salah is also Palestinian.
But it's essential to clarify right from the outset that Salah is not a terrorist and certainly neither are his 2 young children, his wife or their elderly parents.
Infact Salah is a staunch advocate for peace and dedicates his life to empowering underprivileged female entrepreneurs, helping them launch and grow their businesses.
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Salah to interview him for the pilot of my new series in early September at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Melbourne, after he was the host for the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Palestine with his non-pofit- GrowthPalestine
In essence, Salah represents a family, much like any Australian, American, British, or Israeli - and Palestinian family.
They live their lives to the fullest, despite the decades-long and illegal Israeli occupation, However, they have been thrust into an unjust reality that no one should endure, especially not the children, not the innocent- and that’s most of them.
There is absolutely no justification for the reprehensible act of violence carried out by Hamas militants against innocent Israelis and I do support Israels pursuit of justice for the victims, but not at the cost of numerous innocent civilian lives who have already suffered for decades as second-class citizens under Israeli domination.
I do not support Israel's retaliatory actions, which have well and truly already exceeded the bounds of self-defense and I'm deeply disturbed by Israel's willingness to escalate the damage they've already caused.
I am also deeply concerned at the willingness by so many other world leaders to blindly support Israel going into war to cause more bloodshed instead of brokering peace.
This story involves innocent people facing persecution, not only from Israel but also from global media, painting them all as terrorists, but we know that they’re not.
They’re just people like you and me, trying to live their lives as best as they can.
Here is Salah’s Facebook page. Please check it out so you can see that they are not terrorists- far from it.
https://www.facebook.com/salah.amleh
Here is his Linked in page. Please feel free to check it out too so you can see the good that he does for the disadvantaged. https://www.linkedin.com/in/salah1980/
So when the Australian Prime Minister declared that all Australians stand with Israel, I vehemently disagree with him- and all of the other leaders of the western world, as I believe that standing with an oppressor and endorsing the persecution of innocent people is something that I cannot do.
I am Australian. I am not a religious person. I have no ties to any religion whatsoever, infact, call me an athiest. I don't believe in any religion, but I certainly do believe in equality and I certainly believe in peace.
And I believe that we can have each- if the powers that be, can lose their egos.
And at this stage in time, we all must take a stand for peace, regardless of what religion you are, after all who wants to see a repeat of the first and second world wars when millions of our ancestors died agonising deaths.
We should openly declare our support for peace and encourage our leaders to work towards reconciliation in this region.
So, I encourage you to say hello to Salah and his family.
Keep them in your thoughts and prayers- and all the innocent people of both Palestine and Israel.
Their safety and the return of rationale and reason in Israel are vital not only for them but for the entire world.
Haven't we already witnessed enough war and conflict, death and destruction from Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, to the struggles faced by people around the globe from other dictators?
It's time to advocate for peace.
I implore you to help raise awareness about the irrationality and injustice of retaliating against innocent Palestinians- especially with such outrageous force.
Let's all stand for peace before it's too late.
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