Shows
The Palestine PodRelease Dr. Abu SafiyaThis week, Lara and Michael do a deep dive into the kidnapping and torture of Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Edwan Hospital, and a Pediatrician by Israeli occupation forces starting in late December 2024, following months of steadfastness and advocacy aimed at stopping Israeli attacks on the hospital and ending Israel's siege on the Northern part of Gaza. Lara critiques mainstream media's reporting of his abduction and Michael reminds that mainstream media has been used as a tool to whitewash the crimes of the Global North, by providing historical and contemporary examples. Lara and Michael call for the ur...2025-01-2345 minThe Palestine PodSuing the US government for violating the Leahy LawThis week Lara and Michael cover the new lawsuit brought by Palestinian-Americans and DAWN against the U.S. State Department under the Administrative Procedure Act seeking to oblige the U.S. government to comply with the Leahy law and cease military assistance to Israel which is involved in grave violations of human rights through the conduct of its occupation forces in Gaza and the West Bank. Michael comments on Israel’s occupation of hundreds of square kilometers of Syrian land in the aftermath of the vacuum created by the fall of Bashar Al-Assad and Lara characterizes this as an ac...2025-01-0640 minThe Palestine PodThe Legacy of MOVE with Mike Africa Jr.This week Lara and Michael sit down with Mike Africa Jr., author and Legacy Director of MOVE, a Philadelphia-based activist collective and liberation movement. Mike recalls the history of the MOVE and the 1985 Move bombing, during which Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at MOVE members in their homes killing six adults and five children. Mike Africa Jr. addresses police impunity and efforts to seek justice for the MOVE bombing, which are ongoing until today. Mike Africa Jr. expresses solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocide and describes his awakening to the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Lara asks Mike Africa Jr...2024-12-2056 minThe Palestine PodAccountability for Complicity with Genocide with Damia TaharraouiThis week, Lara and Michael sit down with Damia Taharraoui, a lawyer at the Paris bar, who recently filed a criminal complaint for complicity with genocide and incitement to genocide in Paris against an NGO whose members blocked the entrance of humanitarian aid into Gaza and posted about it on social media, calling on others to join them in their efforts. Damia explains the importance of holding perpetrators of atrocity crimes accountable, how open source investigation was facilitated in this case because of the individuals’ brazenness, the difference between extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction, and the political context and public di...2024-12-1054 minThe Palestine PodLive from Beirut with Rania KhalekThis week, Lara and Michael sit down with acclaimed Lebanese-American journalist, Rania Khalek. Reporting from Beirut, Rania comments on Israel’s use of a 2000-pound bunker-buster bomb on a residential building filled with families in Central Beirut on the evening of November 22, 2024. Noting that killing sleeping families was a policy first rolled out in the Gaza Genocide through the use of the Israeli AI “Where’s Daddy”, Lara asks Rania to elaborate on the similarities and differences between Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon. Rania comments on the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Michael provides an update on...2024-11-2451 minThe Palestine PodThe Announcement of the NakbaThis week Lara and Michael cover the formal announcement by Apartheid Israel of the plan to not allow for the return of Palestinians to the Northern part of Gaza while it continues to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from there towards the center and southern part of Gaza. Michael comments on the recent fiasco in Amsterdam where Israeli hooligans chanted genocidal songs celebrating that there were no schools in Gaza because there were no children left, while committing acts of violence and destruction of property. Predictably, the Global North's politicians and media painted the incident, whereby genocide apologists were confronted by...2024-11-1447 minThe Palestine PodReal Art Disrupts with Amanda SealesThis week Lara and Michael sit down with the one and only Amanda Seales. Amanda shares her path to learning about and speaking up for Palestine as an artist, explaining that it takes about seven minutes to figure out what is going on, especially if one is armed with knowledge and understanding of white supremacy and colonialism. She invites listeners to check out her latest project, “What would the ancestors say” which explores Black-Palestinian solidarity amongst other social justice issues through a comedic and artistic intellectual lens. Amanda understandably reminds us of George Bernard Shaw’s saying that “if you’re g...2024-10-181h 01The Palestine PodBatman Origin StoryThis week Lara and Michael discuss Israel's expansion of its Nakba and ongoing genocide into Lebanon, with a word on the pager terrorist attacks, and the history of Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Turning back to Gaza, Lara reminds that by now 902 Palestinian families have been wiped off the civil registry and will no longer be a part of a Palestinian future. With over 1000 Palestinians now also the only surviving member of their families (including many children), Michael notes that this is the Batman origin story.
2024-10-1240 minThe Palestine PodIsrael's Economic CollapseThis week Lara and Michael discuss Israel's latest scheme to recruit African asylum seekers to the genocide effort and the frozen death toll in Gaza in the mainstream media despite Israel's continue daily livestreamed massacres. Lara covers a recent piece indicating an economic collapse in Israel based on available data since the genocide began.
2024-09-2030 minThe Palestine PodNYT Killed Medo HalimyThis week on the Palestine Pod, Lara and Michael cover the ongoing genocide in Palestine with updates from on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank including Israel’s bombing of the Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital (again) on August 31, 2024 and the invasion of multiple cities and refugee camps in the West Bank including Jenin where Israeli occupation forces besieged the city, destroyed 70% of the city’s roads in a manner of days and, at the time of recording of this episode, killed 22 Palestinians. Lara reminds us this is all part of the plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine which has been...2024-09-0344 minThe Palestine PodGuns, Germs, and StealThis week Lara and Michael discuss the hysteria surrounding Washington's reception of Benjamin Netanyahu, the genocidaire overseeing Israel's current genocidal campaign in Gaza. Lara discusses the spread of preventable skin diseases in Gaza where Israel's siege continues to forbid the entry of even the most basic medical supplies.
2024-07-3143 minThe Palestine PodThe Writing is on the Apartheid WallThis week Lara and Michael cover Israeli massacres in Jabalia and Jenin. Lara covers how the last two functioning hospitals in Gaza are being besieged by the Israeli occupation forces and have been without clean drinking water for days and in international law developments, how the ICC Prosecutor has applied to the pre-trial judges for arrest warrants of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in relation to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
2024-05-2436 minThe Palestine PodThe US is lying to youThis week Lara and Michael cover the Pro-Publica report that internal State Department recommendations advise sanctioning and cutting military funding to Israel, a recommendation that Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has been ignoring since December 2023. Lara and Michael also cover the phenomenon of college campus Gaza solidarity encampments including those at Columbia, Harvard, and Yale.
