The brothers welcome Maya Wind, the author of Towers of Ivory and Steel, a searing critique of the Israeli academic establishment’s complicity in the regime of apartheid and genocide. They discuss the role played by Israeli universities in the establishment and maintenance of the Zionist project in Palestine, the nexus between universities and poli…

The brothers take on some of the most popular and entirely mendacious Zionist talking points and debunk them. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Links mentioned in the episode Relevant links A.L. Tibawi, Anglo-Arab Relations and the Question of Palestine, 1914-21 (1971) George Antonius, The Arab Awakening (1938) Edward Said, The Question of P…

The brothers welcome the political analyst Mouin Rabbani (@MouinRabbani) to the show to discuss the broader implications of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, the loss of Israeli military credibility, the implications of the recent ICJ and ICC decisions for Israel’s growing global isolation, and the growing sense that we may be at an inflection p…

The brothers welcome Professor Stephen Walt to the show to discuss US foreign policy in the Middle East, the role of the Israel lobby in influencing US decision-making, and how all these dynamics may develop in the wake of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: May 14, 2024. Follow us on our…

The brothers welcome Elham Fakhro to the show to discuss the shifting patterns of relations between the states of the Arab Gulf and the established metropoles of the Arab world, the interplay of education and political transformation, the trend towards normalization with the Zionist state and recent developments in attitudes towards and relationshi…

The brothers welcome historian and journalist Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) to the show to discuss the emergence of Palestine as the keystone struggle of the Global South, the importance of the PLO, the question of sovereign national interests vs. solidarity with Palestinian liberation, and the radical student movements rising up across the West. W…

The brothers welcome the historian Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University to the show to discuss the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Zionist project in Palestine, the colonial affiliations of Zionism, the background to the 1948 Nakba, and the role of Arab and Palestinian leaders and forms of resistance in bringing about chan…

[Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest bonus episode of Makdisi Street. You can listen to the entire episode by subscribing to the Patreon for as low as $5 a month and get access to other great bonus content. Since we want to make as much content accessible as possible, we have unlocked this for the YouTube channel.] The brothers discuss…

The brothers welcome to the show Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, to discuss the ongoing starvation war against Gaza and how intentional law can be wielded to fight against it. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: Apr 3, 2024. Follow us on X: @Makdisi…

The brothers welcome Tony Karon (@TonyKaron) and Sean Jacobs (@africasacountry) to the show to discuss their experience of the politics of sport in their native South Africa, the lessons that the country’s anti-apartheid struggle might have for the struggle for freedom in Palestine, and football as a potential site for galvanizing a broader boycott…

The brothers discuss, among other things, Zionism and denial; Israel’s engineered starvation of Gaza; US-Israeli collaboration. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: March 19, 2024 Follow us on X: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on Insta: @Makdisist Music by Hadiiiiii *You can now support Makdisi …

The brothers welcome Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) to the show to discuss the role of the Gaza genocide in the generational transformation taking place in the United States (including within Jewish communities across the country), as well as the campaign to redefine antisemitism to include criticism of Zionism and the Zionist state, and the many pa…

The brothers reflect on the suspension of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian for having committed herself to justice, equality, rights, freedom and love: principles which Zionist institutions and the Zionist state clearly find themselves to be incompatible. Call to Action: Support academic freedom for Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03…

The brothers talk with Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (link) about life under occupation in East Jerusalem, the scattering and reconstitution of Palestinian bodies and Palestine itself, and the affirmation of life and love that lie at the heart of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Watch the episode on our YouTube channel Date of recording: March…

The brothers interview Chris Gunness (@MyanmarAProject), former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), about journalistic coverage and distortion, the shaping of representation of Palestine, the work of the Agency, the moral responsibility of those funding it, and how calum…

The brothers welcome the Palestinian educator, political intellectual, and activist Dr. Hanan Ashrawi (@DrHananAshrawi) to discuss the political horizons after the trauma of Gaza, as well as the pitfalls of the so-called peace process, Oslo, the PLO vs PA, and moves to reform the PLO for the path to true liberation and self-determination. Watch thi…

The brothers welcome Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal (@pal_legal), to the podcast to talk about the institutionalized Zionist assault on academic freedom and free speech in the United States as well as the convergence between the Zionist suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy on the one hand and right-wing reaction against…

The brothers welcome to the show the preeminent scholar and Nakba survivor Dr. Salman Abu Sitta to discuss his personal journey after 1948, the relative simplicity of implementing UN resolution 194 for Palestinians to return to their lands, and his high hopes for younger generations. Read his article, "I could have been one of those who broke throu…

The brothers invite the American historian Robin DG Kelley to the show to discuss the status and visibility of Palestine in Black American political culture from the 1940s through MLK and Malcolm X to Black Lives Matter and the present--and the ways in which Palestine remains one of the keys to a liberated world. Date of recording: Jan 29, 2024. Wa…

The brothers welcome the investigative journalist, Intercept Senior Correspondent and Intercepted podcast host Jeremy Scahill (@jeremyscahill) to discuss the parameters of the media coverage of the genocide in Gaza and to reflect on the patterns, structures and limitations of Western corporate media as well as the growing alternatives to it. Date o…

(Note: We are considering launching a Patreon feed to help defray the costs of producing this show, whereby for a low monthly rate, supporters will get access to different kinds of bonus content: a monthly Q&A, reposting of episodes hosts do with other podcasts, episodes featuring a single host interviewing guests, etc. We would love your feedback …

The brothers talk with the distinguished legal scholar Richard Falk about the possible political, legal, and moral consequences of the International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa against Israel on the charge of genocide. Date of recording: January 9, 2024. Watch this episode on YouTube Follow us on X: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on You…

The brothers welcome Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu (@dianabuttu) to the show to provide a broader political context for the crisis in Gaza, including the growing contradictions within Israeli politics, the struggle for hegemony within Palestinian politics, the legacy and possible future role of the PLO, and the legal and political consequences of …

The brothers welcome Dr. Mitri Raheb to the show to talk about the role and visibility of Christians in Palestine’s ecumenical culture, so-called Christian Zionism, and how the Bible can be read either as a text authorizing empire and genocide (as with Netanyahu citing the extirpation of the Amalek) or as a text calling for liberation, equality, ju…

The brothers welcome this extraordinary Palestinian physician, @GhassanAbuSitt1, to the show, to talk about his recent experience in Gaza in comparison with other Israeli attacks on Gaza (2014, 2008-9). “One of the aims of catastrophization, the creation of a self-sustaining catastrophe in Gaza,” Abu Sittah warns, “is that, once there is a ceasefir…

In this episode, the brothers interview the historian Ilan Pappé, best known for his 2006 book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, in order to gain some historical perspective on the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza as well as what the current situation tells us about shifting global and local attitudes and even how one can start to anticipate the term…

The Makdisi brothers welcome Francesca Albanese (@FranceskAlbs), the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to the podcast. The discussion covers international humanitarian law, the concept of self-defense as it is understood in international law, the right to resist military occupation, the specificities of se…

In this episode, we discuss the international backdrop to the Gaza ceasefire/truce/pause (and what the distinctions are among all those terms). We also cover Israeli and US aims for Gaza in view of resistance on the ground and their failure to achieve their objectives in the 2006 war in Lebanon, as well as the significance of the prisoner exchange …

In this episode, we discuss the coverage and framing of the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza including media narratives, gaps between popular and establishment positions, and the stifling of dissent in the academy. Date of Recording: November 14, 2023. Music by Hadiiiiii Follow us on X: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on YouTube: @MakdisiStreet…