He is the son of a terrorist. But he has chosen peace.

Zak Ebrahim was born in Pennsylvania in the US to a loving mother and father. His father was an Egyptian engineer; his mother was an American teacher.

Unfortunately, Zak’s father was also a terrorist. A terrorist who was a member of a Bin Laden organisation, and helped plan the first World Trade Centre bombing in 1993. He brought Zak up to hate people. To judge them, based on their race, religion and sexual orientation.

But Zak is now a peace activist. He uses his story to fight back against violent acts of terrorism.

In this TED talk, Zak describes how his life changed and he learned how to lose the attitudes of hatred and bigotry.

His story is remarkable, shocking, powerful and inspiring — particularly the last couple of minutes. Watch it below, or read the transcript here.

Zak has also written a book, The Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice, which you can pre-order here.

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