Omar El Akkad on the West’s hypocrisy over Gaza
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 747 Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Acclaimed author Omar El Akkad writes a powerful reflection of Western hypocrisy over Gaza in his book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. We speak to El Akkad on the immense suffering that has occurred over the past two years of Israel's genocidal war and examine how Western liberals failed the people of Gaza.
This is a story from the archives. This originally aired on October 10, 2025. None of the dates, titles or other references from that time have been changed.
In this episode:
- Omar El Akkad, Writer
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Haleema Shah, Amy Walters, and Tracie Hunte with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Duha Mossad, Farhan Rafid, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Kylene Kiang.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi, Malika here. |
| 0:13.7 | What is outrage worth without action? |
| 0:16.7 | That's one of the questions at the heart of Omar Al-Aqad's book, |
| 0:20.1 | one day everyone will have always been against this. I talked to Omar at last. That's one of the questions at the heart of Omar al-Aqad's book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. |
| 0:23.7 | I talked to Omar last year about the political and moral failures |
| 0:27.4 | that allowed Israel's genocide in Gaza to continue |
| 0:30.2 | and why over time, many of the people who enabled the violence |
| 0:34.3 | began signaling they opposed it. |
| 0:36.8 | This episode originally aired October 10th, 2025. |
| 0:40.8 | All dates and references are from that time. |
| 0:49.3 | Today, amid cautious optimism for a ceasefire, |
| 0:53.6 | one writer reminds us of the politics that failed Gaza. |
| 0:57.8 | Palestinians have had no choice but to be revolutionary, right? They've had no choice but to engage in |
| 1:03.4 | this resistance. Omar Al-Aqad wrote the book, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against |
| 1:09.6 | This. Is that day here? |
| 1:14.3 | I'm Maliga Bilal, and this is The Take. |
| 1:26.1 | Before we continue with today's show, remember to leave a comment telling us what you think about this episode. |
| 1:32.3 | Are you hopeful about a lasting ceasefire? |
| 1:34.9 | What do you make of the tone shift from U.S. officials on Gaza? |
| 1:38.8 | And if you're listening to the podcast, be sure to leave us a review. |
| 1:42.5 | It helps the show, and we appreciate it. |
... |
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