Occupied Thoughts

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP's Kristin McCarthy talks to Avner Gvaryahu (Breaking the Silence) about a new collection of testimonies from former Israeli soldiers highlighting the IDF's complicity in settler violence - and the larger system within which Israeli soldiers and settlers operate. You can read the new collection - entitled "On Duty: Settler Violence in the West Bank" - on...

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Peter Beinart interviews FMEP President Lara Friedman about the potential blowback Ben & Jerry's faces for their decision to stop selling their products in Jewish settlements in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Lara is an expert in the efforts to exploit U.S. laws (state and federal) and courts to quash criticism and activism challenging Israeli po...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, Lara Friedman talks to Arab Spring veteran activist Iyad El-Baghdadi about the way forward for Palestinians -- both on the ground in Palestine and in the diaspora. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub. Full bios available at https://fmep.org/resource/palestine-at-the-intersection-of-regional-global-and-historical-struggles/

From the Daily Show and Saturday Night Live, to Egypt’s Bassem Youssef, to Israel’s Eretz Nehederet, comedy has long played a powerful role in shaping how people think about politics and the world around them, and challenging them to question their own assumptions and the political status quo. FMEP hosted world-famous Palestinian-American actress, political commentator, disability rights advocate,...

Aseel AlBajeh (Al Haq), Dr. Yara Hawari (Al Shabaka), and Mona Shtaya (7amleh)join FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin to discuss grassroots protests in the wake of the murder of prominent Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, and the PA’s violent response to those protests. The discussion touches on questions including: who are the people going out to protest against the PA and what are their demands? What risk...

Last week, a Palestinian political activist, Nizar Banat, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority and died soon after in their custody. His family accuses the PA of murdering him. Following his death, Palestinians in the West Bank gathered for protests, and the PA responded with violence and repression. According to the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, PA security forces - both in u...

In this episode of FMEP's Occupied Thoughts podcast, Jessica Montell, Executive Director of the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, joins FMEP's Lara Friedman to discuss the ongoing battle to prevent Israel from demolishing the West Bank home of a Palestinian-American mother and her children, as an act of collective punishment for a crime committed by her estranged husband. For more on this...

featuring Leena Dallasheh (Humboldt State University), Shay Hazkani (University of Maryland), Sherene Seikaly (University of California, Santa Barbara) with Sarah Anne Minkin (FMEP). In recent weeks the world’s attention turned to Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods fighting forced displacement from their longtime homes — displacement that, in the eyes of many Palest...

FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks to political, policy, and advocacy strategist Rania Batrice about the changing political landscape in the grassroots and in Congress with respect to Palestine. For resources and bios, visit: https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-winds-of-change-in-the-grassroots-congress-on-palestine/

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, Lara Friedman asks Omar Baddar what it is like to be Palestinian American in U.S. politics, government, and media. They also discuss to what extent the issue of Palestine is undergoing a transformation across these fields, and how the Biden Administration is choosing to navigate these changes. For bios and more info, visit: https://fmep.org/resource/the-aliena...

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” Lara Friedman speaks with Elizabeth Tsurkov about extremist trends in Israel and how they are manifest in the latest elections and coalition building, in Israeli policies across the Occupied Territories (including Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah), in the violence that swept through “mixed cities” during the recent Gaza War, and in Israel’s relations - and normaliz...

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Lara Friedman speaks with Dr. Maha Nassar about changes in the U.S. discourse on Palestine and Israel, shifts in US media that make room for Palestinian voices, and the history and dynamics of Black-Palestinian solidarity. Original music by Jalal Yaqoub

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” analyst Yousef Munayyer joins FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin to discuss the implications of a potential new government in Israel, in which Naftali Bennett would replace Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister and head a coalition that includes the far-right, the so-called center-left and Zionist left, and Ra'am/the United Arab List.  Original music by Jalal Yaqoub

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin is joined by Nareman Shehadeh Zoabi, a social and economic rights attorney working with Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, to discuss Israel's mass arrests and militarized policing targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel who participated in recent protests. Original Music by Jalal Yaqoub

Featuring Amjad Iraqi (+972 Magazine), Ahmed Alnaouq (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor), Lara Friedman (Foundation for Middle East Peace) with Haggai Matar (+972 Magazine) While the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has provided some respite from two weeks of death and destruction, there is no calm. We are seeing a new round of police aggression in Jerusalem and cities in Israel, with the authoritie...

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Kristin speaks with Fayrouz Sharqawi of Grassroots Al-Quds to unpack what is happening in Jerusalem and across Palestinian communities in the wake of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. For resources mentioned in this podcast, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-palestinians-rising-from-jerusalem-to-umm-al-fahm-ft-fayrouz-sharqawi-kristin-mcc...

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” Professor Sherene Seikaly offers historical framing and comparisons necessary for understanding what’s happening with Palestinians now, from the general strike to the ongoing Nakba to questions of Palestinian leadership. For full bios, see: fmep.org Original Music by Jalal Yaqoub

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's Kristin McCarthy is joined by Salem Barahmeh to discuss the general strike Palestinians across Palestine led on Tuesday, May 18th. Salem Barahmeh is the Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD). For bios, please visit: fmep.org Original Music by Jalal Yaqoub

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Nooran Alhamdan about Palestinians in the US, shifts in American politics, where she finds Palestinian leadership, the Nakba, and what gives her hope. Nooran published this recent column in the Washington Post and co-moderated the recent event, "The Palestinian Nakba: What Happened in 1948 and Why It Still Matters" (which...

On this episode of "Occupied Thoughts" FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin interviews Widad Assaf, the Legal Coordinator of FMEP partner Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF), about the connections between Palestinians inside of Israel and in Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the diaspora. Widad describes the discrimination, human and civil rights violations, and police violence that Palestinian citizens of I...

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin talks with Sawsan Zaher, the Deputy General Director of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. In this conversation, she describes what the last week has been like for Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have faced enormous violence from Israeli Jews and been incited against by Israeli politicians, misrepresente...

In this edition of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks with Dr. Carol Daniel Kasbari (Middle East Institute) about the the violence today in Israel/Palestine, including both its immediate triggers and its deeper causes linked to the Palestinian experience - on both side of the Green Line - of the Nakba not as a single moment of dispossession and tragedy, but as an ongoing process that c...

FMEP hosted a conversation with three Palestinian thought leaders - Ines Abdel Razek, Zaha Hassan, and Nadia Hijab - to discuss what is happening now and reflect on how the events unfolding over the past several weeks speak to the larger story of Palestinian dispossession, Israeli domination, and the international community’s failed approach to resolving the question of Palestine.

The struggle in Sheikh Jarrah is again on center stage this week. Once again, Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are facing imminent evictions, approved by Israeli courts. And once again, Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah are resisting efforts to remove them from their longtime homes — and they are once again being met with violence and repression from Israeli authorities and settlers. To discuss this stru...

In this new episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Peter Beinart interviews Zaha Hassan and Daniel Levy about the new Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, "Breaking the Israel-Palestine Status Quo," co-authored with Hallaamal Keir and Marwan Muasher. The report aims to offer new ways forward, arguing that "[i]nstead of reviving a moribund peace process or simply abandoning U.S. engagement,...