2024-04-2533 minThe Palestine PodMedical Mission to Gaza with Dr. Mohammad SubehThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Palestinian-American ER physician, Dr. Mohammad Subeh. Dr. Subeh came to the US as a Palestinian refugee during the Gulf War after his grandparents were expelled from Palestine during the Nakba. He speaks to the Palestine Pod about his recent experience providing medical care for five weeks in Gaza a field hospital with the International Medical Core in Rafah during Israel's ongoing genocidal assault. In addition to detailing the realities of Israel's attacks against civilians in Gaza as well as Israel's decimation of the Palestinian healthcare system, Dr. Subeh paints a picture...2024-04-0256 minThe Palestine PodWhere is Hind?This week Lara and Michael cover the story of the missing 6-year-old child by the name of Hind whose terrified phone calls circulated worldwide and the tragic disappearance of two civil defense workers who went looking for her. After recording, it was confirmed that Hind and the defense workers were killed by Israeli occupation soldiers. Lara covers stories of Israeli settlers blocking the entrance of aid into Gaza in violation of the ICJ order on provisional measures while Palestinian children die of starvation in Gaza as well as the discovery of a mass grave of 30 bound numbered bodies in...2024-02-1040 minThe Palestine PodBriefcase and the shotgun: Sorting out the ICJ rulingThis week Lara and Michael (mostly Lara) break down the significance of the ICJ ruling in the Genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel from the perspective of a Palestinian lawyer with an emphasis on international law. While this decision will not in and of itself compel Israel to stop bombing and starving Gaza, it gives us a useful tool to be used in furtherance of the freedom struggle. As Nkosi Mandela said when he appeared on the Palestine Pod in May 2021, all forms of resistance must be applied at once to cause the disruption necessary to bring...2024-01-3146 minThe Palestine Pod“Tell My Story” Dedicated to Refaat AlareerThis week Lara and Michael cover the US blocking the UN Security Council vote on a permanent immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Lara reads through just one day's worth of death and destruction updates from Telegram. We also cover the assassination of beloved poet and academic Refaat Alareer and his sister's family in a targeted airstrike on his sister’s home in Gaza. 2023-12-1445 minThe Palestine Pod#1 at killing UN EmployeesThis week Lara and Michael cover the extreme censorship by streaming and social media companies. Episodes 1-5 of @thepalestinepod have disappeared, and numerous accounts were disappeared or disrupted on the ground and in the diaspora like organizing acct @wolpalestine
Lara provides accounts and updates from the ground. We talk about the occupation forces storming Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, occupation forces making life unlivable for everyone in Gaza, and impossible for medical staff to save people. Lack of medicine food fuel and water is causing disease in a planned genocide on the people and infrastructure of Palestine.
2023-11-2349 minThe Palestine PodWCNSF (Wounded Child No Surviving Family)This week Lara and Michael cover the genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the Israelis. Lara shares gruesome updates from her family on the ground. We bring you the news the corporate media won't.
2023-11-1048 minThe Palestine PodMaze of 21st Century ColonialismThis week Lara and Michael cover the egregious story about Zionist female soldiers who forced Palestinian women to strip at the threat of attack dogs and automatic weapons. We discuss Netanyahu's proposal to deport "all African migrants" after flare-ups in the Eritrean communities inside 48. Lara breaks down the reality of navigating a maze of 21st-century settler colonialism in which all the most physical locations for your life are interrupted by checkpoints, violent settlers, and a literal apartheid wall. Also, we talk about online censorship as The Palestine Pod was recently demonetized on Instagram for no other reason than our...2023-09-1229 minThe Palestine PodPogroms on ”birthright”This week Lara and Michael sit down to talk about the recent zionist pogroms in Turumusaya, a town in the occupied West Bank. We share accounts of some of the victims of the pogrom, some of them Palestinian-Americans visiting home for the first time in twenty years. Lara recaps her family reunion and gives a fiery speech. Finally, Lara and Michael cover the recent Haaretz article “Zionist Militia’s Efforts to Recruit Nazis in Fight Against the British Are Revealed” further to release to the public of documents last month by the Israeli State Archives proving the coordination between Zionists and Na...2023-07-0151 minThe Palestine PodJudge Jury and ExecutionersLara and Michael cover the upsetting pattern whereby Palestinians on the ground document in real time their lived experiences as victims of Israeli apartheid and colonialism but are dismissed.
On the other hand, time and again mainstream media investigations confirm the veracity of Israeli crimes months after the fact and validate what Palestinians have been saying all along. The latest example are the settler attacks on occupied Huwara which were thoroughly documented by the Palestinians who lived them only to have CNN now carry out an investigation confirming what we already know.
Lara and Michael continue with an update on...2023-06-2133 minThe Palestine PodWar Crimes with no consequenceThis week Lara and Michael covered the child martyr Mohammed Tamimi murdered by the occupation. We also discuss the case of CUNY Law graduate Fatima Mohammed who gave a commencement speech in support of Palestinian liberation and was viciously attacked with racist slurs by media and local politicians. Finally, we discuss Lara's trip to the EU to advocate in the halls of government with Adnan Barq and other Palestinians from on the ground.
2023-06-1043 minThe Palestine PodOlive Branch & The Gun with Fred WreckThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Grammy-award winning producer, DJ, and artist Farid Karam Nassar also known as Fred Wreck. He takes us through some of his earliest memories growing up in Michigan surrounded by generations of his Palestinian family. Farid relives some of his experiences visiting Palestine and interacting with the occupation. Lara takes Farid through some of his most outspoken tweets critiquing US policy and describing the nature of Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism. Farid describes why it is so important for him to speak up and makes a clear case for supporting Palestinian resistance...2023-03-0657 minThe Palestine PodA Tale of two shootingsLara and Michael break down the media coverage surrounding the massacres in Jenin vs the Palestinian resistance response. Unsurprisingly Israelis are humanized, and Palestinians are dehumanized. People received buzzing notification alerts from various news agencies the second a zionist is injured but Palestinians are murdered and maimed every day and nobody gets a notification. Michael clarifies where exactly the shooting took place because the media lied about the location. Lara breaks down the latest polling surrounding normalization with the occupation and Algeria and Mauritania come in strong at 99% opposed to normalization. We cover the life of Khalil Sakakini, one...2023-02-0935 minThe Palestine PodCan’t plug a boat with a rifleThis week Lara and Michael cover the martyrs murdered by the occupation in the first week of January. We discuss the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta, as well as the irony of the settlers in 48' protesting this new government as if it's actually different from previous governments (it's literally Bibi, again). We cover the phenomena of zionists online endorsing BDS and talk about Netanyahu's fascist decree about an unquestionable, and exclusive right to settlement. Finally, we cover the story of the former Executive Director, Ken Roth at Human Rights Watch who had his fellowship rescinded by the...2023-01-1353 minThe Palestine PodFree the HLF5 with Nida and Zaira Abu BakerThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Nida and Zaira Abu Baker, daughters of Shukri Abu Baker one of the Holy Land Foundation 5. Shukri is a political prisoner prosecuted in a wave of unjust rulings following post-9/11 hysteria. The ACLU said the prosecution was part of a pattern of the US government targeting faith-based charities "on the basis of unsubstantiated evidence and without even basic due process protections". We discuss the resurgence of the campaign to Free Shukri Abu Baker and the other two members of the