The Palestine Pod

This week Lara and Michael cover the extreme censorship by streaming and social media companies. Episodes 1-5 of @thepalestinepod have disappeared, and numerous accounts were disappeared or disrupted on the ground and in the diaspora like organizing acct @wolpalestine Lara provides accounts and updates from the ground. We talk about the occupation forces storming Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, occupation forces making life unlivable for everyone in Gaza, and impossible for medical staff to save people. Lack of medicine food fuel and water is causing disease in a planned genocide on the people and infrastructure of Palestine.

This week Lara and Michael cover the genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the Israelis. Lara shares gruesome updates from her family on the ground. We bring you the news the corporate media won't.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with student and activist Soha Khatib, a senior at UIC and board member at Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at her University. We discuss the events that led up to her and her classmates teaming up with Palestine Legal to file a civil rights lawsuit against the University for their disparate treatment of Palestinian students. She explains how she and other members of SJP were barred from entering an informational Zoom setting pertaining to a study abroad program inside 48. While flyering she explains the university staff called the cops and one police officer grabbed a female student by her hijab. She also tells us about subsequent meetings she's had with study-abroad personnel and the climate for Palestinian activists on campus at UIC. The episode speaks to the overall connections between oppressive state forces like the police, zionist think tanks, and higher education institutions in the United States.

This week Lara and Michael cover the egregious story about Zionist female soldiers who forced Palestinian women to strip at the threat of attack dogs and automatic weapons. We discuss Netanyahu's proposal to deport "all African migrants" after flare-ups in the Eritrean communities inside 48. Lara breaks down the reality of navigating a maze of 21st-century settler colonialism in which all the most physical locations for your life are interrupted by checkpoints, violent settlers, and a literal apartheid wall. Also, we talk about online censorship as The Palestine Pod was recently demonetized on Instagram for no other reason than our reporting.

This week Lara and Michael discuss Mayor Eric Adams of NYC visiting the occupation, legitimizing land theft, and generally being a bad person. We discuss the upcoming film Golda and how it normalizes the oppression of Palestinians by framing a war criminal as the movie's hero. We also cover the story of the Russian-Israeli citizen who is likely a Mossad spy and was captured by a Shia militia in Iraq while claiming to be doing field research for Princeton. Spoiler alert: Princeton does not claim this woman.

This week Lara and Michael cover the atrocious story of a Palestinian man branded with the Star of David on his face by Israeli police we discuss how the entire society lives in cognitive dissonance, including the protests against the government. We cover the trial proceedings of a zionist settler who murdered Qusai Mutan. The zionist courts have released him to house arrest in a stolen home.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with acclaimed Rabbi, author, and rabbinical scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro to discuss what it actually means to be Jewish. He dives deep into Jewish history and shows how the Zionist movement belonged to Christians before Theodore Herzl came around. He explains how the founders of Zionism hijacked the religion while holding a lot of the same beliefs as the antisemites of their day. He defines what it means to practice Judaism and how the future of Jewish identity hinges on defeating Zionism

This week Lara and Michael discuss the occupation’s failed invasion of Jenin including making thousands of individuals new refugees for the second time in their family’s history (most inhabitants of Jenin were refugees from Haifa in 1948 during the Nakba). We also cover the occupation’s killing of 12 Palestinians and wounding over one hundred. The media ran with zionist propaganda that dehumanizes Palestinians and promotes the false notion that the invasion of occupied Jenin was Israeli “self-defense” but spoiler alert Israel, as an occupying power, has no right to invade Palestinian cities nor does it have a right to “self-defense” from the people it occupies but Palestinians have the right to defend themselves against illegal and permanent occupation. We also cover the story of French police reaching out to Zionist occupation forces for tips on how to better oppress after riots have shaken many French cities in the wake of the police murder of 17-year-old French-Algerian boy, Nael.

