Middle East Monitor Conversations

America is Israel's closest ally today. Every US administration since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War has closely embraced Tel Aviv. Washington's political elite's support for Israel goes beyond strategic interest and is treated as a fundamental moral issue. US President Joe Biden's reaction to 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war on Gaza by Israel follows the moral script set out b...

In this week’s conversation, renowned historian and political theorist Professor Mahmood Mamdani joins us to discuss racism and the genocidal nature of nation-state building projects, focusing on the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. Drawing upon his extensive research on colonialism, anti-colonialism, and decolonisation, Mamdani explains the deep-rooted historical and political forces that have shaped...

The 13th century saw the Middle East invaded and occupied by both the Crusaders and the Mongols, but both invaders quickly built their own political systems and transformed the Middle East.  The 13th century ushered in a violent transformation of the Middle East. Crusader armies burst into the Levant and took large swaths of territory. Towards the east the Mongols crossed into the heartlands of Is...

In this week’s MEMO conversation we speak to Professor Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, author of the acclaimed book An Army Like No Other , to discuss the outsized role of the military in Israeli nationhood. Professor Haim's research chronicles how the Israeli army has ascended beyond a military body to become the most revered institution in Israel - with profound implications on politics, society, na...

Canadian Professor of Law Mohammad Fadel joins us for a conversation on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, including Israel's military operations and blockade. With Professor Fadel's legal expertise, we analyse the implications of the International Court of Justice case alleging Israeli genocide against Palestinians. We also address the campaign against academic freedom unfolding in Canada, whe...

Israel's war on Gaza shows no sign of letting up with over 30,000 Palestinians dead and 70,000 wounded since 7 October 2023. With Israel seemingly preparing a full scale military operation in Rafah and reports the north of Gaza are heading for a famine, the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged Strip is set to get worse. Hospitals and medics are key to Gaza's survival, but they are al...

The Zionist movement and Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, sought to revive the biblical Book of Joshua and use it to give the state a new identity. Here Israel was Joshua and the Palestinians were the Canaanites, but who is Joshua and can better understanding of his story help dismantle Israel's narrative and its treatment of Palestinians?   In the late 1950s, gatherings...

As The Soil and the Sea premiers in London this month, Rugo discusses the harrowing stories from the Lebanese Civil War which he unearthed in his new film and the generational impact of these life changing events.    In this week’s MEMO in Conversation we speak to acclaimed filmmaker Daniele Rugo about his new documentary The Soil and the Sea, which premiers in London this month. The documentary b...

Lebanon's history of civil unrest means its political landscape is based on sectarianism, which have repeatedly caused its governments to collapse and pushed the country to the brink of civil war. But how does its conservative Christian movement mould society? And how does it differ from other prominent traditional groups that have a firm grasp on the country's affairs? Lebanon is famed...

  It has been 13 years since Egyptians took to the street and changed their political landscape, but who was behind the protests that ousted President Hosni Mubarak? And what happened to the movement that forced him out?  11 February marks the 13th anniversary of the ousting of long-term Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. A popular uprising , known as the Arab Spring, began a few weeks earlier and t...

UNRWA isn't only an aid agency, it is vital for advocating for the rights of Palestine refugees on a global stage, is that why Israel seeks to shut it down? Join this week's MEMO in Conversation as we discuss why UNRWA is being targeted.  This week's special episode of MEMO in Conversation features an in-depth discussion with Dr Lex Takkenberg about the recent decision by Israel&apo...

Israel's sense of invincibility and security were shattered on 7 October 2023 and now its atrocities are playing out in full view of the world, but has it lost its international legitimacy? On 6 October 2023, Israeli leaders were feeling confident of their international standing. Normalisation with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and talks in the air about impending normalisation with Saudi...

The United Nations Refugee and Work Agency (UNRWA) plays a critical role in the lives of millions of Palestinians. Setup in 1949 to support the 750,000 Palestinians expelled by Israel in the 1948 Nakba, the agency performs a number of functions from providing emergency aid and medical care, to running schools across the occupied Palestinian territories and the neighbouring Arab countries which hos...