HLF5 who remain unjustly imprisoned. We talk about the absolute delusion...2022-12-251h 04The Palestine PodUnintentional SniperThis week on the Palestine Pod, Lara and Michael cover the significance of the shows of Palestinian solidarity at the World Cup in Qatar by players and fans. The Pod then covers the murder of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl Jana Zakarneh by Israeli snipers who shot her 4 times as she stood on the roof of her home in occupied Jenin during a recent occupation raid on the Palestinian city as well as the reckless reporting by Western outlets such as the BBC, CNN, and the NYT that followed, acting as cover for Zionist crimes by failing to publish who...2022-12-1544 minThe Palestine PodThe keys are yours nowThis week Lara and Michael sit down with heavy hearts to commemorate the passing of Lara's sido. We talk about how zionist gaslighting impacts the grieving process and the pressure Palestinians feel to publicly share information about their family and lineage because of ridiculous zionist claims about Palestinian existence. Lara shares that her grandfather died stateless, without a passport, and he's one of the millions of Palestinians for whom that is a daily reality. We also commemorate the passing of The People's Bubbie, longtime antizionist Jew, feminist, and abolitionist, Shatzi Weisberger. We end by briefly covering the zionist dust-up...2022-12-041h 00The Palestine PodWalled Off with Vin ArfusoThis week Lara and Michael sit down with our favorite Pallestalion filmmaker, Vin Arfuso to talk about his upcoming documentary Walled Off. The documentary centers around the Walled Off Hotel in Occupied Bethlehem, Palestine as a means for show asking the brutality of Israeli occupation and apartheid. The hotel has the largest collection of Banksy artwork in one place. The film employs quick cuts and archival footage to dispute zionist propaganda, entertaining the audience with its humor and fast pace. It provides a historic overview of the major players in the story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, where we...2022-11-2257 minThe Palestine PodUsing your platform with Abby MartinThis week Lara and Michael sit down with one of our generation's most courageous investigative journalists, Abby Martin. Her current work can be seen at Empire Files and she directed the acclaimed documentary "Gaza Fights for Freedom" (2019). Her work took her to Palestine and got her banned from it. She takes us behind the scenes of what it was like to film in Palestine and recounts moments like her infamous interviews where everyday Israelis casually endorse genocide. Abby talks about spending time with the Tamimi family and the warmth of Palestinian culture. Abby shares that many journalist colleagues have...2022-11-1252 minThe Palestine PodGreater of Two EvilsThis week Lara and Michael break down the results from the latest so-called election from the apartheid state. Usually in politics, you choose the "lesser of two evils" but the latest election shows a lean in the other direction. While still under investigation for his last term Netanyahu is back with a ghastly list of characters including far-right fascist Ben-Gvir. Michael details how Zionists have historically and continue to collaborate with Nazis citing a recent interview with The Electronic Intifada, and a book Secret Contacts Zionism and Nazi Germany. Lara details how Kahanists who are represented by Ben-Gvir took...2022-11-0736 minThe Palestine PodYou’re Not Welcome Round HereThis week Lara and Michael cover the martyrs produced by the zionist raid on occupied Nablus. The spirit of Palestinian resistance can never be broken. We cover the story of Uday al-Tamimi who was gunned down while resisting occupation. He had inspired many Palestinian men to shave their heads in an attempt to thwart Israeli surveillance. Michael rants about how Zionists are being amplified and turned to as experts on antisemitism. They're experts alright, nobody does it better than them. Michael takes zionists to task for pretending to care about Jews while they are beating up elderly Jewish antizionist...2022-10-2849 minThe Palestine PodResistance is the only optionThis week Lara and Michael cover the occupation siege on the Palestinian town of Huwara, where the zionist settlers are carrying out pogroms daily. We also discuss the siege on the Shu'fat refugee camp following some success from Palestinian resistance. We hold space for the names of the martyrs killed by the occupation this week and talk about how because of the brutal conditions, Palestinian are unable to live life on the most basic of levels. This is why resistance is the only option. We chat about the efforts of Palestinian resistance to repel the zionist colonial settlers and...2022-10-1831 minThe Palestine PodGet Over It but Never ForgetThis week Lara and Michael talk about the four youth murdered by the occupation in 24 hours in the occupied West Bank. We cover the story reported by the Haaretz of Jewish Zionist worshippers who flipped over a Palestinian car on Yom Kippur (not the traditional method of celebration). Lara recaps the case of a 13-year-old Gazan child shot 17 times, and the colonial court’s nauseating attempt to intellectualize her murder and deny her family compensation despite finding that the Israeli so called commander violated international law adding to the endless pile of heinous crimes for which Israel has not been he...2022-10-1135 minThe Palestine PodChoose your own oppressorThis week (technically last week) Lara and Michael follow up on the Marvel story to show the direct connections between Marvel executives and the zionist occupation of Palestine. Along the same lines, we pull up an email chain from 2014 published by Wikileaks known as "The Sony Archives" wherein powerful executives and producers colluded to protect the image of the apartheid regime. Lara takes us through some of the viral videos that circulated the internet this week, including children at a Kindergarten in occupied Jenin terrified at the sounds of zionist bombs dropping. We cover the murder of 7-year-old child Rayan...2022-10-0451 minThe Palestine PodJust Believe the LiesThis week Lara and Michael discuss Liz Truss’s statement saying that she wanted to move the UK embassy to Jerusalem, and how this constitutes an act of aggression. We cover the self-commissioned Facebook/Meta report that admits the company censored Palestinians and favored Hebrew content during the moderation process in May 2021. We joke that we knew that already because we were on the business side of the censorship. We discuss the Chilean President recently standing before the UN, calling on all nations to protect Palestinian human rights as well as his cancellation of a credentials ceremony for an Israeli am...2022-09-2440 minThe Palestine PodRebranding the Final SolutionThis week Lara and Michael react to the introduction of a zionist character into the Marvel universe, named after the massacre of Palestinians. We cover the immediate and inevitable backlash that comes from any time zionists try to colonize popular culture. We give an update on the Shenstone location Palestine Action encampment and provide ways to get involved. Lara covers the increase in violent raids and assassinations in the West Bank of Palestinian resistance fighters. We chat about one of the many murderers turned Israeli celebrities, Elor Azaria. We provide an update on the ongoing litigation between Foodbenders and...2022-09-1649 minThe Palestine PodOn the Shoulders of GiantsThis week Mikey went into the field to interview the activists involved in the campaign to #ShutElbitDown. Mikey covers the ongoing encampment outside the Shenstone factory and speaks to a variety of people involved in the action. We discuss the reasons for this action (to stop drones from being made and delivered to murder Palestinians). We chat about the response from the community in Shenstone, the brutality of the private security guards hired by Elbit, and their coordination with local police forces. The activists explain the various skills and tactics being utilized, and the community being built by the...2022-09-0640 minThe Palestine PodWhat Would You Do For Freedom?This week Lara and Michael discuss the case of Khalil Awawdeh who has been on hunger strike for upwards of 180 days, and the disgusting psychology of the zionists smiling as they return the body of Palestinian martyr Mai Afaneh over a year after murdering her. We cover police brutality against Palestinian-Americans in Chicago, and across the United States. We confront the failure to find any evidence to support the claim that Palestinian NGOs are a front for terrorism, and we discuss some of the aspects of normalization that appear in the new Netflix tv show, Mo.