This week Lara and Michael sit down to talk about the recent zionist pogroms in Turumusaya, a town in the occupied West Bank. We share accounts of some of the victims of the pogrom, some of them Palestinian-Americans visiting home for the first time in twenty years. Lara recaps her family reunion and gives a fiery speech. Finally, Lara and Michael cover the recent Haaretz article “Zionist Militia’s Efforts to Recruit Nazis in Fight Against the British Are Revealed” further to release to the public of documents last month by the Israeli State Archives proving the coordination between Zionists and Nazi Germany. Michael reads excerpts from a book called, The Secret Contacts, which elaborates on this sinister relationship.

Lara and Michael cover the upsetting pattern whereby Palestinians on the ground document in real time their lived experiences as victims of Israeli apartheid and colonialism but are dismissed. On the other hand, time and again mainstream media investigations confirm the veracity of Israeli crimes months after the fact and validate what Palestinians have been saying all along. The latest example are the settler attacks on occupied Huwara which were thoroughly documented by the Palestinians who lived them only to have CNN now carry out an investigation confirming what we already know. Lara and Michael continue with an update on Israeli impunity and critique the occupation’s habit of exonerating itself from its crimes. This week, the IOF declared that nobody would be reprimanded in the killings of 2 year old Muhammed Tamimi who was shot in the head sitting in his car with his father in their driveway by an Israeli sniper and the elderly Palestinian American man, Omar Assad, who was murdered by the occupation after being left bound and gagged on the ground in a street in his village last year. Meanwhile, a Ryan Air pilot was reprimanded for saying “Welcome to Palestine”.

This week Lara and Michael covered the child martyr Mohammed Tamimi murdered by the occupation. We also discuss the case of CUNY Law graduate Fatima Mohammed who gave a commencement speech in support of Palestinian liberation and was viciously attacked with racist slurs by media and local politicians. Finally, we discuss Lara's trip to the EU to advocate in the halls of government with Adnan Barq and other Palestinians from on the ground.

This week Lara and Michael sit down to talk about the zionists' recent calls for genocide in an op-ed, the New York-based charities that are getting tax write-offs for supporting war crimes while members of the Holy Land 5 Foundation are still imprisoned for charity, and the story of the IOF officer who was reprimanded for visiting the firing range naked + much more!

This week The Palestine Pod covered the colonial entity’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, we spoke about the ongoing Nakba, settlers celebrating 75 years of murder and forced expulsion, and the damn near total silence from the world when entire families are massacred in Palestine.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Janaya Future Khan, a Black liberation trans activist, model, and comedian to talk about the long-standing connection between Black and Palestinian liberation, BLM's decision to adopt a resolution supporting Palestine, and how Future uses comedy as a tool to influence culture. We discuss Future's trip to Palestine, and the importance of seeing where the conversation will be, not just where it is now.

This week Lara and Michael reflect on the rise in hate crimes perpetrated by zionist settlers against Palestinian Christians, and Muslims at their places of worship. Whether it's a church or a mosque, zionist settlers are determined to make life a living hell for Palestinians living on their land trying to celebrate their holy holidays. We cover Israeli top officials lamenting the bad PR image of beating worshippers during Ramadan and another zionist commander's admission that there's no difference between the army and the settlements.

This week (technically last week) Lara and Michael sit down with Ru'a Rimawi, a doctor in Palestine and sister of two Palestinian martyrs, Jawad and Thafer Rimawi. Both brothers were murdered by the Israeli occupation on the same day in November 2022. We sit down with Ru'a and talk about Jawad and Thafer's lives, their hopes, their dreams, the impact they had on their community, and the gaping hole left after their martyrdom. We discuss Ru'a's campaign to seek justice and the plight of so many Palestinians who have had family members stolen from them by the illegally occupying zionist entity.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with anti-zionist Israeli dissident, Ronnie Barkan who is currently facing trial in Bristol for smashing up an Elbit weapons factory. The factory was supplying weapons to the occupation to be used to murder innocent Palestinians. Ronnie talks about how Zionism is a cult, and we relive his journey to antizionism, how Israeli society is heavily brainwashed, fascist, and militarized society conditioned to accept and be complicit in committing crimes against humanity, with the exception of a handful of dissidents. We talk about how these waves of protests are not real allyship, and how zionists can only sense the vibes are off when the occupation starts to impact their daily life.

