Arab Talk with Jess & Jamal

Since the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has passed freely through France’s airspace in early February and April of this year. French lawyer Sarah Sameur, a member of the Council for JURDI, Jurists for the Respect of International Law, explains how France has been derelict as a signatory to the Rome Statute in not apprehending the plane. She rebuts...

Award-winning independent investigative journalist Lila Hassan discusses her recent article in Drop Site News entitled, "Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction." She talks about the challenges facing journalists, human rights organizations and investigators to collect and save evidence of war crimes, and their dangerous efforts to dodge censorship and document...

Geopolitical analyst and journalist Sean Mathews discusses his article for Middle East Eye, "How Trump's Gaza ceasefire imploded". More than 700 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, have been killed by Israel since it broke the ceasefire. Netanyahu described the strikes as “just the beginning." However, the United States bears responsibility for the ongoing carnage because it is...

Dr. Lama Rimawi discusses anti-Palestinian racism in the US, which aims to censor and erase Palestinians and their narratives from the public sphere either directly through punitive measures or indirectly by eliciting fear of punitive measures to deter anyone from sharing Palestinian narratives.

Jess & Jamal discuss the renewed fears of starvation during the holy month of Ramadan as Israel blocks aid to Gaza, violating its ceasefire deal with Hamas. Over a dozen human rights experts have denounced Israel for resuming what they described as "weaponized starvation" in Gaza.

Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle and Dr. Nidal Jboor co-founders of Doctors Against Genocide talk about their organization's work to prevent future genocides and stop Israel and other countries from targeting hospitals, patients and medical staff. They also talk about the medical community's moral obligation to safeguard life and enhance health universally.

In his recent article in The Babbler, "A Ceasefire Is Not Enough – Resisting the next phase of ethnic cleansing in Gaza," Tariq Kenney-Shawa details how this ceasefire could be nothing more than a pause for Israel to regroup and continue its killing and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their ancestral lands. Jess & Jamal discuss Trump's "owning Gaza" and turning it into "a real estate develop...

Jewish Israeli activist Ronnie Barkan discusses how in Europe measures to repress dissent are rapidly accelerating and becoming more draconian. Laws are rapidly altered to circumvent international law to shield Israeli politicians charged with war crimes, while cracking down on critics of Israel.

Jess and Jamal discuss the release of four female Israeli soldiers held by Hamas, as Israel raided the homes of freed Palestinians, warning their families not to celebrate or speak to the media. They also addressed President Trump's proposal to relocate 1.5 million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.

Human rights attorney and activist Stanley Cohen discusses the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, its long-term outlook, why it wasn’t enacted eight months ago, and whether Biden or Trump deserves credit for it.

Dr. Mads Gilbert, anesthesiologist and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø, Norway, discusses Israel's 14-month onslaught on Gaza's healthcare system, killing more than 1,000 healthcare workers, with many others disappeared and tortured. Dr. Gilbert spent more than 20 years working and training Gaza doctors.

Dr. Mohja Kahf talks about the fall of the Assad regime and the aspirations of millions of Syrians to see the birth of a democratic and pluralistic Syrian government. Dr. Kahf is a poet, scholar, and professor of English at the University of Arkansas. She was born in Damascus and grew up in the Midwest.

Human rights attorney Stanley Cohen discusses Amnesty International's report which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid. Jess & Jamal break down what's behind the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

Saul Takahashi, Professor of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University, explains why Israel must be expelled from the United Nations. He also discusses the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes.

Former field organizer for Biden’s 2020 campaign and co-founder of Project 1948, Adam Abusalah, explains how the Harris campaign alienated Arab and Muslim American voters in Michigan with her support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, which he argues contributed to her defeat in this swing state. Trump won Michigan by approximately 80,000 votes.

Wasting no time in taking advantage of the aftermath of October 7, Israeli settler organizations recognized an opportunity to immediately expel Palestinians from large swaths of West Bank villages, as well as to lay the groundwork for the more ambitious systematic displacement and reoccupation of Gaza. In his recent article in +972, "Copy-Paste the West Bank to Gaza: Hundreds Join Gaza Resettlemen...

Kamala Harris' campaign is struggling to gain traction with Arab and Muslim Americans in the swing state of Michigan. Dr. Ahmed Ghanim, a prominent Muslim leader and former Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan's 11th district, shared his experience with the Harris campaign. He was invited to attend a Democratic rally in the Detroit area, where Harris appeared alongside Liz Cheney, but was...

In her recent report published by Brown University's Watson Institute entitled, "The Human Toll: Indirect Deaths from the War in Gaza and in the West Bank," Dr. Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins, a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bard College, explains how death will continue to outlive the war in Gaza. She demonstrates what a realistic assessment of the true loss...

Serge Bakalian, Executive Director of the Arab Film and Media Institute, and Managing Director Maya Labban present the 28th Arab Film Festival. The festival opens on Thursday, October 24th at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The festival will feature the documentary film "Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza" by Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly, and special guests, such as Alana Hadid,...

Dr. Rania Masri, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network’s Co-Director of Organizing and Policy, discusses the recent attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. A supporter of Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Masri believes that Vice President Kamala Harris is worse for world peace than former President Donald Trump.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, discusses the difficult work the organization is facing to deliver aid in Gaza, while Israel continues to thwart all its humanitarian efforts. Jess & Jamal discuss the implications to the region due to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.

Dr. Anise Germany describes the rigging of pagers and other electronics that killed at least 37 as barbaric and an act of state terrorism. Among the dead were children, and the attacks wounded over 3,000 people in Lebanon. The explosions went off in crowded supermarkets, on busy roads, and in homes, schools, and hospitals.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the Accountability Program Director at Defense for Children International in Palestine, discusses the findings in a newly released report entitled, "Targeting Childhood: Palestinian Children Killed By Israeli Forces and Settlers in the Occupied West Bank." On average, Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian child in the occupied West bank, including East Jerusalem, every two day...

Human rights attorney and political activist Stanley Cohen discusses why Israel is consistently allowed to be the exception to U.S. law and ethical norms in the United States Government, even when its soldiers and settlers kill American citizens.

Jess & Jamal explain why time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from U.S. policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and Genocide in Gaza. During her recent CNN interview, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden’s unconditional arming of Israel, angering uncommitted voters and shrinking her chances of defeating Donald Trump. Huge U.S. shipments of weapons...