Occupied Thoughts

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's 2025 Palestinian Non-residential Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN, a research and advocacy organization focused on U.S. policy in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region. They discuss DAWN's approach to analyzing U.S. interests and policy as well as a range of mechanisms for accountability, including this D...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Atalya Ben Abba and Mattan Helman of the Israeli Refuser Solidarity Network. They discuss what makes a person refuse to serve in the Israeli military, how the Israeli military treats refusers, and the surprising solidarity inside military prisons.  Resources:  Refuser Solidarity Network: https://www.refuser.org/ Instagram:...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Nour Joudah speaks with Cal State University-San Bernadino Professor Ahlam Muhtaseb. Dr. Muhtaseb is co-founder of the Phoenix of Gaza XR, an interactive virtual reality experience that captures the untold stories of Gaza’s people and its transformation and provides a deep dive into the lives of those who endure and rebuild. The project itself star...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart and analyst Maha Yahya discuss the new developments in Syria. They look at how Syria's new leaders governed in the areas they controlled over the last few years, why some Syrian minorities are fleeing to Lebanon, and whether Turkey will pursue the Kurds in Syria. Maha Yahya is director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Cente...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with attorney and activist Meisa Irshaid, activist and author Rela Mazali, and Professor Jonathan Metzl about the proliferation of guns in civilian spaces in Israel/Palestine. They discuss the the acceleration of organized crime and gun violence in Palestinian communities inside of '48 Israel, the mass armament of Jewish Israeli...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Dr. Tammy Abughnaim, an American physician who has been to Gaza twice since 10/7/23, serving as a humanitarian physician and has worked at Al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Medical Complex; and Dr. Yara Asi, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics, and...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with writer and editor William Shoki about the history of South Africa and Israel, how South Africa's government sees its global role, and how South Africans think about Israel/Palestine in comparison to post-apartheid South Africa.  William Shoki is a writer and editor of the online magazine & archive Africa is a Country. He i...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Non-Resident Fellow Peter Beinart talks to Eyal Weizman about his work at Forensic Architecture and the recently released "Cartography of Genocide" - an interactive platform that maps Israel's genocidal bombardment of Gaza and use of mass evacuation orders to destroy civilian life. Along with the platform, Forensic Architecture released a 827-page report...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Nour Joudah speaks with journalist Mariam Barghouti about reporting from the ground in the West Bank, views on the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian resistance, and understanding Israeli violence in Gaza and the West Bank within the larger frame of Palestinian history.  Mariam Barghouti is a Palestinian writer and commentator based in Ramallah....

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with policy experts Zack Paikin and Trita Parsi about the the new report they co-authored, “Toward a Better Security Order,” the first report by the Quincy Institute's Better Order Project. The report is the result of discussions with over 130 experts, scholars, and practitioners from over 40 countries, aspiring to put together...

On 11/28/24, despite warnings by the international community against such a step, Israel’s Knesset voted overwhelmingly to adopt two laws that effectively ban the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency that has served the needs of Palestinian refugees since 1949, from operating in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories (West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem). Experts we...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Israeli human rights attorney Alon Sapir about the legal complaint he recently filed, together with other Israeli attorneys, accusing Israeli media Channel 14 of incitement to genocide against Palestinians and other grave crimes. As Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza continues, intensifying especially in northern Gaza where...

FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates about Coates' new book, The Message. Coates’ website describes this part of the book this way: “Coates travels to Palestine, where he sees with devastating clarity how easily we are misled by nationalist narratives, and the tragedy that lies in the clash between the stories we tell and the reality of life on the ground.”...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Mouin Rabbani about Israel's war on Gaza, its offensive in Lebanon, and how these and other developments fit into Israel's broader objectives in the region, most notably with respect to Iran. Mouin is widely published analyst and commentator on Palestinian affairs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the contemporary...

FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Maya Berry, Executive Director of the Arab American Institute to discuss Maya’s experience testifying on hate crimes before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where several Republican Senators challenged her in expressly anti-Arab ways. For more information and resources, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/the-bipartisan-betrayal-of-arab-americans/

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman discusses how Palestine is one of the defining issues of the 2024 elections with Rania Batrice, and FMEP 2024 non-Resident Fellow. Read more: https://fmep.org/resource/palestine-in-the-2024-u-s-elections/

FMEP Non-resident Fellow Rania Batrice talks with Matt Duss (Center for International Policy) about the current state of politics on Israel and Palestine in the U.S..

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Non-Resident Fellow Nour Joudah speaks with Philip Proudfoot and Mahdi Zaidan from the Accountability Archive (@archivegenocide), which describes itself as a “crowdsourced record of journalists, politicians, and public figures endorsing or encouraging the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and/or defaming pro-Palestinian activists.”  The trio discuss  how the archi...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Rania Batrice speaks with Hani Almadhoun, Gaza native, Director of Philanthropy at UNRWA USA, and co-founder, along with his family in Gaza, of Gaza Soup Kitchen. They discuss survival and loss in Gaza, where Hani's parents, siblings, and extended family live, and the project his family created to provide meals and clean water to thousands of Pales...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Harrison Mann, a former U.S. Army major and executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Middle East/Africa Regional Center who resigned in protest of his office’s support for Israel during its Gaza campaign. They discuss Harrison's decision to resign, why government officials continue to implement policies t...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with writer Ahmed Moor about why Israel/Palestine is not exceptional, why Palestinians turn to armed resistance, and why neither Palestinians nor Jewish Israelis will leave the land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea.  Ahmed Moor is Palestinian-American writer who was born and raised in Gaza. He is co-editor of...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Columbia Professor Emeritus Rashid Khalidi. They discuss how and why Jewish settlers are trying to take over the Khalidi Library in Jerusalem and the history of Israel's treatment of Palestinian educational institutions. They also reflect on the current war, looking at its impact on Palestinians, on U.S. politics, and the...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Rania Batrice speaks with Palestinian communication and advocacy specialist Riham Jafari about Gaza and the West Bank, focusing specifically on the impact of the last nine months on women and girls, on the health system in Gaza, and on the use of starvation as a weapon against the Palestinians in Gaza. Rania Batriceis an activist and strategist for...

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Professor Yael Berda about Israel's de facto annexation of the West Bank. A few days ago, the Guardian reported that “[t]he Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for the far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich" ("IDF transfers powers in...

This session reviewed and analyzed the role Congress & the Executive have played vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine in general, and Gaza in particular, both before and since 10/7/23. Panelists: Josh Paul (former official at the U.S. Department of State), Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Tess McEnery (Middle East Democracy Center); co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’...