This week Lara and Michael discussed the various BDS victories which include boycotts on Netanyahu and other government officials, Saudi Arabia's refusal to grant travel documents to Israeli officials, and the former head of Mossad saying the apartheid state is "on the verge of collapse." Fingers crossed. We discuss Ahmad Manasra and the absurdity of protesting to save a judicial system that has stolen his childhood and tortured him and countless other children.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with the Michael Ratner Justice Fellow at Palestine Legal, Amal Thabateh. We talk about the growing support for Palestine on college campuses that intersects with other anti-racist struggles. We cover how this support is increasingly being censored and chilled by lobbyists, think tanks, and apartheid apologist groups in a way that harkens back to McCarthyism in the 1950s. We chat about the environment at CUNY that is producing some of the best Palestinian legal minds in the country, and finally, Amal assures us that most of the people who get involved with this work come out whole despite the difficult odds we face.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Grammy-award winning producer, DJ, and artist Farid Karam Nassar also known as Fred Wreck. He takes us through some of his earliest memories growing up in Michigan surrounded by generations of his Palestinian family. Farid relives some of his experiences visiting Palestine and interacting with the occupation. Lara takes Farid through some of his most outspoken tweets critiquing US policy and describing the nature of Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism. Farid describes why it is so important for him to speak up and makes a clear case for supporting Palestinian resistance. Lara asks Farid about his favorite record of all time and his favorite album he has produced. Farid names his favorite Palestinian food and weighs in on the infamous bamya-gate. Farid shares with us what on earth his mom and Snoop talk about on facetime.

This week Lara and Michael cover an "Israeli diplomat" being ejected from the African Summit in Ethiopia. We also cover other BDS wins like Barcelona cutting ties with the occupation after 100 groups and over 4,000 residents urged their government to divest from the apartheid state. We cover the occupation plan to strip Palestinians living in 48' of citizenship and forcibly transfer people to the West Bank in violation of international law. Michael covers Israeli meddling in 33 elections worldwide, 27 of which were successful according to the person who engineered the elections.

Lara and Michael break down the media coverage surrounding the massacres in Jenin vs the Palestinian resistance response. Unsurprisingly Israelis are humanized, and Palestinians are dehumanized. People received buzzing notification alerts from various news agencies the second a zionist is injured but Palestinians are murdered and maimed every day and nobody gets a notification. Michael clarifies where exactly the shooting took place because the media lied about the location. Lara breaks down the latest polling surrounding normalization with the occupation and Algeria and Mauritania come in strong at 99% opposed to normalization. We cover the life of Khalil Sakakini, one of Palestine's early intellectuals who kept a vibrant journal that tells us about the good times in his life like building and securing his house, to the bad times when the zionist militias stole his house and the apartheid state gifted it to a so-called feminist organization. Finally, we talk about a Holocaust survivor who has resigned from the Labour party after threats of expulsion for talking about his life experience of zionists collaborating with Nazis resulting in the death of the majority of the Jewish Hungarian population.

This week Lara and Michael cover the bloody massacre by zionist forces in occupied Jenin. Zionist forces injured 16 and murdered 9 Palestinians in Jenin including an elderly woman. They then stormed the pediatric unit and fired tear gas at babies. They spent the next 24 hours dropping bombs on Gaza, and they shot at an ambulance responding to the massacres, hence, war crimes bingo. Israeli terrorism was encouraged by their elected officials who tweeted in support of the massacre. We also connect the brutal murders in the United States by police forces who are trained by zionist occupation thugs. Memphis police department is one such department, we cover the murder of Tyre Nichols. In Atlanta, the environmental activist Tortuguita was murdered by police attempting to disrupt the development of a massive police training compound known as "cop city." Also, the NYPD has at least 16 offices globally including one in Palestine. Decolonization means police abolition.

