“There's just this blind unwillingness to recognize the U.S. does have all the power here – this notion that it’s not really the United States' fault. It is absolutely the fault of the U.S. government.” - Annelle Sheline, former Biden official, on Israel’s war on GazaThis week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ three former Biden administration officials join Mehdi to explain how Biden’s support for Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza led them to resign. Also on this week’s show…Mary Trump weighs in on her uncle Donald Trump’s hush money trial, a looming presidential debate, and the power-hungry Republicans who are desperate to be Trump’s VP. Plus, Mehdi debunks Israel’s latest attempt at genocide denial.On Biden resignations…The protests against Biden aren’t just happening outside the White House. They’ve also been happening within, as several Biden administration officials have publicly resigned over the support for Israel’s war on Gaza.Three of them – Tariq Habash, Annelle Sheline, and Hala Rharrit – join Mehdi to discuss why they chose to give up their jobs rather than continuing to work for an administration that was aiding Israel in its brutal assault on Gaza.“It’s worse than Iraq,” Rharrit, a former U.S. diplomat, told Mehdi, adding how she watched pictures “going viral of U.S.-made bombs that would say USA and then would show the children that were killed by those bombs.”Tariq Habash was a Palestinian-American political appointee at the Department of Education who resigned in January, making him the first Palestinian-American in the administration to do so. “After months of trying to communicate with the president, with other people in the administration who were representing the president on these policies, it very much felt like there was an exception for Palestinians in terms of his empathy,” Habash said.Mehdi’s interview with these three former officials was held just hours before interior department staffer Lily Greenberg Call became the first Jewish political appointee to resign in protest of the war.On Trump…As Donald Trump weighs his options for a running mate, top Republicans like J.D. Vance and Tim Scott are keen to earn some brownie points with the former president – flocking to his side at the first ever criminal trial of a former president. Mehdi asks Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s niece, why these GOP members are so desperate for a position that almost got Mike Pence killed. “The promise of power is so overwhelming for them. They literally think that they’re going to be the exception to the rule. And anybody who pledges to shield Donald Trump ends up getting banished, stepped on, or imprisoned,” Mary said. Mary Trump also tells Mehdi why she’s worried about Biden agreeing to a debate with Donald Trump, the first of which has been set for June. “It concerns me that he’s legitimized a man who incited an insurrection against his own government. So by putting him up on that stage with him, he’s essentially normalizing him as the presidential nominee.”On Israel’s genocide denial…In his monologue, Mehdi calls out the Israeli PR machine for warping the UN’s reporting on identified bodies into a false narrative about a “fake” death toll in Gaza. “On May 8th, [the UN] provided a number for reported fatalities – again, over 34,000 – but also included a new subset of 24,686 ‘identified’ fatalities,” Mehdi said. “What they’re pretending is some smoking gun evidence of a Hamas cover-up, is literally just the difference between fully identified bodies and unidentified or partially-identified bodies. That’s it.”Of course, this is not the first time Israel has tried to undermine the Gaza Health Ministry. But as Mehdi points out, Israel’s accusations are nothing but propaganda, especially when you consider that Israel’s own military relies on the Gaza health ministry’s numbers. “There has always been one central goal to all this genocide denial and propaganda around ‘lower’ death tolls: to dehumanize the Palestinians who have been killed,” Mehdi said.Friendly reminder: All of our content is currently available to all subscribers, free or paid. But this will only be for a limited, promotional period. Building and sustaining an independent media company like this requires, above all else, money. If you appreciate the work we are doing, and want to be a part of this effort, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

“The dehumanization of Palestinians is so endemic in Israeli society, for so many years and has kind of been supported, and not really called out, by Israel's allies.” - Benzion Sanders, former Israeli soldierThis week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ two Israeli military veterans reveal how serving in the 2014 Gaza war fundamentally changed their view on Israel’s violent approach to the Palestinians.Also on this week’s show…As the Israeli military continues to ramp up its invasion of Rafah – Gaza’s last refuge – an American doctor at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in the Rafah evacuation zone, tells Mehdi how his hospital has turned into a “scene out of Armageddon.” In his monologue Mehdi not only denounces Israel’s horrific invasion, but also calls on President Biden to uphold the “red line” he told Israel not to cross. Plus, Mehdi fanboys over UK sports broadcaster and retired footballer Gary Lineker in an interview on British politics, anti-immigrant sentiment, Gaza, and of course, English football. Inside Israel’s military operations…After serving in Israel’s war against Gaza in 2014 and seeing their country’s military operations up close, Benzion Sanders and Ariel Bernstein, two former special forces soldiers, turned into anti-occupation activists and have been speaking out ever since against their country’s brutal oppression of Palestinians. They joined ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ to discuss what they learned from their own Gaza experience and how they view the current Israeli campaign in Rafah – and the right-wing trends in Israeli society.