Middle East Monitor Conversations

What do Turkiye's Justice and Development Party (AKP), Tunisia's Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood have in common and are their ties shaping policy in the Middle East and Turkiye? Turkiye's youngest editor joins us to discuss what drives their relationship.  In 2013, at the height of the Gezi Park protests, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a decision that surprised many Turks. He boarded a flight for Tunisia and held a meeting with the Ennahda Party. Many Turkish journalists and observers struggled to understand why, during a time of upheaval, Erdogan would head for North Africa. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has deep ties to Tunisia's Ennahda Party and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, but what exactly did these ties consist of and what was the relationship between them? A new book 'The New Spirit of Islamism: Interactions between the AKP, Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood' delves into how the 3 movements came to be associated with one another, what they share and, more importantly, where they differ. What drives the relationship is not ideology, but pragmatism the book argues. But what exactly does all of that mean? Joining us on MEMO in Conversation is the book's author Ezgi Basaran.  Basaran is a journalist and political scientist from Istanbul who currently lives in Oxford,UK. Her journalistic career began as a reporter, covering various conflict zones and significant global events. Her skill in journalism led to her roles as a columnist and later editor-in-chief of Turkyie’s then largest and most prestigious liberal left daily, making her the youngest editor and the first woman in this position. She wrote extensively on critical issues, including the Kurdish conflict, Middle Eastern politics, human rights violations and freedom of speech. Her investigative work earned her several accolades. Her first English book, 'Frontline Turkey: The Crisis at the Heart of the Middle East', delves into Turkiye’s Kurdish issue and its regional ramifications. Combining over two decades of experience in journalism with her recent path in academia, Ezgi is committed to unravelling the complexities of Turkish and Middle Eastern politics.

We have all watched the genocide unfold in Gaza and seen imges of the victims, but what are their stories, how have they lived their lives and what is the importance of Gaza in the larger struggle or a free Palestine? Join our MEMO in Conversation as we talk to the men behind 'Day break in Gaza' a book which provides insight through the stories of Palestinians Gaza. Tune in to MEMO’s latest podcast featuring an exclusive interview with Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna, editors of the powerful new book 'Day Break in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture'. This timely collection brings together some 50 diverse voices to shed light on the humanitarian crisis, historical context and themes of resistance and resilience in Gaza since 7 October 2023.We discuss the many challenges Teller and Muna faced in compiling such a significant work amidst Israel’s ongoing military aggression, and explore some of the most poignant stories from the book. We talk about the symbolism of Gaza in the Palestinian struggle, the unique perspectives of Christian families in the region, and the remarkable ability of contributors to reason through trauma and pain.The editors share insights on powerful essays from the volume and offer a rare glimpse into the rich cultural identity and daily lives of Gazans. We explore the psychological impact of conflict, economic hardships and the international response to the crisis. Join us as we uncover the stories behind 'Day Break in Gaza' and discuss the editors' hopes for the book's impact on readers worldwide.Matthew Teller is an author, journalist and documentary-maker. He writes for the BBC, CNN, the Times, Financial Times, Independent and Guardian and presents and produces documentaries for Radio 4 and BBC World Service. He is the author of 'Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City'.His co-editor, Mahmoud Muna, is a writer, publisher and bookseller from Jerusalem, Palestine. He runs Jerusalem’s celebrated Educational Bookshop and the bookshop at the American Colony Hotel, both centres of the city’s literary scene. Muna has degrees in Media and Communication from the University of Sussex and King’s College London. He is active in many cultural initiatives across Palestine and writes regularly on culture and politics, with bylines in the London Review of Books and Jerusalem Quarterly, among others.

