Makdisi Street

The brothers welcome back political analyst and negotiation expert Daniel Levy to discuss the results and implications of Israeli elections, Netanyahu's desperation to cling on by ramping up Iran war, Eisenkot and his Dahiye Doctrine, Zionist parties' exclusion of "surprise" Palestinian Arab bloc,  the genocidal nature of Israeli society, and the demise of American support for Israel reflected in...

The brothers welcome the journalist and Green Party congressional candidate Sam Husseini ( @samhusseini ) to the show to discuss his electoral run in Maryland's 4th congressional district, changing attitudes on Palestine in the US, the stubborn gap between public opinion and official policy in Washington, the role of journalists and activists in challenging those in power, and the relationship bet...

The brothers host author Assal Rad (@AssalRad) to discuss her new book, Don't Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide (2026). Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/WThjVoeoJRw Date of recording: Oct 20, 2026 X:  @MakdisiStreet YouTube:  @MakdisiStreet Insta:  @Makdisist TikTok:  @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.sub...

The brothers gather to discuss the third anniversary of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the dissonance arising from witnessing genocide on the one hand and seeing stubborn denial by committed Zionists on the other hand, as well as the internal contradictions in Lebanon as the Israeli devastation of southern Lebanon also enters its third year. The brothers will be hosting Assal Rad on the next livest...

The brothers host a livestream discussion with Akbar Shahid Ahmed on his new book Crossing the Red Line: Biden, his Advisors, and Israel's War in Gaza (2026) , published by WW Norton  Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9xcED2AYPw Consider supporting the show for access to the next livestream edition of Madisi Street Reviews! www.patreon.com/makdisistree...

The brothers welcome Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) of Drop Site News to the show to discuss shifts in the American political landscape, the growing disillusionment with Israel and how AIPAC has become an index of political corruption, the contradiction between donors and electoral base in Democratic Party politics, Abdul el-Sayed's political maneuvering ahead of the Michigan senate vote, and Trump's embra...

The brothers host the award-winning Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah to discuss his newest work, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza (2026) . Watch the livestream on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnUPf7gMDSs Consider supporting the show for access to the next livestream edition of Madisi Street Reviews! www.patreon.com/makdisistreet

The brothers welcome Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for British-Arab Understanding (CAABU) and leading expert on British policy to the Middle East. We discuss the context behind British complicity in the Gaza genocide under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and why he thinks the apparent shift in policy under new Foreign Minister Ed Milliband is genuine. We also talk about the power of the...

The brothers regroup to discuss israel's ongoing campaigns of genocidal destruction in southern Lebanon and Gaza; the regional consequences of the apparent stalemate in the US war on Iran; continuing shifts in Western public attitudes toward the question of Palestine and the gap between public or voter sentiment on the one hand and actual policy making on the other, as well as an illustrative cont...

Two of the three brothers reflect on summer travels and discuss Ussama's recent visit to Australia, the extraordinary repression across the Western world intended to shield Israel from criticism or even analysis, the provenance of the so-called IHRA misdefinition of "antisemitism," and the replacement of a culture of denial by a culture of suppression. Date of recording: August 25, 2026 Watch the...

The brothers reunite in a special, in-person episode at their parents' mountain house in Dhour Choueir, Lebanon, to discuss their recent trip to southern Lebanon, what they saw on the ground, the wider regional implications, and where U.S. politics stands today. Produced by Layla Makdisi Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd2P3lOkN8 X:  @MakdisiStreet Y...

The brothers welcome journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates back to the show to discuss Kamala Harris's ill-fated 2024 presidential campaign and the debacle of the Democratic Convention's exclusion of Palestinian-American voices (about which he's written recently for Vanity Fair), the betrayal of the radical Black tradition, tensions in the civil rights movement over the question of Palestine and...

**Please join our Patreon for access to our next livestream and to submit your questions/comments**   Come and join the brothers for another patron-only livestream discussion of the situation in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We look forward to your questions and comments! Watch the  video edition  on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2026 X:  @MakdisiStreet YouTube:  @MakdisiStreet Insta:...

