Makdisi Street

**Producer's note: This was recorded before the US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities** The brothers welcome returning guest Trita Parsi to discuss the unprovoked and illegal attack on Iran, the potential role of the US in joining the Israeli regime's war, and what, if any, possibilities remain for negotiation or de-escalation.  Date of recording: June 19, 2025. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest Q&A  

Ahead of the most important football match in the history of Palestine’s national team, on the cusp of potential qualification for the 2026 World Cup, the brothers discuss with Bassil Mikdadi, Palestinian journalist and creator of footballpalestine.com, the impact of the ongoing Gaza genocide as well as the deeper context of Palestine national team’s rich journey over many decades, its struggle to assert Palestinian national unity in the face of Israel’s occupation, blockade and policy of fragmentation. We also discuss the grassroots solidarity with Palestinians across the football world and the campaign to kick Israel’s national football team out of FIFA, which, along with the European association UEFA shamefully continues to allow it to play official matches during the genocide despite immediately suspending Russia after its Ukraine invasion. Finally, we discuss the role of media and the silence/complicity of all too many football journalists in covering Israeli atrocities and the intimidation of players when it comes to showing solidarity. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: June 9, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest Q&A    

**Producer's note: The brothers are hosting their first livestream this coming TUESDAY (O6/03) at 10 am EST! It will be a Patreon-exclusive Q&A so only supporters of the show can submit questions or watch live. Sign up for as little as $5 a month and access all the great bonus content as well** The brothers explore the latest Gaza ceasefire negotiations, the abject failure of the corporate media to cover the crude and explicit expressions of racism and genocidal intent from across the spectrum of Israeli society, the sudden shift among European leaders as they attempt to rhetorically distance themselves from the genocide, and the continuing cost to those who speak out against the genocide in increasingly repressive Western societies. Credit to Nikita Gill for her poem concluding this episode Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: May 27, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one

Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American activist and legal scholar, dives deep into the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, discussing its implications for the rules-based international order. She critiques the failures of global institutions and emphasizes the importance of grassroots activism. The conversation explores the emotional toll of the conflict, shifting perceptions of support in the West, and the necessity for reform within Palestinian movements. Erakat advocates for unity and cultural involvement as essential components for driving meaningful change.

The brothers discuss the extent to which Trump represents a possible shift in US policy in the Middle East, contrasting the possibility of new deal-making in the Gulf region and elsewhere (Iran, Syria) with the retrograde pull of Zionist pressure to extend the genocide in Gaza and derail the drive towards profit-driven capitalist stabilization in the region. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: May 15, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*

The brothers welcome preeminent British Israeli historian Avi Shlaim to the show to discuss the richness of Arab Jewish identity, and how the ideology of Zionism is based on the negation and denial of this identity and coexistence, his own family's migration from Iraq to newly-created Israeli state, the reception they received there, and the wider story of Jewish minorities in Iraq and other Arab countries. Shlaim discusses the role Mossad played in the uprooting of Baghdad’s historic Jewish community in the early 1950s and what he sees as the undeniable signs of the implosion from within Zionism. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: April 15, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*

The brothers welcome Sarah Leah Whitson,  the Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and former director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, to discuss the role of human rights advocacy amidst the ongoing genocide, the initiative to hold Blinken, Biden, and Lloyd Austin legally accountable,  the failure of the ICC, and how Gaza has proven to be the "graveyard" of the "rules-based order." Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: April 8, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*

The brothers welcome Daniel Levy, president of the US Middle East Project (USMEP) and former negotiator, to discuss how Israelis employ negotiations to pursue their political goals of expansionism,  the role of the US as a supposed third-party guarantor, and the growing internal political chaos threatening the Israeli political status quo. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: April 7, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*

The brothers welcome Palestinian analyst and researcher Abdaljawad Omar (@hhamayel2) to the show to discuss the nature of the Palestinian Authority's collaborative dealings with the Israeli occupation, how it compares against other examples of collaboration historically, how supporters of the PA regime view their role through the prism of national liberation, and why Palestinians in the West Bank are not able to do more to fight colonial expansion. Check out Abduljawad's recent articles and interviews Watch the video edition on our Youtube channel Date of recording: April 1st, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*

The brothers welcome artist and activist Wael Tarbieh from the occupied Golan Heights to discuss the Israeli colonization of the region since 1967, the mixed ethnic and confessional makeup of the Indigenous population, and their decades-long steadfastness in retaining their political and legal identity. For more information on the ethnic cleansing of the Golan, check out Al Marsad https://golan-marsad.org/category/map-en/ Watch the video edition on our Youtube channel Date of recording: March 24, 2025. Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii *Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest one*