This week (technically last week) Lara and Michael cover the martyrs of Palestine. Some were murdered defending their land from foreign occupation forces, and others were murdered for simply existing as Palestinians in Palestine. It's becoming so common for children in Palestine to be murdered by zionists that many people are walking around with notes in their pockets. We read two such testimonies left by victims of colonial violence. We cover the UN resolution which continues to add to the already well-established paper trail at the international level. We discuss the decision to reverse course by Harvard Kennedy School. We also cover the vandalizing of the Armenian Covenant in Jerusalem by the people who purport to be taking care of the land. Finally, we cover some of the most chronically online zionists, and the absolute fairy tale they live in.

This week Lara and Michael cover the martyrs murdered by the occupation in the first week of January. We discuss the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta, as well as the irony of the settlers in 48' protesting this new government as if it's actually different from previous governments (it's literally Bibi, again). We cover the phenomena of zionists online endorsing BDS and talk about Netanyahu's fascist decree about an unquestionable, and exclusive right to settlement. Finally, we cover the story of the former Executive Director, Ken Roth at Human Rights Watch who had his fellowship rescinded by the Dean of Harvard Kennedy School.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Nida and Zaira Abu Baker, daughters of Shukri Abu Baker one of the Holy Land Foundation 5. Shukri is a political prisoner prosecuted in a wave of unjust rulings following post-9/11 hysteria. The ACLU said the prosecution was part of a pattern of the US government targeting faith-based charities "on the basis of unsubstantiated evidence and without even basic due process protections". We discuss the resurgence of the campaign to Free Shukri Abu Baker and the other two members of the HLF5 who remain unjustly imprisoned. We talk about the absolute delusion of the largest exporter of terrorism in the world (the US government) convicting a Muslim family and community man on preposterous charges related to terrorism. In doing so they destroyed the lives of all 5 families and a charity that helped to improve the conditions for impoverished people across the world.

This week on the Palestine Pod, Lara and Michael cover the significance of the shows of Palestinian solidarity at the World Cup in Qatar by players and fans. The Pod then covers the murder of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl Jana Zakarneh by Israeli snipers who shot her 4 times as she stood on the roof of her home in occupied Jenin during a recent occupation raid on the Palestinian city as well as the reckless reporting by Western outlets such as the BBC, CNN, and the NYT that followed, acting as cover for Zionist crimes by failing to publish who killed her in their headline, and worse, acting as an arm for the Zionist propaganda machine by swiftly publishing the official Zionist response (that they “unintentionally” sniped her) without the slightest bit of scrutiny. Lara explores the chronic state of hypocrisy that is the Zionist ideology, oscillating between lies like the land was empty, the Palestinians don’t exist, they left freely and occasional spurts of truth like the recent bombshell admissions portrayed in the documentary Tantura by Israeli filmmaker Alon Schwarz who interviewed elderly Zionist terrorists giddy to describe the murder, ethnic cleansing and rape they committed of Palestinians on camera. Michael continues to remind us that none of these people have any right to represent Judaism which is categorically opposed to this evil that they spread. Lara and Michael finish by commenting on the recent interview of Israeli MP Zvika Fogel where he explained that Zionists were too merciful to Palestinians leading Michael to conclude that this just means they want to do even more murder.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with heavy hearts to commemorate the passing of Lara's sido. We talk about how zionist gaslighting impacts the grieving process and the pressure Palestinians feel to publicly share information about their family and lineage because of ridiculous zionist claims about Palestinian existence. Lara shares that her grandfather died stateless, without a passport, and he's one of the millions of Palestinians for whom that is a daily reality. We also commemorate the passing of The People's Bubbie, longtime antizionist Jew, feminist, and abolitionist, Shatzi Weisberger. We end by briefly covering the zionist dust-up surrounding the new Netflix movie, Farha.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with our favorite Pallestalion filmmaker, Vin Arfuso to talk about his upcoming documentary Walled Off. The documentary centers around the Walled Off Hotel in Occupied Bethlehem, Palestine as a means for show asking the brutality of Israeli occupation and apartheid. The hotel has the largest collection of Banksy artwork in one place. The film employs quick cuts and archival footage to dispute zionist propaganda, entertaining the audience with its humor and fast pace. It provides a historic overview of the major players in the story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, where we are, and how we got here. Stay tuned for more information about the release of Vin's documentary, Walled Off!