When Greene agreed to be interviewed on Talk TV he was told that conversation would be open and he was welcome to put his points across to viewers and the hosts, however when the show started, presenter James Whale shut him down for wearing a keffiyeh and refused to speak to him. Greene tells MEMO why he continues to remain active in spite of such attacks.American students are rebelling. The campus protests across the US against Israel's genocide in Gaza and Washington's support for Tel Aviv's actions have alarmed Israel and its supporters. US President Joe Biden has condemned them and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused them of being 'Iran's useful idiots' during his speech to the US congress last week. This panic is also reflected in sections of the media, when Bryce Greene was invited onto Talk TV, he found his mere presence was triggering for the hosts. What upset them? Greene turned up wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf worn by Palestinians and pro-Palestine advocates, which led to the hosts cutting him off and ending the interview. Greene is involved with organising student protests and was invited on to discuss why people should not support Israel's genocide. What is it about these young protests that Zionists fear so much? Bryce Greene joins us on MEMO Conversation. Bryce Greene is US Gaza student encampment organiser. 

The founders of IJAN speak to MEMO about attacks on anti-Zionist Jews, the far-right's alliance with the Zionist movement and whether the genocide in Gaza is the beginning of the end of the Zionist movementIn this week’s MEMO in Conversation we are discussing opposition to Zionism from the Jewish community. We are pleased to have on the podcast the founders of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Michael Kalmanovitz and Sam Weinstein, who discuss the organisation's history, core values and current challenges. Established in 2008, IJAN is committed to the liberation of Palestinian people and land, differentiating itself from Zionist ideologies whilst maintaining a strong Jewish identity.Michael and Sam discuss the weekly protests they’ve been holding since October 2023 against Israeli leaders. highlighting the challenges faced by protesters, including harassment and intimidation from counter-protesters, and instances of arrests based on what they describe as spurious allegations. Expressing concern about the growing alliance between global far-right movements and Zionism, they outline how this is affecting the anti-Zionism movement.Beyond protesting, IJAN is working to hold Israeli figures like Tzipi Hotovely accountable for genocide and are concerned by efforts to silence anti-Zionist Jews.With the rights abuses we see in Gaza, Michael and Sam share their views on whether the genocide in the Strip represents the beginning of the end of Zionism.  Michael Kalmanovitz is a founding member of IJAN and a member of Payday, an antiracist and anti-imperialist network of men working with the Global Women’s Strike.    Sam Weinstein, born in the United States, is a long-standing member of IJAN and a founding member of Payday. Sam spent most of his working life as a fulltime union organiser who came up through the ranks as a gas fitter.

Israel's unsubstantiated rape claims against Palestinian resistance fighters have made headlines across the world, while similar claims by Palestinians against Israeli occupation forces have received minimal attention. This, argues Arun Gupta, is a return to the Jim Crow-era racist tropes that depict brown and black people as inherent threats to white women.In this week’s MEMO Conversation we talk to Arun Gupta, an investigative journalist about his latest article titled 'Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes'. Gupta's article, heavily referenced and meticulously detailed, challenges the mainstream narrative surrounding the events of 7 October. Gupta speaks about the motivations and mechanisms behind the propagation of alleged mass rape by Hamas. He talks about the historical parallels that underscore these fabricated allegations, likening them to Jim Crow-era racist tropes that depict brown and black people as inherent threats to white women.Describing the challenges he faced in publishing his findings, particularly in an environment where mainstream media often aligns with Israel's narrative without rigorous verification, Gupta highlights how Israel's Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes has played a central role in amplifying these unfounded rape allegations, despite a glaring lack of concrete evidence.Furthermore, Gupta shed light on the broader implications of these rape hoaxes, including the weaponisation of feminist movements like #MeToo and accusations of anti-Semitism to stifle dissent and evade scrutiny. He also discussed the stark contrast in media coverage regarding the sexual abuse allegations against Palestinians by Israeli forces, which receive minimal attention compared to the widely circulated, yet unsubstantiated, claims against Hamas.Arun Gupta is a investigate journalist. He has written for the Daily Beast, the Raw Story, the Guardian, the Washington Post and other publications including the Intercept. Gupta is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and the author of the upcoming book 'Apocalypse Chow'.