2022-08-3038 minThe Palestine PodExpect Radical Change with Hebh JamalThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Palestinian-American journalist and advocate Hebh Jamal. Hebh is based between Berlin and New York. We discuss her recent trip to Gaza and she describes the harrowing journey and traumatizing experiences with the Egyptian military and how they are profiting off the oppression of Palestinians. She tells us about the beauty within Gaza and how she still found people with hope despite the occupation's attempts to crush people's spirits. We speak about her journalism in Germany surrounding anti-Palestinian racism and how Germany thinks their problem with antisemitism is imported vs. homegrown. She...2022-08-2147 minThe Palestine PodSlava Palestina! with Yara EidThis week Lara and Michael sit down with student, activist, and burgeoning journalist 22 year old Yara Eid who comes to us from Gaza, Palestine. She takes us through the events of the latest Israeli assault of August 6-8, 2022 when Israeli shelling and bombardement mercilessly killed over 45 Palestinians including 16 children. She describes the impact of this assault on people and animals in Palestine, sharing with us several horrific scenes her and her news team witnessed, including Israeli attacks on a watermelon horse cart driven by a man bringing groceries and cake back to his family, a cemetery, and Jabaliya refugee camp...2022-08-141h 06The Palestine PodThey MUST be stoppedThis week Lara and Michael cover the zionist occupation’s genocide against the Palestinian people via their renewed assaults against the people of Gaza. We talk about the growing resistance in Nablus and AIPAC bragging about purchasing US congresspeople. Michael points out the deafening silence from everyone with a Ukrainian flag in their bio.
2022-08-0741 minThe Palestine PodNobody is too young to colonizeThis week Lara and Michael sit down to talk about how every day we wake up to the news of another Palestinian being martyred, another child snatched from their home in the middle of the night by the occupation forces. Every day another house or village is demolished, and more childhoods, adulthoods, and entire lives are stolen inside the occupation's concentration camps. We discuss specifically the cases of the Burnat brothers, Ahmed Manasra, and other political prisoners. We talk about the aftermath of Biden's visit, as well as the phenomena of Zionist settlers trying to sneak into mecca. The...2022-07-2555 minThe Palestine PodEffective or Respected with Max from Palestine ActionThis week Lara and Michael sit down with our second return guest to The Palestine Pod. It's Max from Palestine Action. He's back to celebrate the closing of 2 of Elbit's weapons systems in the UK and kicking the company out of London entirely with the direct action network, Palestine Action. We discuss the various tactics the group employed to drive up the cost of doing business for the war profiteers in the business of bloodshed. We talk about the importance of getting involved in whatever capacity you can to help be a part of the liberation of Palestine. We...2022-07-1640 minThe Palestine PodPressure and PosturingThis week Lara and Michael discuss the egregious case of the Lapid's occupying a stolen Palestinian house and announcing it as a "new beginning" on Instagram. We cover a couple of instances of Germany silencing both Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish activists. Lara talks about the so-called "Doomsday settlements" and how over 7 decades of occupation is already a Doomsday scenario: We discuss the anniversary of Algerian independence, talk about the deep bond between Palestinians and Algerians, and recall how Algerian resistance to colonialism lasted for over 100 years. We cover the latest news in the phenomena of Arab Zionists (an Arab Zionist...2022-07-1038 minThe Palestine PodTop 5 Dead or AliveThis week Lara and Michael are back to break down the latest in Palestine-related news. We start by covering the latest decision of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled (after some funny business) that BDS is not a protected form of free speech. This decision runs counter to the bevy of other judges across the nation who have found the opposite. The ACLU is poised to take this case to the Supreme Court and let those old gargoyles of jurisprudence weigh in on the matter. We also cover the recent decision by the European Union to resume funding...2022-07-0349 minThe Palestine PodWhen Jews were against Pogroms with NurThis week Lara and Michael sit down with language teacher, musician, and Jewish anti-zionist activist Nur. A video of Nur being attacked by settlers in Massafer Yatta went viral and she sits down with us to recount the incident. She describes how the settlers threw a rock through her car window injuring her and how the occupation forces followed suit by assaulting her and her friends. The settler who attacked Nur and her friends was not even held for questioning (obviously). We discuss the plight of the people of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. Nur tells us that...2022-06-2659 minThe Palestine PodWinning the PR battle with Jenan MatariThis week Lara and Michael sat down with the CEO of Zaytoun Publicity, 2x Award-winning Palestinian storyteller, and TEDx speaker, Jenan Matari. We talk about how she found her voice as a Palestinian woman and developed the courage to speak out for Palestinian liberation. Jenan asserts the importance of Palestinians in exile in the collective liberation of Palestine. We cover how she was forced to leave the corporate world and how that incident helped her take control of her own destiny. Jenan takes us through her family history dating back to the early 1300s when one of her ancestors. a...2022-06-1845 minThe Palestine PodReclaiming the Narrative with Jamal ElshayyalThis week Lara and Michael sat down with award-winning journalist for Al Jazeera, Jamal Elshayyal. We cover the occupation's continued attack on the press in the wake of the execution of Shireen Abu Akleh. The occupation once again killed another Palestinian female journalist, Ghufran Harun Warasneh, and attacked her funeral procession (but you probably haven’t heard about this because she doesn’t hold an American passport). Lara talks about how terrifying it is that the occupation is doubling down and murdering more journalists. Jamal provides us the context that it might be that they are acting out most because they...2022-06-061h 05The Palestine PodKarenizers Gone Wild with Adnan BarqThis week Lara and Michael sit down with our first repeat guest, Adnan Barq. Adnan is a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Jerusalem, Palestine. We discuss the things he saw at the funeral for Shireen Abu Akleh, and how it was the largest funeral procession in Palestinian history starting all the way from Jenin and breaking the occupation barriers by ending up in Jerusalem. We talk about how the people of Palestine are united but disheartened by the media coverage which obfuscates Palestinian life even after death. We also considerwhat it's like to choose the camera when the oppressor...2022-05-291h 06The Palestine PodGuerrilla Diplomacy with Noura ErakatThis week Lara and Michael sit down with famed Palestinian human rights lawyer, scholar, and professor of law, Dr. Noura Erakat. We discuss how international law was shaped by colonial powers in order to facilitate imperial expansion and how international law in practice has favored the settler-colonial project far more than Palestinians. We chat about a time when Palestinians used "guerilla diplomacy" to their advantage to champion the cause of Palestinian liberation. Dr. Erakat tells us that there is no silver bullet for what will bring down the occupation, but we all ought to be kinder to each other in...2022-05-2049 minThe Palestine PodMurdering the Messenger Shireen Abu AklehThis week Lara and Michael cover the heinous assassination by the Israeli occupation of the beloved Palestinian journalist for Al Jazeera, Shireen Abu Akleh. Lara and Michael discuss the audacity of murdering Shireen in broad daylight while still trying to gaslight people into believing something else happened. We note how Israel murdering journalists is actually par for the course, having murdered over 45 journalists since 2000. Lara and Michael cover Shireen's funeral procession which was attacked by Zionist occupation thugs while the world watched and the persistence of the Palestinian spirit to fend off the occupation army and honor Shireen in the...2022-05-1651 minThe Palestine PodDeclare a Firing Zone, Expect FireThis week Lara and Michael discuss the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court to ethnically cleanse 2400 Palestinians from their homes in the south Hebron hills in the region of Masafer Yatta. The IOF designated land that Palestinians have lived on for many generations as a “firing zone,” as a means to confiscate the land and confiscate Palestinians from their homes. This move comes on the heels of news that the occupation approved thousands of illegal settlements on Palestinian