This week Lara and Michael sit down with one of our generation's most courageous investigative journalists, Abby Martin. Her current work can be seen at Empire Files and she directed the acclaimed documentary "Gaza Fights for Freedom" (2019). Her work took her to Palestine and got her banned from it. She takes us behind the scenes of what it was like to film in Palestine and recounts moments like her infamous interviews where everyday Israelis casually endorse genocide. Abby talks about spending time with the Tamimi family and the warmth of Palestinian culture. Abby shares that many journalist colleagues have emplored her not to talk about Palestine if she wants to keep her job, but she knew that you're not being human if you're not using your platform to call for the freedom of Palestine, and all indigenous peoples and land protectors.

This week Lara and Michael break down the results from the latest so-called election from the apartheid state. Usually in politics, you choose the "lesser of two evils" but the latest election shows a lean in the other direction. While still under investigation for his last term Netanyahu is back with a ghastly list of characters including far-right fascist Ben-Gvir. Michael details how Zionists have historically and continue to collaborate with Nazis citing a recent interview with The Electronic Intifada, and a book Secret Contacts Zionism and Nazi Germany. Lara details how Kahanists who are represented by Ben-Gvir took their platform from the Nazis verbatim. We memorialize the freedom fighter and Afro-Palestinian feminist, Fatima Bernawi. We end by covering the story of Shadi Khoury, a child brutalized by the occupation forces and held in detention, a familiar sequence of events for Palestinian children.

This week Lara and Michael cover the martyrs produced by the zionist raid on occupied Nablus. The spirit of Palestinian resistance can never be broken. We cover the story of Uday al-Tamimi who was gunned down while resisting occupation. He had inspired many Palestinian men to shave their heads in an attempt to thwart Israeli surveillance. Michael rants about how Zionists are being amplified and turned to as experts on antisemitism. They're experts alright, nobody does it better than them. Michael takes zionists to task for pretending to care about Jews while they are beating up elderly Jewish antizionist activists and funding literal Nazis in Ukraine. We also address the Kanye situation and the proliferation of antisemitism and anti-Blackness we've seen in Los Angeles recently, and how all liberation of oppressed people is linked.

This week Lara and Michael cover the occupation siege on the Palestinian town of Huwara, where the zionist settlers are carrying out pogroms daily. We also discuss the siege on the Shu'fat refugee camp following some success from Palestinian resistance. We hold space for the names of the martyrs killed by the occupation this week and talk about how because of the brutal conditions, Palestinian are unable to live life on the most basic of levels. This is why resistance is the only option. We chat about the efforts of Palestinian resistance to repel the zionist colonial settlers and soldiers in Sheikh Jarrah and Isawiya. Lara sheds light on the early Zionist plan to poison the drinking water of Palestinians as a part of a multipronged effort of murder and forceable displacement. War criminal Netanyahu released a new book, and Michael is speechless as The Jerusalem post concedes that anti-zionist Jews have existed for longer than Zionist Jews.

This week Lara and Michael talk about the four youth murdered by the occupation in 24 hours in the occupied West Bank. We cover the story reported by the Haaretz of Jewish Zionist worshippers who flipped over a Palestinian car on Yom Kippur (not the traditional method of celebration). Lara recaps the case of a 13-year-old Gazan child shot 17 times, and the colonial court’s nauseating attempt to intellectualize her murder and deny her family compensation despite finding that the Israeli so called commander violated international law adding to the endless pile of heinous crimes for which Israel has not been held accountable. We cover Katie Halper being censored and fired from The Hill for having prepared a monologue referring to the recent barrage of reports of international and Israeli institutions concluding that Israel is an Apartheid state, and how this latest effort to censor and silence a journalist is part of a well known pattern among media bosses in the mainstream media to fire anyone who speaks out for Palestinian human rights. We shed light on the situation unfolding at Berekely Law School and provide an update on the Palestine Action trials. We briefly cover the out of touch video uploaded by Nas Daily “both sidesing” settler colonialism and apartheid. We end with a word on the positive reception of the recent documentary by Pod alums Vin Arfuso and Anwar Hadid, Walled Off.