The brothers welcome back Aslı Ü. Bâli , Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for an intense and wide-ranging discussion of the state of the Middle East in the aftermath of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran.  They discuss the potential geopolitical outcomes the apparent US strategic defeat, examine the nature and assumptions of what had been American primacy over the Gulf, the liability and costs...

With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome  Abdullah Al-Arian , Chair of History at Georgetown University Qatar and editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game. We talk about how football shapes Arab identity, including the role of diaspora, and how it is instrumentalized by Arab states. We also talk about the controversies and politic...

In anticipation of the publication of Eyal Weizman's new book, Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide , which will be released in the US next month, the brothers hosted a livestream with Eyal to which our Patreon supporters had access, including the opportunity to ask questions of Eyal either via the livestream chat (which we will moderate) or in advance via email. Watch the livestream edition...

The brothers discuss the latest developments in the regional war, with a special focus on Lebanon and the nature of Israeli bombardment of civilian homes, which is tied to the destruction of homes on different scales across historical Palestine since 1948. The brothers also discuss co-existence in the Mashriq region and the Zionist challenge to that. Check out Ussama's article https://www.nytimes....

The brothers welcome Trita Parsi back to the show to discuss the status of US-Iran negotiations, the pressures of the ongoing stalemate on both sides, the prospects of an agreement given Israel's continued disruption in Lebanon and the vagaries of Trump's egotism, whether Iran can coerce a stop to Israeli aggression in Lebanon & Germany's experience of schadenfreude in the UN. Check out Trita's Su...

The brothers get together for a conversation about the ongoing Israeli war on Lebanon, the meaning of deterrence, the role of Iran in Lebanon, the question of Lebanon's sovereignty, and the divisions within Lebanon about how best to defend the country and its people. Watch the  video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: May 28, 2026 Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @...

The brothers welcome Lebanese scholar and original "Angry Arab" Asad AbuKhalil, author, columnist, professor, and public intellectual.  The discuss the increasing depravity of a long history of Israeli wars on Lebanon going back to 1948; why so many in Lebanon continue to put their faith in the pipe-dream of peace with a state that is actively committing genocide, the neglect of the South during t...

The brothers welcome to the show Jehad Abusalim , who grew up in the city of Deir el Balah in the Gaza Strip and now heads the Gaza Genocide Center.  They discuss what it was like to grow up under occupation in Gaza, what normal life was like for a generation under siege, isolated and cut off from the world.  They discuss the ongoing Gaza genocide, still being perpetrated by Israel (though it is n...

The brothers welcome to the show Michael Young , journalist and editor of the Carnegie Middle East Center's Diwan blog, to discuss the vexed and controversial question of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations against the background of the continued Israeli bombardment and occupation of Lebanese territory and the deliberate destruction of entire towns along Lebanon's southern border. Date of recording: Apr...

**Producer's note: This is a special co-published episode with Psychic Militancy , hosted by Makdisi Street guest Lara Sheehi.   Make sure to subscribe to her channel if you haven't already!!**   In this episode, I sit down with ‪ Makdisi Street podcast hosts and brothers, Karim, Ussama and Saree Makdisi to discuss the current situation in Lebanon. We get into a lot, as you can imagine, including...

The brothers welcome Yousef Munayyer of the Arab Center in Washington, DC to the show to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon, the role of the Zionist lobby and the nature of the relationship between the US and Israel, rapidly shifting attitudes on Israel and the Palestinians among the American public, the ferocious crackdown on dissent and protest against Israeli apartheid and genocide,...

The brothers welcome University of Exeter Professor Laleh Khalili to the show to discuss the geopolitical and geoeconomic contexts of the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran, including the role of Iran and the Gulf in global energy and trade markets and circuits; shifts in international trade and finance away from circuits controlled by the US and its coercive mechanisms of financial and trade sa...