“Destroying a whole neighborhood and all the buildings that we've seen and been inside for no apparent clear reason, seems to me ​– I don't know if it's a war crime or not, according to international law – but it seems like a crime. It seems like something that I am ashamed that I took part in,” Bernstein told Mehdi. On Rafah… “It's just a scene out of an Armageddon.” In an interview with Mehdi, Palestinian-American ICU doctor Mohamad Abdel-Fattah, who's been volunteering at the European Hospital near Rafah’s evacuation zone, describes the sheer horror hospitals are facing as Israel escalates their assault on Rafah.“It's just chaos…  as you try to maneuver your way through the hospital, there are entire families living in every inch. And so you have kids playing in the hospital. You hear babies crying.”On Biden…In his opening monologue, Mehdi addressed President Biden’s response to Israel’s invasion of Rafah, calling on the president to do more than just “a single pause of a single arms shipment.”“Pick up the phone, Mr President. End all of this, right now,” Mehdi said. “You, Joe Biden, can end this disastrous Gaza war and do all of that, or you can spend the rest of this year trying to conjure up a response to pro-Palestine protesters at public events of yours, as they heckle ‘Genocide Joe’ at you.”A surprise guest…UK sports broadcaster and former footballer Gary Lineker isn’t afraid to speak out. Not just about football, but also contentious issues like immigration and Palestine. In addition to some football chat (or as Americans call it, “soccer”), and a paean to Lionel Messi, Lineker tells Mehdi what it’s like to be targeted by the right-wing press for speaking out in defense of refugees - and how he hosted two refugees in his home. He also talks about crying while watching social media videos from Gaza.“It's slightly bizarre… I just give my honest opinions and generally they're not necessarily political. They're more, I think, humanitarian,” Lineker said. “I've stuck up for the plight of refugees and the awful things and the dreadful circumstances that caused them to perhaps leave their homes, which obviously you would never want to do. So, all I've ever really asked for is a bit of compassion, a little bit of understanding.” –Don’t forget to watch the full show above! As always, for paid subscribers, tell us what you think in the comments and who you’d like to see on next week’s show.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Campus protests. Police arrests. The 2024 presidential campaign. This week’s ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ has it all - plus, a strong rebuke of the media’s latest failings on the Israel-Iran escalation. Our main guest…Mehdi sat down in the studio with independent presidential candidate Cornel West to talk about many things, but the two had a particularly lively exchange on the question plaguing many progressive voters this election year: If not voting for Joe Biden leads to Donald Trump - and thus, a dangerous path for American democracy - is that a price worth paying for holding Biden accountable for his complicity on Gaza? “You know, I would say if we have to choose between Trump leading us toward a second civil war and Biden leading us toward the third World War, that's a choice I refuse, brother,” West said.“But it's a choice you made in 2020.” Mehdi said. “You said in November 2020, when asked why you voted for Biden, ‘what we got to vote for was the mediocre, milquetoast, neoliberal centrist because he's better than fascism’.” Have a listen to see how West responded and what he had to say about Sen. Bernie Sanders, Gaza, and more. On campus protests…Actress and activist Cynthia Nixon, a contributor at Zeteo, discussed what’s been happening at Columbia University. As an alumna of Barnard College at Columbia, Nixon has been deeply troubled: “If you believe in democracy, you have to believe in protest,” she told Mehdi. “You really can't have one without the other.” Nixon went on to talk about two of her children, who are Jewish, and the dangerous and inaccurate conflation of pro-Palestine protests with antisemitism. On Iran and Israel…You’ve probably seen the coverage of the recent back-and-forth retaliatory attacks between Iran and Israel. As Mehdi points out in this week’s opening monologue, there’s been a complete absence of historical and political context from our media when it comes to characterizing Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel (but not so much, the other way around). The story rarely starts with the headline. As Mehdi puts it, the media failure in presenting the important content is disingenuous and irresponsible. “If you don’t have context, you find yourself being lied to, being duped and deceived, and then sleepwalking into World War 3.”Watch the explainer for more on what the media gets wrong on Iran. –Please enjoy the show! And for paid subscribers, tell us what you think in the comments and who we should bring on for upcoming episodes! Friendly reminder: All of our content is currently available to all subscribers, free or paid. But this will only be for a limited, promotional period. Building and sustaining an independent media company like this requires, above all else, money. If you appreciate the work we are doing, and want to be a part of this effort, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe