Unsettled

Too many conversations about Gaza begin and end with one word: Hamas. And conversations about Hamas too often rely on reductive talking points. In this episode, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of the new book Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance . They discuss the origins of Hamas, its position in the Palestinian political landscape, and its g...

Hilmi Hammad was 18 years old in 1948 when Israeli forces entered his village. He became one of about 200,000 Palestinian refugees who ended up in the Gaza Strip at the end of the 1948 war. The site where Hilmi's village once stood is located today in the center of Israel, and though Hilmi has spent his life in Gaza, his home is still in that village, to which he hopes to return. In the second epi...

American and Israeli politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries met in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 to mark the United States moving its embassy there. While they celebrated with songs about peace, thousands of Palestinians assembled at the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip for the Great March of Return. This mass demonstration was originally planned to last six weeks, but has cont...

In January, Unsettled is launching a series about the Gaza Strip. As Gaza has kept coming up in the news this past year, you’ve probably had questions - and so have we. Why did thousands of people risk so much to take part in the Great March of Return? Why does a majority of the population identify as refugees, even many who were born in Gaza? How are Gazans innovating in order to survive? How can...

> I feel like in some ways, for the first time in my life, I’m standing on my own two feet. Because I know the truth about where I’m from. A few years ago, you would have found Ita Segev in the Israeli army, training to patrol the West Bank. Today, Ita is a transfeminine performance artist and anti-Zionist activist in New York City. In this episode, Ita tells her story: how gender and Zionism s...

“ The Nation-State Law is actually affirming a lot of the practices that were in place for decades. In many ways, it’s nothing particularly new, and the right wing is just making it more explicit. The center-left wants to keep it delicate enough so that you maintain that democratic image. For Palestinian citizens of Israel, these two debates are unacceptable. We’re not looking for an overt system...

“ If every time a child does something we detain them, we destroy their future, we make them basically dreamless young men. This is how Palestinian children who go through the system become. ” — Yazan Meqbil On December 19, 2017 Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi was arrested after slapping an Israeli soldier on her family's property. She was taken from her home in the middle of the night, interroga...

“ For the last three weeks, my Nakba was losing my best friends, covering the march with their press-marked vest. Every week, every day I have like personal Nakba, and this is the case with every Palestinian. With every Palestinian around the world, they have their own Nakba. ” — Ahmed Mansour Every year, when Israelis and many American Jews celebrate the creation of the state of Israel, Palestini...

“ Israel is now turning 70, and for 70 years we’ve brought in millions of Jewish refugees from all over the world. And now, for the first time in 2000 years that we have some kind of Jewish sovereignty and we have a political body that is able to protect others, we have non-Jews seeking asylum in the Jewish state. If Israel sends off my Eritrean and Sudanese friends to Africa...if I haven’t done e...

With your help, from online donations and our fundraising party, we made $3,233: more than a thousand dollars more than our goal! We’re humbled by your support, and more committed than ever to continuing this work and growing the audience for it. We’ll be back next week with a full episode, about African asylum-seekers in Israel -- tens of thousands of whom are at risk of being deported. Here’s a...

Exciting news: if you’re in the New York City area, Unsettled is throwing a party  -- this weekend! You can help support the podcast, and meet other Unsettled listeners, by joining us for #GetUnsettled  this Saturday, February 3rd, at Starr Bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Tickets are just $5 in advance or at the door. We’ll have Unsettled merch, including stickers and t-shirts, and there will be a raff...

We are so thankful and excited to announce that over the past two weeks, we have made it just over halfway to our fundraising goal ! No matter the amount, each donation will help us continue this work. If you've learned something new from listening to Unsettled, if your views have been challenged, if you want to hear more, or all of the above -- please visit gofundme.com/unsettledpodcast and donat...

We're back with another listener story, part of our January fundraising campaign to support the future of Unsettled. In just the first week, we've raised over 700 dollars! Thanks to you, we're on our way to reaching our goal of $2018 in the first month of 2018 . In this episode, Unsettled listener Toby Irving explains what brings her to a critical conversation about Israel-Palestine. If you think...

We're launching our first-ever fundraising campaign for Unsettled! Donate now to help us raise $2018 in the first month of 2018. These funds will support our operations and growth, including: keeping our website running, editing software, recording equipment, and access to a sound studio. To accompany this campaign, each week in the month of January we’ll release a personal story submitted by one...

“ I believe in the liberation of the people of Palestine, and I believe in the liberation of the Jewish people. And those things are not just not mutually exclusive, they require each other. ” — Dan Fishback This is a bonus episode featuring extra content from our December 4th episode on Cultural Resistance . Playwright and musician Dan Fishback explains the difference between boycott and censorsh...

“ So if you want to really learn what Jerusalem is and what happens here, come here and go to both sides. Come here and talk to Palestinians. ” — Leena Dallasheh This is the sixth installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For this episode, Unsettled producer Emily Bell interviewed Leena Dallasheh, assistant prof...

“ When nobody’s happy, you know you did the right thing. Especially if you’re a centrist. ” — Rabbi Steven Wernick This is the fifth installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision on December 6 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For this episode, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson spoke to Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservati...

“ I think most American Jews are probably not aware of the simple fact that when they think of visiting the Western Wall, for example, they think of entering the Old City, they’re actually entering what is officially, according to international law, East Jerusalem. And therefore, according to international law, occupied territory. ” — Dov Waxman This is the fourth installment of a special miniseri...

“ I am a proud American Jew. I’ve been part of this community my entire life. I went to Jewish day schools for 13 years. I cannot stand what the occupation is doing to my community, and I’m not willing to put up with it anymore. And my community needs to make a choice. ” — Eliana Fishman This is the third installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision this week to...

“ Today, it’s a new event. Part of the same pattern. But we will still resist, as we have always resisted. And this declaration means nothing to us, just as all the other declarations and all the other events meant nothing to us. ” — Rani Al-Hindi This is the second installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision this week to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Is...

“ What is new is that Trump is putting people on notice...that he’s happy to flout international conventions, and he is no longer concerned with continuing this charade of U.S. support for some kind of political negotiation to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. ” — Shira Robinson On Wednesday, December 6th, the President of the United States formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel...

“ Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. And this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there’s a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It’s hard to ignore a play. ” — Dan Fishback Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees both made waves...

Sulaiman Khatib is a co-founder and the current Managing Director of Combatants for Peace ,  a joint Israeli-Palestinian nonviolent movement to end the occupation of the West Bank. In this interview, Souli explains how he began to see Israelis as potential partners, rather than the enemy. He talks about the value of ex-combatants in the struggle to end the occupation, and addresses some of the the...

Sarah Brammer-Shlay is a first-year rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College  in Philadelphia and a founding member of IfNotNow .  In this interview, Sarah explains how she went from feeling like a "bad Jew" for thinking critically about Israel, to directly confronting the violence of the occupation. As a radical rabbi-to-be, she reflects on the High Holidays, and s...

Rachel Roberts is a DC-based attorney who has been a Jewish activist for Palestinian rights since 2003. She recently worked with the Education Team from IfNotNow DC to pilot a curriculum called "Occupation 101." In this interview, she talks about her own journey from "Israel, right-or-wrong" to Palestinian solidarity work, then explains some of the history and everyday realitie...