Though many claim Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rolled back India's liberalism and secularism and turned it towards right-wing popularism, Hindu identity has always been a key aspect of India's governance since its independence and the road to Modi's India has been decades in the making, Dr Cesari tells MEMO.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a third-term in India's general election in June 2024. Modi and his BJP party have transformed the country over the last 10 years. Critics say Modi has rolled back India's liberalism and secularism and turned the country towards right-wing populism, hatred of minorities and imposing a brand of Hindu identity that is hostile to the south Asian country's plural landscape. Islamophobia is a key feature of Modi's style of government with different BJP politicians pushing ideas such as the foreignness of Muslims, conspiracy theories of Islam taking over and the security threat its followers pose. Despite India's constitutional secularism, Hindu identity has always been a key aspect of India's governance going back to the country's independence in 1947, contrary to what critics claim. The road to Modi's India was decades in the making. Discussing the changes Modi has made to India, Hindu identity and Islamophobia, MEMO in Conversation is joined by Dr Jocelyne Cesari. Dr Cesari is Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham (UK) and is Senior Fellow at the Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. Since 2018, she has held the position of T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding at Harvard Divinity School. In 2020 she was named Distinguished Scholar of the religion section of the International Studies Association and Distinguished Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs and the Royal Society for Arts in the United Kingdom. Her new book: 'We God’s People: Political Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations'  won the 2023 Book Award of the Scientific Society for the Study of Religion. Her other publications include 'What is Political Islam?'; 'Islam, Gender and Democracy in a Comparative Perspective' and 'The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity and the State'.

In an effort to absolve Zionist militias of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, a number of stories spread within Israeli society, they have been disproven but the denial of the horrors of the Nakba remains. Something Professor Pappe hopes to tackle through his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation. In 1948, just under one million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militia groups that would go on to form Israel. 48 was the culmination of half a century of settler colonialism, a cornerstone of the project to establish a Jewish state in historic Palestine, was the idea that there were no people in the Holy Land or the people who were there were immigrants from elsewhere? The denial of the existence of Palestinians was a key feature of pre-1948 Zionism. After 1948, the denialism extended to the Nakba itself, myths such as Palestinians left because a radio broadcast from neighbouring Arab states told them to temporarily leave their homes and thus absolving Zionist forces of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, became part of the Israeli imagination. While ideas like these have been disproven through work of diligent historians and testimonies from Palestinians, attempts to discuss or study the Nakba have at times been suppressed in the West. But resistance from activists, students and scholars challenged and continues to challenge attempts to shut this down. MEMO conversations sits down with Professor Ilan Pappe to discuss the history of Nakba denialism, how it functions today, his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation and his new book Lobbying for Zionism.Professor Pappe is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. He received his D. Phil from the University of Oxford. From 1984 to 2006, Pappe taught at the University of Haifa, Israel ,from which he resigned in 2006 after various failed attempts to expel him due to his ideological positions. He moved to the University of Exeter in 2007. Pappe has written 22 books to date, among them the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and On Palestine. His most recent books are the Ten Myths of Israel , the Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Israeli Occupation, A Historical Dictionary of Palestine and Our Vision for Liberation with Dr Ramzy Baroud. 

In 1860, 15% of Damascus' Christian population were wiped out in 8-days of a murderous rampage. Despite widespread anti-Christian violence, roughly 85% of Damascus' Christian population were saved by their Muslim neighbours. In 1860, Syria's ancient and thriving Christian community nearly came to an end. A civil war raged in Mount Lebanon, which saw widespread massacres of Christians by Druze militias, and on 23 May 1860, the violence taking place in present-day Lebanon spread to Damascus. Local Muslims, spurred on by fear and rumours, hit the streets and began attacking Christian businesses, shops and properties. An 8-day riot ensued and the majority of the city's Christians were left displaced, however, this moment did not turn into a genocide thanks to the actions of different Muslim notables and the Algerian exile Emir Abdelkadir, who managed to save the lives of 85% of the Christian population. The week-long lawlessness was severely punished by the Ottomans, but beyond punishment, Istanbul rebuilt Damascus and its communities by bringing them together and integrating them. They were so successful that 30-years later, the idea a similar event could happen again was unthinkable. But what actually happened in 1860? What caused it? What lessons does it have for us today? Joining MEMO Conversation to answer these questions is Oxford historian Eugene Rogan. Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford University, where he has taught since 1991, a Fellow of St Antony’s College and Director of the Middle East Centre. He took his B.A. in economics from Columbia, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from Harvard. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He is author of The Arabs: A History (2009, 2017), named a best book of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. His new book, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (2015), was named a best book of 2015 by The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. His earlier works include Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 1999), for which he received the Albert Hourani Book Award of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the Fuad Köprülü Prize of the Turkish Studies Association; and The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2001, second edition 2007, with Avi Shlaim). His works are translated into 18 languages.