land for Jewish settlers only. Lara and Michael cover the continued effort by settlers to break into the Al Aqsa compound. Lara and M...2022-05-0955 minThe Palestine PodVampires and Blood Libel with Michael MalarkeyThis week Lara and Michael sit down with actor, musician, and strong Palestinian ally Michael Malarkey. We talk about how Michael Malarkey came to his understanding of the situation in Palestine, what motivated him to speak out in support of Palestinians, and we do a deep dive into Michael's family history where we learn his grandfather was born in Nazareth. Malarkey's research into Palestine sent him down a rabbit hole of US imperialism, and the global domination of capitalist interests. We discuss using social media as a tool to educate people and the material consequences of being so outspoken...2022-04-2948 minThe Palestine PodLooking Into ItThis week Lara and Michael discuss the deja vu of watching Zionists desecrate portions of the Al Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan. The occupation also assaulted journalists, men, women, and children, locking people inside the mosque so that Israeli settlers could waltz around the Al Aqsa compound. We held space for the seemingly neverending list of Palestinians murdered by the occupation in recent weeks. We talk about western media never affording Palestinians the opportunity for self-defense, whereas those same media outlets provided how-to guides for resistance in Ukraine. We talked about how every time the occupation...2022-04-2350 minThe Palestine PodEmbracing Jewish Anti-Zionism with Rabbi RosenThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Rabbi Brant Rosen of Tzedek Chicago. They made headlines by becoming the first (progressive) Jewish congregation in the United States to add anti-Zionism to their core values. We discuss why they changed from non-Zionist to anti-Zionist. Rabbi Rosen talks about uplifting Jewish life in the diaspora and how diasporic consciousness serves our understanding and solidarity with all marginalized groups. We cover, what it means to be a Jew? Does being a good Jew mean supporting a settler-colonial apartheid state or are there other ways to express your Judaism? Rabbi Rosen explains...2022-04-1356 minThe Palestine PodResistance for me, not theeThis week Lara and Michael celebrate the 50th episode of The Palestine Pod. We do a quick recap of guests and share our appreciation for everyone who has enjoyed the project so far. We cover the various shootings that occurred over the past few weeks. Some at the hands of the occupation, and some at the hands of Palestinians resisting. We discuss the difference in reaction when Ukrainians resist using violence vs. when Palestinians resist using violence. We dissect how the Israeli media is trying to justify the occupation of Palestine while supporting the right to self-defense from the...2022-04-0557 minThe Palestine PodA Seat at the Table with Ahmed EldinThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Palestinian journalist, documentary filmmaker, and GQ heartthrob, Ahmed Eldin. Ahmed joins us to discuss his upcoming documentary (which is still under wraps) and how the terminology surrounding Israeli apartheid and occupation of Palestine is shifting in the public arena. We chat about overt and subtle media censorship from Instagram deprioritizing certain videos to outright banning accounts, and the inability to speak freely when working in a major newsroom. We cover some of the most recent egregious double standards from the Russia/Ukraine situation. We also talk about how Palestinian resistance has...2022-03-2757 minThe Palestine PodErasure with Nerdeen KiswaniThis week Lara and Michael sit down with the New York-based revolutionary activist and organizer Nerdeen Kiswani. Nerdeen is a 3L at the CUNY School of Law where she is the head of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). She's the chair of Within Our Lifetime a Palestinian-led community hub that organizes Palestinians in the diaspora whose goal is to revitalize the revolutionary spirit of the Palestinian community abroad in pursuit of a free homeland. Her account @wolpalestine and @thepalestinepod were deleted off Instagram without warning or explanation. We discuss the efforts we underwent to get our accounts back...2022-03-161h 01The Palestine PodCivilized Armed ResistanceThis week Lara and Michael do a deep dive into the hypocrisy, double standards, and outright racism exhibited by media when covering Ukraine vs. Palestine. We muse about what makes someone civilized and why the media glorifies armed resistance in Ukraine but deems any such action by Palestinians as terrorism. We cover how both pictures of Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi and videos of bombs being dropped in Gaza were manipulated to garner support for Ukraine until people found out both happened in Palestine. We cover the preferential treatment Ukrainian refugees receive in contrast to refugees coming from Africa and...2022-03-1151 minThe Palestine PodDouble Apartheid with Nisreen SalemThis week Lara and Michael speak with Nisreen Salem, a photojournalist from Occupied East Jerusalem. She conducts the interview from inside a family’s house in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where she documents protests that occur every night. We provide updates on the situation in Sheikh Jarrah with the Salem family and others. Nisreen breaks down the specifics of the Jerusalem court freezing (but not cancelling) expulsions, and ordering Palestinian families to pay the courts and the Israeli police. She explains how Sheikh Jarrah is the last stand for Palestinian freedom of movement in Jerusalem because 4 of the 6 ar...2022-02-2847 minThe Palestine PodOverthrow AbbasThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Diana Buttu, a fierce human rights lawyer, former PLO negotiator, Palestinian citizen of Israel and political analyst at the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU). Diana offers her views on the Amnesty International Report and on current events on the ground in the aftermath of the May 2021 uprising. She tells the Palestine Pod the story of how her father’s family was ethnically cleansed from his village near Nazareth. Lara and Diana analyze Israel's absurd relationship to the law, and Michael asks Diana what we can learn from the South African anti-Apartheid st...2022-02-231h 15The Palestine PodHoney I Shot the KidsThis week Lara and Michael discuss how several Palestinian youth were murdered, execution-style, by the Apartheid State’s Yamam Brigade responsible for dressing up as and infiltrating Palestinian circles. Michael reminds us that zionists do not just murder people for armed resistance, but they also assassinate thinkers, people who can sway public opinion, foreign generals, and most recently scientists. Michael also throws back to the very first anti-zionist Jew murdered by the Haganah in 1924, Jacob De Haan. Lara provides a BDS update that includes Texas lawsuits, Harvard students boycotting Sabra, and Death on the Nile. Michael covers how Lebanon broke up...2022-02-1550 minThe Palestine PodAmnesty International a.k.a ”antisemitic terrorists”This week Lara and Michael hash out the good and the bad from Amnesty International’s recent report documenting Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians and dissect the Zionist response (i.e loose cannon false accusations of antisemitism and/or terrorism). Lara queries how many more reports we need before we will believe Palestinians and demand an end to the Apartheid regime? The Palestine Pod somewhat rejoices following news of Meta’s (formerly Facebook) recent removal or various Israeli cyberstalking accounts because as Michael reminds us: only Facebook gets to spy on our data! Lara relishes in the fact that FOX News i...2022-02-0750 minThe Palestine PodThe Tantura MassacreOn this episode of The Palestine Pod, Lara and Michael do a deep dive into firsthand accounts/primary sources of the massacre at Tantura. We cover it both from the testimonies of the perpetrators and the few people who survived. Lara reads a survivor's account included in The Palestinian Right of Return Under International Law, a book by Professor Francis Boyle. Michael dissects footage from an upcoming documentary entitled Tantura that just premiered at Sundance as well as the attempts by Dr. Illan Pappe and graduate student Theodore Katz to bring the horrors of the massacre to light, and everything...2022-01-3159 minThe Palestine PodArt and Activism with Tamer NafarThis week Lara and Michael sit down with the talented and outspoken Palestinian rapper, Tamer Nafar. We speak to Tamer about his music, the recent uprising in May, his family history and what it's like being a Palestinian living inside the occupation. Lara contemplates what it would mean for her to return to Palestine, and Tamer talks about the inspiration for his songs, including a song about refugees returning home and why he would want them there. Michael geeks out about Tamer's rap lyrics, and we discuss living in the moment, especially when the moment is historic.