This week (technically last week) Lara and Michael follow up on the Marvel story to show the direct connections between Marvel executives and the zionist occupation of Palestine. Along the same lines, we pull up an email chain from 2014 published by Wikileaks known as "The Sony Archives" wherein powerful executives and producers colluded to protect the image of the apartheid regime. Lara takes us through some of the viral videos that circulated the internet this week, including children at a Kindergarten in occupied Jenin terrified at the sounds of zionist bombs dropping. We cover the murder of 7-year-old child Rayan Suleiman who was chased to death by occupation soldiers, and uplift the other martyrs this week from Jenin, and Jerusalem. We discuss the story of Ariel Koren, a Jewish antizionist former Google employee who publicly resigned over the $1.2B Project Nimbus, a contract between the tech giant and the Zionist Apartheid state. We refer to the new AI gun installed at a Zionist checkpoint in occupied Hebron that all Palestinians in Hebron are going to have to pass through daily. Finally, we discuss the insane propaganda video of Israeli women claiming to stand with the women of Iran, pointing out that US imperialism has never improved the conditions of women in the countries it has occupied and stolen the resources of.

This week Lara and Michael discuss Liz Truss’s statement saying that she wanted to move the UK embassy to Jerusalem, and how this constitutes an act of aggression. We cover the self-commissioned Facebook/Meta report that admits the company censored Palestinians and favored Hebrew content during the moderation process in May 2021. We joke that we knew that already because we were on the business side of the censorship. We discuss the Chilean President recently standing before the UN, calling on all nations to protect Palestinian human rights as well as his cancellation of a credentials ceremony for an Israeli ambassador after finding out about yet another extra-judicial assassination by the occupation, and the political fallout that ensued as a result. We also cover how every week there is a new body, a new state, and a new media outlet that has come to the conclusion that the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh was in fact intentional, and carried out by the Zionist regime. To which we say, no sh*t sherlock.

This week Lara and Michael react to the introduction of a zionist character into the Marvel universe, named after the massacre of Palestinians. We cover the immediate and inevitable backlash that comes from any time zionists try to colonize popular culture. We give an update on the Shenstone location Palestine Action encampment and provide ways to get involved. Lara covers the increase in violent raids and assassinations in the West Bank of Palestinian resistance fighters. We chat about one of the many murderers turned Israeli celebrities, Elor Azaria. We provide an update on the ongoing litigation between Foodbenders and the JDL in Canada. Finally, we cover the disgusting escape room that lets zionist settlers cosplay as the 6 Palestinian prisoners who broke out of Gilboa prison.

This week Mikey went into the field to interview the activists involved in the campaign to #ShutElbitDown. Mikey covers the ongoing encampment outside the Shenstone factory and speaks to a variety of people involved in the action. We discuss the reasons for this action (to stop drones from being made and delivered to murder Palestinians). We chat about the response from the community in Shenstone, the brutality of the private security guards hired by Elbit, and their coordination with local police forces. The activists explain the various skills and tactics being utilized, and the community being built by the brave group of people putting their life and liberty at risk to stand on the right side of history.