  How does the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s ruling that Israel must prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide and prevent a genocide taking place affect its manoeuvres in Gaza and will its main supporters and funders have to change tack? What does the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s almost unanimous voted to call on Israel to ensure no acts of genoc...

More and more young American Jews are disillussioned with Israel and believe in the protection of Palestinian lives in the occupied territories and have been at the forefront of protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But what's made distance themselves from Tel Aviv? 'Israel is at the core of Jewish identity worldwide and its existence provides security for Jews everywhere.' This...

In times of genocide what responsibility does a teacher and a historian have? Israel's onslaught on Gaza has left more than 23,000 Palestinian civilians dead, many more injured and shows no sign of slowing down. While pro-Israel supporters frame all Israeli actions through the prism of 7 October 2023, the latest Israeli invasion of Gaza was decades in the making. With dispossession and ethnic...

Does Israel have a right to use the Holocaust to justify its bombing of Gaza? And how is the global silence towards its crimes hindering the establishment of a Palestinian state and halting Tel Aviv's plan to annex the occupied territories? Join us as we discuss the ongoing genocide in Gaza ahead of the ICJ hearing.   In this week's MEMO in Conversation we speak to renowned historian Pro...

20 years ago, CAGE UK was set up to advocate for detainees held unjustly in Guantanamo Bay. Now, the rights group is expanding and becoming global at a time when systemic injustices are prevalent, seen especially in the repression of pro-Palestine activism.  In this week's conversation, MEMO speaks with CAGE about the organisation's 20-year long journey from advocating for Guantanamo Bay...

  In an effort to beat the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir, the shah of the Khwarezmian Empire turned to magician Siraj Al-Din Al-Sakaki to create a magical statue that would help win the battle. But things took an unexpected turn. Join MEMO's conversation to find out more about the importance of magic in Middle Eastern history. Siraj Al-Din Al-Sakaki (1160-1229) is best known for his work on Arabic...

Omar Said surprised Antebellum America when he was discovered to be an educated slave from Senegal. Used as a poster child for the benevolence of slavery, Said's writings were distorted and failed to show his discontent at being a slave in America, that is at least, until now when a new translation of his work has been published.  "I cannot write my life," Omar Said says in an extra...

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser is a divisive figure, to some he is the North African state's saviour to others he betrayed its people and destabilised the region, but could he have been both? The Arab World with its different authoritarian leaders still lives under the shadow of 1 man - Gamal Abdel Nasser . President of Egypt from 1954 to 1970, Nasser was not only part of the first wav...

Does Israel have a right to bomb hospitals in Gaza? And what are the implications of its actions in the besieged enclave? Should the international be doing more to protect Palestinians? These are just some of the questions international law specialist Toby Cadmans will help untangle.   While Israel's war on Gaza enters its third month, Palestinians in the besieged enclave have witnessed some...

Did you know that the Ottomans use a number of different calendars to take into account the lives of their diverse communities? But how did this affect its operations? And what role did astrologers and advancements by neighbouring countries play in the Empire? What was the actual difference between western Mediterranean countries like Spain and Italy and the Ottoman Empire in the early modern peri...

 In spite of Israel's protests of the contrary, accusations of genocide do not exaggerate the situation in Gaza, but this was part of Israel's long term strategy. Israel has entered its annihilation phase in Gaza and transitioning from slow-motion to high speed genocide of the Palestinian population in the besieged enclave, argues law Professor Penny Green. Tel Aviv's destruction of...

With Western governments questioning every Palestinian statistic coming out of Gaza but accepting Israel's version of events even when no evidence is provided, the Palestinian diaspora has been left feeling unable to express its grief without being criminalised Pro-ceasefire demonstrations are 'hate marches', chanting from the river to the sea is 'terrorism' and Palestinia...