2022-01-2249 minThe Palestine PodPalestinian Hustle with Samer FidyThis week Lara and Michael sit down with the founder and CEO of Palestinian Hustle, Samer Fidy. Samer shares the journey that led him to start the Palestinian-owned small business that donates a portion of every sale to charities in the United States fighting food insecurity, and NGOs on the ground in Gaza providing clean water. Samer speaks of his desire to teach his children about responsibility and giving back to both local and global communities. Michael jokes about Samer’s affinity for Starbucks and contemplates whether or not one should strike up a conversation with your barista about Palestine. Sa...2021-12-2349 minThe Palestine PodWhose Identity Will They Steal Next? With Noor ElkhaldiThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Noor Elkhaldi, Palestinian-American fashion model/influencer, and host of the popular podcast Arab-American Psycho, discussing the success of her podcast, its origins, and the meaningful conversations she has had on it with Palestinians like her mother, Hawaiian activists, and other people impacted by colonialism. Lara and Michael do a deep dive into Noor's family history learning that she only found out her parents were refugees this year because of their reluctance to relive past trauma. Noor reflects on traveling to Palestine as an American citizen and the privileges she experienced over Palestinians...2021-12-1652 minThe Palestine PodRIFQA & Memories That Could Have BeenThis week Lara and Michael discuss RIFQA, Mohammed El-Kurd's newly released book of poetry, pondering some of the book's messages like "anger is a luxury we cannot afford." Indeed, Palestinians are expected to be calm and composed while being ethnically cleansed. Lara and Michael talk mental health and the toll Palestinian liberation takes on the lives of those who engage in the work. Lara considers the passages of the book that resonated the most with her, including the reflection "I cried not for the house but for the memories I could have made inside.” Lara imagines what could have been if...2021-12-1044 minThe Palestine PodJudaism compels us to Free Palestine with Noam ShusterThis week Lara and Michael sit down with Israeli comedian and activist, Noam Shuster Eliassi. We talk about Noam's family history, her mother is an Iranian Jew and her father was born in Jerusalem to Romanian parents who survived the Holocaust. We chat about Noam's desire to preserve the traditions and return even just to visit the birthplace of her mother and honor her Iranian lineage which spans back thousands of years. She expresses her empathy and understanding of Palestinians desire to return to Palestine. We discuss why both Noam and her father refused to serve in the IDF...2021-12-0259 minThe Palestine PodNo Justice No PeaceThis week Lara leads us on a deep dive into the legal frameworks that came into place in the aftermath of the Nakba, including the absentee property law, the law of return, and the nationality law. All these legal devices helped codify the actions of ethnic cleansing and land theft by the rogue Zionist militias into the "legal" actions of a state. We also cover the various ways Zionists stopped Palestinians from returning to their native lands. Lara discusses the examples of Iqrit and Kufr Bir'im, both towns where the Supreme Court of Israel had in one case already...2021-11-2657 minThe Palestine PodA Few Radical Jews with Max from Palestine ActionThis week Lara and Michael talk to one of Lara's dear friends Max from Palestine Action. Palestine Action is an activist collective engaging in direct action in the UK to shut down the factories of weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, one of the largest suppliers of weapons to Apartheid Israel. Max guides us through recent actions including one where he chained himself to the gates of the Elbit Systems factory, and others where activists have staked out the factory roofs to halt production for as long as possible. Max explains how Palestine Action's strategy is actually to end up in...2021-11-1857 minThe Palestine PodSouth Africa But Make it Dave & BustersThis week Lara and Michael discuss the bombshell Washington Post article exposing a vast dragnet surveillance system used by the IOF against Palestinian society. Programs Blue Wolf and Wolfpack use state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to track and identify all movements by Palestinians, and has been called "a secret Facebook for Palestinians" according to an IOF soldier. Palestinians are given ratings and the programs use flashing colors to indicate whether the Israeli soldier should arrest, detain, or leave Palestinians alone. Squid Game anyone? The system was built in part by incentivizing the occupation's military units to take pictures of as...2021-11-1047 minThe Palestine PodA Culture of Rape and ViolenceTrigger warning: Rape, sexual assault, coercion. This week, we cover the phenomenon of rape, sexual assault, and psychological warfare threatening rape and sexual assault employed by Apartheid Israel against Palestinians, whether they be political prisoners, male or female, younger or older, friends and family of political prisoners, or simply Palestinians on the land of Palestine. Lara notes how this phenomenon is nothing new and goes back decades to the Nakba of 1948 and the founding of the state of Israel when these violent tactics were employed against Palestinians by Zionist militias, in a manner fully consistent with the express beliefs...2021-11-0447 minThe Palestine PodThe Revolution Will Not Be LivestreamedThis week Lara and Michael discuss Instagram censoring our profile by announcing that as of October 25, 2021 we would no longer have access to the link button on @thepalestinepod account for purported violations of community guidelines. Lara queries what threshold Instagram is applying to make this decision to deprive users of critical features since @thepalestinepod account has only ever had one post removed from its account (which in any event did not violate Community Guidelines). Several other Palestinian content creators have received the alert that they too would lose access to the link button with the application providing no recourse...2021-10-2348 minThe Palestine PodA Duty To Help with JoeGaza93This week, the Palestine Pod hosts Yousef Mema aka @JoeGaza93. Yousef is a nurse, social media activist, and humanitarian. His Instagram profile rose to prominence during the May 2021 Israeli assaults on Gaza where he spent every day of the 11-day attacks showing the world first-hand accounts from life in Gaza. He shared photo and video (including live) footage from his home in Gaza City during the shelling as well as from Al Shifa Hospital, one of the main hospitals in Gaza where he was working at the time as a nurse in the orthopedic department. Joe talks to us...2021-10-1457 minThe Palestine PodStories from Jenin with Jon ElmerThis week Lara and Michael speak with Jon Elmer, Canadian writer and photojournalist specializing in the Middle East and Canadian foreign and military policy. He has lived in and reported extensively from the occupied Palestinian West Bank and Gaza - specifically based in occupied Jenin, Bethlehem, and Gaza City. He has covered the al-Aqsa intifada, the so-called Israeli "disengagement" of Gaza which was followed by the imposition of a siege on Gaza as well as factional strife in Gaza. His work appears in the Journal of Palestine Studies, Le Monde diplomatique, and The Progressive. He is also the co-host...2021-10-081h 07The Palestine PodThey Never Wanted PeaceThis