This week Lara and Michael discuss the case of Khalil Awawdeh who has been on hunger strike for upwards of 180 days, and the disgusting psychology of the zionists smiling as they return the body of Palestinian martyr Mai Afaneh over a year after murdering her. We cover police brutality against Palestinian-Americans in Chicago, and across the United States. We confront the failure to find any evidence to support the claim that Palestinian NGOs are a front for terrorism, and we discuss some of the aspects of normalization that appear in the new Netflix tv show, Mo.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Palestinian-American journalist and advocate Hebh Jamal. Hebh is based between Berlin and New York. We discuss her recent trip to Gaza and she describes the harrowing journey and traumatizing experiences with the Egyptian military and how they are profiting off the oppression of Palestinians. She tells us about the beauty within Gaza and how she still found people with hope despite the occupation's attempts to crush people's spirits. We speak about her journalism in Germany surrounding anti-Palestinian racism and how Germany thinks their problem with antisemitism is imported vs. homegrown. She talks about the time she casually did a TED Talk, and we honor the fallen martyr of Palestine, Ibrahim Nabulsi.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with student, activist, and burgeoning journalist 22 year old Yara Eid who comes to us from Gaza, Palestine. She takes us through the events of the latest Israeli assault of August 6-8, 2022 when Israeli shelling and bombardement mercilessly killed over 45 Palestinians including 16 children. She describes the impact of this assault on people and animals in Palestine, sharing with us several horrific scenes her and her news team witnessed, including Israeli attacks on a watermelon horse cart driven by a man bringing groceries and cake back to his family, a cemetery, and Jabaliya refugee camp. Yara shares with us her disappointment and frustration after being subject to racist interviewing by an RT reporter who both sides-ed her as the Apartheid state shelled her neighborhood. We cover the assassination of resistance leader Ibrahim Nabulsi earlier this week. Lara remarks that resistance fighters like Nabulsi are the real leaders of the Palestinian struggle. Michael jokes about the IOF and veganism.

This week Lara and Michael cover the zionist occupation’s genocide against the Palestinian people via their renewed assaults against the people of Gaza. We talk about the growing resistance in Nablus and AIPAC bragging about purchasing US congresspeople. Michael points out the deafening silence from everyone with a Ukrainian flag in their bio.

This week Lara and Michael sit down to talk about how every day we wake up to the news of another Palestinian being martyred, another child snatched from their home in the middle of the night by the occupation forces. Every day another house or village is demolished, and more childhoods, adulthoods, and entire lives are stolen inside the occupation's concentration camps. We discuss specifically the cases of the Burnat brothers, Ahmed Manasra, and other political prisoners. We talk about the aftermath of Biden's visit, as well as the phenomena of Zionist settlers trying to sneak into mecca. The zionists set up another illegal outpost, and families and teens are encouraged to attend!

This week Lara and Michael sit down with our second return guest to The Palestine Pod. It's Max from Palestine Action. He's back to celebrate the closing of 2 of Elbit's weapons systems in the UK and kicking the company out of London entirely with the direct action network, Palestine Action. We discuss the various tactics the group employed to drive up the cost of doing business for the war profiteers in the business of bloodshed. We talk about the importance of getting involved in whatever capacity you can to help be a part of the liberation of Palestine. We only feel like we have no power when we choose not to exercise our own. We conclude with a discussion about respectability vs. effectiveness. Lara makes the point that in the heat of the moment, most people never get the respect they deserve but if they are effective, history will respect them forever.

This week Lara and Michael discuss the egregious case of the Lapid's occupying a stolen Palestinian house and announcing it as a "new beginning" on Instagram. We cover a couple of instances of Germany silencing both Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish activists. Lara talks about the so-called "Doomsday settlements" and how over 7 decades of occupation is already a Doomsday scenario: We discuss the anniversary of Algerian independence, talk about the deep bond between Palestinians and Algerians, and recall how Algerian resistance to colonialism lasted for over 100 years. We cover the latest news in the phenomena of Arab Zionists (an Arab Zionist NATO?). We conclude with an update about the Ben & Jerry's fiasco - the company sued its parent company Unilever for circumventing their decision to refrain from selling their products in the occupied West Bank. Michael stays unimpressed with the PR tactics of the company. The duo query the meaning of the word “anomaly.”

