Born in Bethlehem of Judea, Walid’s grandfather was the Muslim Mukhtar (chieftain) of Beit Sahour-Bethlehem (The Shepherd’s Fields) and a friend of Haj-Ameen Al-Husseni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and notorious friend of Adolf Hitler.
Walid’s great grandfather, Abdullah Ali Awad-Allah, was also a fighter and close associate of both Abdul Qader and Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who led the Palestinians against Israel. Walid lived through and witnessed Israel’s Six Day War while living in Jericho.
As a young man, he became a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and participated in acts of terror and violence against Israel, and was later imprisoned in the Russian Compound, Jerusalem’s central prison for incitement and violence against Israel.
After his release, he continued his life of violence and rioting in Bethlehem and the Temple Mount. After entering the U.S, he worked as a counselor for the Arab Student Organization at Loop College in Chicago and continued his anti-Israel activities.
In 1993, Walid studied the Tanach (Jewish Bible) in a challenge to convert his wife to Islam. Six months later, after intense study, Walid realized that everything he had been taught about Jews was a lie. Convinced he was on the side of evil, he became an advocate for his former enemy.
Driven by a deep passion to heal his own soul, and to bring the truth about the Jews and Israel to the world, Walid shed his former life and his work as a software engineer and set out to tirelessly bring the cause of Israel to tens of thousands of people throughout the world: churches and synagogues, civic groups, government leaders and media.
Walid has written several online books including “Dear Muslim, Let Me Tell You Why I Believed” and “Israel, And The World’s Mock Trial”, where he exposes anti-Semitism and the hatred of Jews in both the Islamic Christian and secular worlds.
Walid is an American citizen and lives in the USA with his wife and children, under this assumed name.
Engagements:
Walid has spoken all over America and the world including Chile, Mexico, Canada, UK and South Africa. He has appeared on national television also all over the world including CNN, CNN International, FOX News, ITN, RTE, NBC, CBS, and ABC. He has also been featured on BBC radio 4 and 5.
Speaking Highlights
* Harvard Law School lecture
* Special forum on Capital Hill Washington DC
* Columbia Unversity lecture
* Concordia University
* UCLA, USC, University of Georgia, Washington University, Penn State, San Diego State and many others.
* Keynote address to more than 700 Jewish leaders and rabbis from all over the world and North America at its Partners Conference in Stamford, CT, which is the highlight of Aish’s calendar, and again in New York later in November.
* Encounter conference, largest gathering of orthodox Jews in UK.
* Jewish communities of St Petersburg, Memphis, St Louis, Scranton, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Albany, Dallas, Tampa, W. Palm Beach, Seattle, Cincinnati, Toronto, Motreal, Winnepeg, Calgary, Vancouver, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Rockville MD, Atlanta, St Louis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and soon Las Vegas and Cleveland.
Press:
* Walid’s story was published in the Irish Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Express UK (Front Page) , and a multitude of papers in the USA.
* He has appeared on ITN news with Angela Rippon and BBC radio 4 and radio 5, Israel National News, the Janet Parshall Show, the Dennis Prager Show, Michael Medved, Glen Beck Show, and QR77 Calgary, CHQR Winnipeg, America Tonight, WABC, WTIC, WKBN, the BBC news web site, the Jerusalem Post, World Net Daily, Arlene Peck’s cable TV show, and the Capitol Report, an affiliate of CNN in Albany. Walid has done more than 100 radio shows in the last six months alone.
Advocacy for Muslims
* Spoke to Muslims (including Palestinians) at Hayward State Univ. in California, featured on the ten minute video, “A Palestinian’s Journey.”
* Appeared on the American Iranian TV (Muslim) satellite station, broadcast all over Iran.
* · Advocate for Afghan Muslims in Northern California—helped them save their businesses which were being threatened by closure from unscrupulous city council members and fought against discrimination against Afghan Muslims
Other Notable Events
* Walid was a keynote speaker, along side Israeli Tourist Minister Benny Elon and Janet Parshall, at the National Radio Broadcasters conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
* Conducted national press conference in Washington, DC on Capital Hill and met with members of Congress, and another in Great Britain in May 2004.
* Key note speaker for Asper Foundation, Winnipeg Canada, Americans Against Terrorism, Judeo-Christian Zionist Congress, Faith Bible Chapel, Resurrection Anglican Fellowship, North Creek Church, Netivot Shalom, Jewish Community Center San Francisco, Jewish Business League, Temple Isaiah, Beth-Shalom.
* Met with leaders of major Jewish organizations including AJC, American Jewish Congress, Hadassah and Young Israel, with more planned.
* Walid’s brand new video Redemption is now available for sale. Walid’s new book “Why I left Jihad”, available in December, is fascinating reading for those who want to learn about prophecy in the Tanach.
Excerpts From Those Who Have Heard Him:
* The Jay Blog, The Falseness of Anti-Americanism, Tuesday, 9, September 2003:
“So far, Fouad Ajami, Salman Rushdie, Ali Salem, “Newsweek” columnist Fareed Zakaria, Walid Shoebat, Irshad Manji are some of the vocal moderates from that part of the world who do not view everything through a veil of Islamic and xenophobic hatred.”
* Central Connecticut State University Professor Jay Bergman, President of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Scholars:
Shoebat’s talk was “a revelation, even for someone like myself,…an unequivocal and enthusiastic supporter of Israel and the democratic principles it practices.” That Shoebat had participated in violence gave “his testimony a special credence and credibility that it might otherwise lack. All those on the left and in America and Europe who turn a blind eye to the blatant and vicious anti-Semitism pervasive in the Middle East should be required to attend one of [his] lectures.”
* Frank Gaffney Jr, president of the Center for Security Policy:
“In the 25 years I have been in Washington I have never heard anything so extraordinary and the truth be so eloquently spoken by someone like this.”
* Rabbi Paul Silton of Temple Israel, Albany:
“Walid Shoebat’s commitment to the pursuit of truth and his courageous efforts to combat hatred are awe inspiring.”
* Rabbi Brian Rubenstein from Aish Hatorah (UK):
“I feel that your trip has been one of the highlights of the year for our organization.”
* Kol Israel student Wesleyan University Todd Stock:
“The evening was a success; every one I spoke with was impressed…. [Many] people…left with a new found understanding.” For once, he said, the perpetrators of hatred were silenced.
* A Christian supporter of Israel after hearing him at Wesleyan University campus:
“It’s about time such a message was heard.”