week Lara and Michael cover the recent UK Labor party’s passing of a motion recognizing the “ongoing Nakba in Palestine” and declaring Israel an apartheid state, echoing the findings of Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations. It also called for sanctions against Israel’s illegal settlements that usurp Palestinian land as well as a halt to the UK’s sales of arms to Israel. Delegates further demanded an end to Israel’s belligerent occupation of the West Bank and 15-year siege of Gaza, and upheld “the right of Palestinians to return to their homes” - the right of Palestin...2021-10-0147 minThe Palestine PodFree Library Censors Palestinian Children‘s Book with Rifk EbeidThis week we talk to the brilliant Palestinian-American author Rifk Ebeid whose children’s book “Baba What Does My Name Mean?” was recently censored by the “Free” Library of Philadelphia (yes it's really called that) in online anti-racist blog posts created by a librarian for the library’s social media connecting the Palestinian struggle to the struggle for Black liberation in the US. Lara goes line by line to deconstruct and rebut the painfully anti-Palestinian, contradictory and incoherent statement issued by the so-called "Free" Library to support its decision to censor this and other Palestinian content on its social media platfo...2021-09-231h 07The Palestine PodThe Great EscapeThis week Lara and Michael discuss all things related to the Great Escape, the real-life prison break of Mahmoud Abdullah al-Ardah, 46, Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, 49, Zakaria Zubeidi, 46, Mohammad al-Ardah, 39, Ayham Nayef Kamanji, 35, and Munadel Infaat, 26 from the high-security Israeli dungeon known as Gilboa prison. On September 6, 2021, the 6 Palestinian political prisoners dug their escape tunnel with a rusty spoon while the colonial guard in the watchtower directly above them had fallen asleep. The photo that shocked and humiliated the Apartheid State seen around the world shows a colonial officer standing above the tunnel on the other side of the prison bewildered...2021-09-1658 minThe Palestine PodMeltdowns and Knock OffsLara and Michael are back to the Palestine Pod after a few weeks off (shout-out self-care) and start the episode with a survey of stories from the last few weeks on the ground in Palestine. The Israeli settler colony and its Apartheid regime are up to business as usual, expelling Palestinians from their homes, using the colonial courts to entrench ethnic cleansing, and shooting and killing Palestinians who dare protest against living under Israeli siege. Lara and Michael discuss one of the biggest stories of this summer: the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling their infamous ice cr...2021-08-3159 minThe Palestine PodReclaiming Arab Judaism with Hadar CohenThis week on the Palestine Pod, we sit down with Hadar Cohen, a Mizrahi feminist multi-media artist, healer and educator originally from Jerusalem with lineage from all over the Middle East including Iran, Iraq, Syria and and Palestine. Hadar is a Jewish mystic with Sephardic roots who works to build decolonial frameworks for worshiping God. Her artistic mediums include performance, movement, writing, weaving, sound and ritual. During the global intifada of unity, Hadar came out as a strong anti-Zionist Jewish voice from on the ground. She speaks to us about her family's presence in Palestine harkening to a time...2021-08-061h 07The Palestine PodLand Back & back to the land with Lyla JuneThis week, the Palestine Pod interviews Lyla June, an Indigenous public speaker, artist, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) nations from Taos, New Mexico. Lyla speaks to us about the ill-effects of colonialism in Turtle Island (i.e. the United States) especially on food and ecosystems and Lara draws comparisons to Palestine. Lyla describes what makes a sustainable culture and recalls the sustainability of indigenous culture as well as the suitability of indigenous food to indigenous communities on a personal level. We speak about the importance of Land Back in Turtle Island...2021-07-261h 21The Palestine PodIs Racism in Vogue? with Qaher HarhashThis week, Palestinian model Qaher Harhash joins the Palestine Pod. Qaher speaks first hand about his experience receiving a barrage of anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic messages from Zara's head of design, Vanessa Perilman, in response to an Instagram story he posted from his room showing the infamous black water tanks on top of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem compared to the Jewish Israeli rooftops which have no tanks at all since they are hooked up to water 24/7, highlighting the racist distribution of resources on occupied Palestinian land to favor to occupier and disadvantage the occupied. Michael recalls Zara's long...2021-07-081h 04The Palestine PodAppetite for Justice with Laila El-HaddadThis week, Laila El-Haddad, co-author of the Gaza Kitchen, joins the Palestine Pod. In honor of the publication of the third edition of the book, Laila shares with us some of the new recipes that she learned on her last trip to Gaza in 2019. Laila paints for us a culinary picture of Gaza and explains how intimately the history and politics, including in particular the Nakba of 1948, affect the local cuisine. Laila and Michael go back in time to recall a rich history of Gaza since Alexander the Great. Laila provides an update on her family in Gaza further...2021-07-011h 04The Palestine PodThe Past and The Present with Farah NabulsiThis week we sit down with Farah Nabulsi, Palestinian-British Oscar-nominated, and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker and human rights advocate. We do a deep dive into The Present exploring its themes, the thought process behind certain characters and exchanges, and the notion that we learn just as much about Palestinian cultural tendencies of hospitality and compassion as we do about the realities of life under Israeli military occupation. Farah also clues us into the only part of the Present which is fictional and reveals why she chose to focus this film around the checkpoint - just one of the settler-colonial state’s...2021-06-231h 10The Palestine PodRoyal House of Mandela Stands with Palestine with Nkosi Zwelivelile MandelaThis week, Lara and Michael sit down with Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, Amir of the Royal House of Mandela, tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council, member of Parliament (MP) in the South Africa National Assembly since 2009, grandson of the anti-apartheid revolutionary and former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela and a fierce advocate of Palestinian liberation. This episode is a deep dive into Apartheid South Africa, the parallels between South African Apartheid and Israeli Apartheid, and the deep bonds between Palestinian liberation activists and South African anti-apartheid activists. It is also a moment of education into what the Palestinian...2021-06-171h 31The Palestine PodStolen Kids and Blood DiamondsThis week's main story is the arrest of Abdul Khaliq Burnat and Muhammad Burnat, two brothers from the occupied village of Bil'in and the children of Lara's dear friend Iyad Burnat, a community organizer from the village. Abdul Khaliq and and Muhammed were kidnapped by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in two separate middle of the night raids on Iyad's house in May 2021 where the IOF destroyed the Burnat family's personal belongings including their personal electronics and beat the boys before