This week Lara and Michael are back to break down the latest in Palestine-related news. We start by covering the latest decision of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled (after some funny business) that BDS is not a protected form of free speech. This decision runs counter to the bevy of other judges across the nation who have found the opposite. The ACLU is poised to take this case to the Supreme Court and let those old gargoyles of jurisprudence weigh in on the matter. We also cover the recent decision by the European Union to resume funding to Palestinian human rights organizations the occupation baselessly accused of terrorism. The EU stated that there was no evidence to support the claim, but that didn't stop them from freezing funds for over a year! Lara covers a motif that appears in various news outlets wherein a story of an Israeli being "lightly wounded" takes the front page over the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people at the hands of Israelis. We take time to cover the story of Ahmad Manasra, a child who has been tortured by the occupation in their jails since he was 13. We ridicule Pelosi’s reading a settler-colonial poem in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the PA’s decision to turn over the bullet used to murder Shireen Abu Akleh to the Americans for some reason. Israel is keeping the US out of the loop on covert attacks in Iran and Ukraine takes the occupation to task for failing to provide medical supplies (likely because they are too busy disfiguring Palestinians).

This week Lara and Michael sit down with language teacher, musician, and Jewish anti-zionist activist Nur. A video of Nur being attacked by settlers in Massafer Yatta went viral and she sits down with us to recount the incident. She describes how the settlers threw a rock through her car window injuring her and how the occupation forces followed suit by assaulting her and her friends. The settler who attacked Nur and her friends was not even held for questioning (obviously). We discuss the plight of the people of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. Nur tells us that everyone inside ‘48 must go through a mental transformation that allows them to connect with their hearts and not their minds, or nothing will ever change.

This week Lara and Michael sat down with the CEO of Zaytoun Publicity, 2x Award-winning Palestinian storyteller, and TEDx speaker, Jenan Matari. We talk about how she found her voice as a Palestinian woman and developed the courage to speak out for Palestinian liberation. Jenan asserts the importance of Palestinians in exile in the collective liberation of Palestine. We cover how she was forced to leave the corporate world and how that incident helped her take control of her own destiny. Jenan takes us through her family history dating back to the early 1300s when one of her ancestors. a Sufi sheik opened up a center in Al Quds/Jerusalem that was frequented by Muslims from all over the world. Jenan tells us the inspiration for starting Zaytoun Publicity was to center BIPOC entrepreneurs, actors, directors, and other creatives that don't get the media coverage or publicity they deserve. Zaytoun Publicity seeks to bridge that gap. Michael cracks jokes the whole episode like it's an involuntary tic.

This week Lara and Michael sat down with award-winning journalist for Al Jazeera, Jamal Elshayyal. We cover the occupation's continued attack on the press in the wake of the execution of Shireen Abu Akleh. The occupation once again killed another Palestinian female journalist, Ghufran Harun Warasneh, and attacked her funeral procession (but you probably haven’t heard about this because she doesn’t hold an American passport). Lara talks about how terrifying it is that the occupation is doubling down and murdering more journalists. Jamal provides us the context that it might be that they are acting out most because they are near the end of their tether. Jamal relives his experience aboard the Mavi Mamara in 2010, the humanitarian flotilla headed towards Gaza that was shot at in international waters by the occupation commandos who then boarded the ship and took everyone hostage. Jamal's was the last signal broadcasting before the Israelis cut power. Michael queries Jamal about the insides of Gaddafi's intelligence compound where Jamal discovered some wild stuff in the wake of the Libyan revolution.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with our first repeat guest, Adnan Barq. Adnan is a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Jerusalem, Palestine. We discuss the things he saw at the funeral for Shireen Abu Akleh, and how it was the largest funeral procession in Palestinian history starting all the way from Jenin and breaking the occupation barriers by ending up in Jerusalem. We talk about how the people of Palestine are united but disheartened by the media coverage which obfuscates Palestinian life even after death. We also considerwhat it's like to choose the camera when the oppressor uses a gun. Adnan coins the term Karenizer and you heard it here first folks.