Since Israel launched its genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza in October 2023, it has released numerous allegations to justify its actions and the killing of civilians, including that Hamas baked Israeli babies in ovens, or that it is operating from hospitals throughout the Strip. To date, most of its claims have been found to be unfounded, fabrications to justify its crimes. In view of these lies, and many other claims Tel Aviv has made, a new initiative is working to fact-check Israel's propaganda in order to allow people to learn the truth.  Did you hear about Hamas beheading 40 babies? How about a Hamas base underneath Al-Shifa Hospital? Or that Zionists came to Palestine because it was an empty land and they made the desert blossom, then Arabs from neighbouring countries emigrated and tried to seize the land from Israel? Well, if you have, you've been hit with hasbara. A Hebrew word meaning the 'explanation' - hasbara is propaganda pushed out by the Israeli state designed to explain, justify and enable Israeli atrocities, promote Israel and attack Palestinians and their supporters. Tel Aviv spends millions of dollars and uses key parts of its diplomatic and foreign relations departments to try and shape the global conversation around Palestine. Since Israel began its genocidal assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli hasbara has gone into overdrive to confront an increasingly sceptical world. A new initiative, the Hasbara Tracker, has been setup to research, debunk and fact-check Israeli propaganda. Joining us today is the the initiative's founder, Jennine Khalik. 

Businesses that supply Israel with jet fuel are helping to maintain its bombing campaign in Gaza, but what are the legal implications to such support?In this week's MEMO in Conversation, we speak to the authors of a damning new report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) that uncovers the extensive support provided by Israel's allies, enabling its devastating military onslaught on Gaza.Join us as we discuss the findings with SOMO experts Lydia de Leeuw and Misa Norigami who shed light on the crucial role imported jet fuel plays in sustaining Israel's relentless air strikes. The guests highlight the staggering amount of US-supplied military jet fuel (JP-8) that has fuelled Israel's attacks since 7 October 2023.  Leeuw and Norigami reveal the names of specific companies implicated in this deadly supply chain, demonstrating how, without this support, Israel would be unable to maintain its current level of bombing.We also explore the legal implications of corporate complicity in war crimes, examining the criteria that must be met under international law and the precedents supporting the argument for holding these companies to account. The report's call for an embargo on jet fuel and crude oil sales to Israel, based on the International Court of Justice's determinations, is a crucial point of discussion. Tune in to hear the specific actions recommended by SOMO for states and companies to ensure compliance with international law and prevent further atrocities in Gaza.Lydia de Leeuw leads SOMO’s strategic litigation work. Together with colleagues and partners, Lydia helps build coalitions around specific human rights issues and develop multi-jurisdiction, multi-procedure litigation strategies to advance shared objectives. Before joining SOMO in 2015, she conducted legal and field research for a variety of human rights organisations in the Middle East and South Africa.Lydia holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminology from VU University in Amsterdam. In 2015, she was awarded an LL.M. in International Crime and Justice, with a focus on international crimes and state-corporate crime. Misa Norigami is a corporate researcher at SOMO. She investigates companies' finances, ownership, investors, corporate and capital structures, subsidiaries and supply chains through the Counter. The Counter is SOMO's pro bono corporate research helpdesk for activists working to hold companies that cause social harm and environmental destruction to account.Misa holds a Master of Laws in public international law and a Bachelor of Laws from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan), as well as an advanced Master of Laws in European and International Human Rights Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.