throwing them into the back of a military vehicle. No charges have been brought against Abdul Khaliq and...2021-06-0245 minThe Palestine PodWhen We Were Arabs with Massoud HayounThis week we first provide updates on some BDS wins (go Abby Martin!) and recent actions by workers and activists to disrupt the sale and manufacturing of weapons intended for Israel. Lara and Michael also share their thoughts on the wins and losses of this ongoing global intifada of unity before getting into this week's interview with journalist and author Massoud Hayoun. Together with Massoud, we discuss his book When We Were Arabs, a colorful tale of his family's origins, which interweaves personal anecdotes, political vignettes and elements of cultural history that paint very clearly for the reader what...2021-05-261h 24The Palestine PodLong Live the Intifada with Adnan BarqThis week, our guest is Adnan Barq, a young Palestinian student of English literature and journalism from occupied East Jerusalem. Adnan offers his perspective on the latest Palestinian uprising which was born out of resistance to two forms of colonial violence in Occupied East Jerusalem: the settler-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and interference and violence inflicted by the IOF against Palestinian worshippers in Al-Aqsa mosque during the month of Ramadan and in particular on the most holy day of Ramadan - Laylat Al Qadr. Lara shares updates from the latest military assaults on...2021-05-191h 23The Palestine PodDecolonizing Native America and Palestine with Dr. Steve SalaitaThis week, we catch up with the prolific and thoughtful Palestinian-American scholar-activist, author, and speaker Dr. Steve Salaita and do a deep dive into settler-colonialism. What is happening in Palestine is often reduced to unexplainable cycles of violence in a “conflict” between two sides who both make good points (the liberal zionist narrative) and between "chosen" people and terrorists (the zionist zionist narrative). Neither frameworks are rooted in the historical reality. Dr. Steve Salaita helps us understand Israeli settler-colonialism in Palestine by explaining its deep ideological connection to settler-colonialism in America. We also discuss the notion of indigeneity and its...2021-05-121h 48The Palestine PodCheck the Paperwork!This week, Lara and Michael discuss the absurdity of "settler Jacob," the American settler who can be seen in a recent viral video brazenly attempting to the steal the home of Mona al-Kurd, a young Palestinian woman who hails from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem which is currently facing a mass ethnic cleansing campaign at the hands of Zionist settlers who are protected in their colonial pursuits by the Israeli army on a daily basis. #SaveSheikhJarrah because Palestinians, like all humans, deserve to live in their houses without foreign settlers invading and taking over talking about "...2021-05-0559 minThe Palestine PodDo Not Comply! with Miko PeledThis week we are joined by Israeli-American author, activist, and speaker Miko Peled. Author of The General's Son and Injustice, Miko Peled reflects on his path from growing up the son of an Israeli war general in as "strong of a zionist family as you could possibly have" to becoming an anti-zionist activist for Palestinian rights, and supporter of BDS and the creation of one democratic state with equal rights for all in historic Palestine. Miko dismantles the myth that there can be a liberal zionism concluding "there never was, there never is, and there never can be a...2021-04-281h 27The Palestine PodCall Your Representatives!This week, Lara and Michael talk HR 2590 - the monumental new bill proposed by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn) on April 15, 2021 and co-sponsored by over a dozen other representatives that seeks to hold Israel accountable for land theft of Palestinian land, Israeli house demolitions of Palestinian houses and Israel’s jailing of Palestinian children. The bill is wider in scope than previous bills related to Palestinian human rights co-sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum and establishes annual certification and reporting obligations on the Secretary of State to show that no U.S. funds have been used by Israel to support the pr...2021-04-2153 minThe Palestine PodOur Mandela is in Jail Right NowLara and Michael provide an update on US policy re: Palestinian rights. While the Biden administration recently announced the lifting of sanctions (finally) on the International Criminal Court and its chief prosecutor and the renewal of funding to UNRWA, Lara offers a word of caution: the US may have lifted sanctions on the ICC, but its position opposing the ICC investigation has not changed. As to UNRWA, Lara calls on us never to lose sight of the big picture (i.e. UNRWA should not even exist because Palestinians should not be refugees to begin with since they should be...2021-04-141h 12The Palestine PodThe CharadeThis week Lara and Michael discuss the latest Israeli elections and the voter suppression that rules in the "fauxonly" democracy in the Middle East: 5 million Palestinians whose lives Israel controls in the occupied West Bank and Gaza cannot vote in these elections at all whereas Palestinians who live within the territory declared Israel in 1948 and are technically allowed to vote have been the target of racist campaign rhetoric by political candidates and are filmed as they vote to deter them from voting. Michael talks voter suppression in the US as well as his shocking experience working on both Bernie...2021-03-3151 minThe Palestine PodAkhaduha Mafroosheh with Comedian Amer ZahrThis week Amer Zahr joins the Palestine Pod and tells us how he uses comedy as a means of expression, advocacy for Palestinian rights, healing, and art. He shares with us some of his comedy icons and admits what he really thinks about white male comedians (sorry Michael). Commenting on the recent storming of the capitol and attempted coup of the US, Amer contemplates how “unbelievably awesome” whiteness is. Amer reflects on his viral video “Akhaduha Mafroosheh” (Arabic for "they took it fully furnished" referring to the Zionist takeover of Palestine as the theft of a fully furnished land, society...2021-03-251h 23The Palestine PodAll Our Liberation is LinkedIn this episode, Lara and Michael cover the latest assertions of the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and the UN Gilad Erdan who, following a trip to the "American south," said he was touched by learning about segregation and the Jim Crow era calling it an "incredibly moving trip." The Times of Israel reports that the ambassador compared slave plantations in the US to concentration camps but said there was "no comparison" between Israel's treatment of Palestinians and struggles for racial justice in the US. Lara and Michael play a quick round of “Sounds like Jim Crow or No...2021-03-191h 15The Palestine PodWelcome to the Palestine PodLara and Michael welcome you to The Palestine Pod! Lara discusses her family’s history and origins from Yaffa and Gaza, Palestine including how her family became stateless refugees, the broader history of the Palestinian struggle including the expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian population in 1948 as a result of the establishment of the state of Israel on top of historic Palestine, Israel’s ongoing land theft of Palestinian land as well as its oppressive system of apartheid, occupation, and siege which continue until today. Lara reflects on her college activist years and the path that led to her...2021-03-171h 05