For anyone confused about the current impasse, we offer historical information that helps explain it. For anyone who has been hearing only a one-sided narrative that lacks balance and context, we offer a balanced narrative.
Accordingly, we broadcast interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists who provide perspectives from both sides. In contrast to headline news that focus on the what but not the why, our programs clarify underlying issues. The programs reveal the counter-productive role the United States has played over the years in supporting one side over the other.
Public debate about the oppression of Palestinians continues to be stifled. For this reason, we offer these programs as a resource for those seeking truthful, uncensored information about relations between Israel, Palestine, and the United States. Furthermore, we hope these programs get people to listen, learn, and do their own research into what is and has been taking place in Israel Palestine.
February 7, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Part 5 of “What is Zionism:” Christian Zionism, a Theology of Western Empire
Though Christian Zionism precedes Jewish Zionism by almost two centuries, this fact is often overlooked in discussions of Palestine and Israel. In this illuminating discussion with Prof. Robert Smith (Chickasaw), he defines Christian Zionism, pinpoints its historical origins, and connects this to the interplay between theology and Western empire in the past and present.
ListenJanuary 31, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Can the Gaza Ceasefire Last?
A retired 28-year veteran of the CIA, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and the author of several books on U.S. foreign policy Paul Pillar discusses his recent article on why the ceasefire in Gaza is unlikely to last. The political situation in Israel militates against making the ceasefire anything but a temporary pause and explains Israel's escalating attacks in the West Bank, the continued presence of Israeli troops in Lebanon and Syria, and Israel's determined pursuit of war.
ListenJanuary 24, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
The Gaza Genocide in Historical Perspective
For centuries, Western countries have been attacking indigenous peoples and stealing their land in an ongoing process of settler colonialism, engendering resistance and international solidarity. Mazin Qumsiyeh returns to the show to place the Gaza genocide into this historical continuum.
ListenJanuary 17, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Jimmy Carter’s Unsung Advocacy for Palestinian Rights
Following his death Dec. 29th, 2024, President Jimmy Carter received accolades for his many achievements, among them the 1978 Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt that he brokered. However, little attention has been paid to President Carter's efforts to make peace between Israelis and the Palestinians. An international human rights lawyer and the executive director of the Christian Palestinian organization Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), Jonathan Kuttab met Carter on several occasions. He talks about Carter's advocacy for Palestinians, which has been largely ignored by the media despite the ongoing war in Gaza.
ListenJanuary 10, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Internationalism, Palestine, and the Fall of Assad
How should those committed to human rights and Palestinian liberation analyze the geopolitics of the Middle East? What does it mean to be an internationalist when it comes to the question of Palestine and the fall of Assad? Answering these questions is Joseph Daher, author of Syria after the Uprisings, The Political Economy of State Resilience; Hezbollah: the Political Economy of Lebanons Party of God; and Marxism and Palestine.
ListenJanuary 3, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Key Developments in Israel’s War on Gaza and Lebanon in 2024
The advent of a new year is a time to look back as well as to look forward. In the first episode of 2025, Understanding Israel Palestine airs two interviews from 2024 episodes that comment on key developments in Israel's war on Gaza and Lebanon. Neve Gordon, professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University, London talks about the application of international law to Israel's campaign in Gaza. Ambassador Chas Freeman, Jr, discusses Israel's agenda in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and beyond. He says the Biden administration's complicity in genocide in Gaza has led to a steep decline in U.S. influence in the world.
ListenDecember 27, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Christ is Still in the Rubble
In a 2023 Christmas Eve sermon entitled “Christ Under the Rubble” that drew global attention, the Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem charged the Western church with complicity in genocide in Gaza. Rev. Isaac delivered another sermon - "Christ is Still in the Rubble" - one week ago on December 20, 2024. In light of this, we're reposting our September 2024 interview with David Wildman, executive secretary for human rights and racial justice with the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries, who attended the Christmas Eve 2023 service in Bethlehem. In his role, he serves as a liaison to the United Nations, the Middle East and Afghanistan. He talks with Margot Patterson about the truth of that charge and what Christians are and are not doing to stop atrocities in Palestine.
ListenDecember 20, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
An Advent Message of Nonviolent Resistance from Bethlehem
Christians in Bethlehem will mark Christmas this year, but in a subdued and reflective fashion as they pray for an end to the unfolding genocide in Gaza and the intensifying settler attacks in the West Bank. In the face of this, Sami Awad, in his position as Co-Director of Nonviolence International, works to create spaces to heal intergenerational collective trauma and develop leadership, especially youth. We discussed the challenges of doing this in Palestine and Israel and of the nuances of creating a container for the pain of all affected by violence in Palestine while remaining resolute and focused on the necessity of creative nonviolent resistance in the face of Israel's occupation.
ListenDecember 13, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Part 4 of “What Is Zionism?” Women’s Role in Religious Zionism Today
The author of two books on the intersection of gender, politics and religion in the contemporary religious right in Israel-Palestine, Lihi Ben Shitrit discusses Religious Zionism and the role of settler women in feminizing and mainstreaming the Israeli Occupation. Shitrit is the director of the Taub Center for Israel Studies at New York University. She recently edited "The Gates of Gaza: Critical Voices from Israel on October 7 and the War with Hamas." She talks with Margot Patterson about her books, the ascendency of the right wing in Israel, and the need for thoughtful reflection during a time of war.
ListenDecember 6, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Part 3 of “What Is Zionism?” Zionism During the British Mandate for Palestine
Professor Arie Dubnov discusses the development of the Zionist movement during the British Mandate for Palestine. A historian who specializes in the study of Jewish nationalism, he holds the Max Ticktin Chair of Israel Studies at George Washington University where he serves as director of its Middle East program.
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