Occupied Thoughts

Featuring Yahav Erez, Yesh Din; Anat Litvin, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI); Jessica Montell, HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual; Tamara Newman, Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI); and  Tal Steiner, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) in conversation with Lara Friedman (FMEP) FMEP is pleased to host representatives from five of Israel’s leading human rights groups for a collective call to examine the widespread violation of Palestinian rights across all areas under Israeli control. While the international spotlight is on Gaza, Israel’s extreme-right government has pursued a radical agenda to violate the rights of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem, and within Israel. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with 2023 FMEP Palestinian Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Yara Asi about public health in Gaza. The conversation addresses the deficiencies in public health infrastructure due to Israel's blockade before the current war as well as the the current total public health catastrophe, including the bombardments, displacement, collapse of hospitals, and threats to the population in the absence of food, water, fuel, and electricity. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts" FMEP non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Craig Mokhiber, who recently resigned from his post as a Director at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mr. Mokhiber talks about the culture of the UN and how powerful member states operate to shield Israel from criticism, and if/how international laws against genocide should be applied to Israel and Hamas.

FMEP Non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart talks to Ben Rhodes (Former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States) about the Biden Administration's response to the October 7th Hamas massacre and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza.

Featuring: Jamil Dakwar (speaking in his personal capacity), Katherine Gallagher (Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional rights), Dr. Raz Segal (Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton University) in conversation with Khaled Elgindy (MEI) and Lara Friedman (FMEP). For resources and bios see: https://fmep.org/resource/gaza-israel-and-the-2023-war-are-there-any-red-lines/

ft. Sari Bashi (Human Rights Watch), Amjad Iraqi (+972 Magazine) & Lara Friedman (FMEP) In the wake of Hamas’s massacres of citizens & residents of Israel on October 7th, Israeli leadership has articulated its aim of destroying the “human animals” in Gaza, leading many to sound the alarm that Israeli intentions are genocidal. Coming in the context of 16 years of a brutal Israeli blockade, and targeting a population a large percentage of which is present in Gaza as a direct result of the Nakba 75 years ago, which left them and their families unable to return to homes in what became Israel, Israel’s current war on Gaza is wreaking incomprehensible levels of civilian death, injury, and destruction. The possibilities for expanded conflict loom, including in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the IDF & IDF-backed settlers have escalated their terrorism of Palestinians and their efforts to Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank, and on Israel’s border with Lebanon. In parallel, delegitimization and repression of Palestinian voices and support for Palestinians and Palestinian rights are increasing around the globe, including in Israel and Palestine. Join FMEP for conversations with trusted partners who will ground us in what’s going on, what’s at stake for Palestinians, Israelis, the broader Middle East, and the rest of the world; what Israeli, Palestinian, and American leadership are envisioning as next steps, and also for the day-after this war ends; and what the opportunities and obligations are for grassroots mobilization, civil society actors, and human rights defenders in this moment. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

ft. Inès Abdel Razek (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Fadi Quran (Avaaz), & Lara Friedman (FMEP) In the wake of Hamas’s massacres of citizens & residents of Israel on October 7th, Israeli leadership has articulated its aim of destroying the “human animals” in Gaza, leading many to sound the alarm that Israeli intentions are genocidal. Coming in the context of 16 years of a brutal Israeli blockade, and targeting a population a large percentage of which is present in Gaza as a direct result of the Nakba 75 years ago, which left them and their families unable to return to homes in what became Israel, Israel’s current war on Gaza is wreaking incomprehensible levels of civilian death, injury, and destruction. The possibilities for expanded conflict loom, including in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the IDF & IDF-backed settlers have escalated their terrorism of Palestinians and their efforts to Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank, and on Israel’s border with Lebanon. In parallel, delegitimization and repression of Palestinian voices and support for Palestinians and Palestinian rights are increasing around the globe, including in Israel and Palestine. Join FMEP for conversations with trusted partners who ground us in what’s going on, what’s at stake for Palestinians, Israelis, the broader Middle East, and the rest of the world; what Israeli, Palestinian, and American leadership are envisioning as next steps, and also for the day-after this war ends; and what the opportunities and obligations are for grassroots mobilization, civil society actors, and human rights defenders in this moment. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

Tania Hary (Gisha) Nour Odeh (Political Activist) Omar Shakir (Human Rights Watch) in conversation with Lara Friedman (FMEP) For resources and bios, please visit: https://fmep.org/event/the-situation-in-gaza-a-briefing/

In this episode of the Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP president Lara Friedman speaks with Professor Rebecca Ruth Gould, author of the newly published book, Erasing Palestine: Free Speech & Palestinian Freedom. The discussion digs into Professor Gould's own experience being attacked for an article she authored on Israel/Palestine, and more broadly into the ongoing campaign using the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a weapon to delegitimize and suppress criticism of Israel/Zionism, Palestinian voices, and Palestine rights activism in the UK and around the world.

featuring Kareem Jubran (B’Tselem) & Sarit Michaeli (B’Tselem) with Dr. Yara Asi (FMEP). Forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank is a reality. The Israeli government, its security forces, and Israeli settlers are actively targeting Palestinian communities through a growing matrix of tools geared towards making their lives so economically untenable, functionally unbearable, and fundamentally unsafe that they are compelled to abandon their homes and lands, disperse their communities, and give up their means of earning their livelihoods.  Israel’s long-used methods include forbidding Palestinians from legally building homes and other structures, preventing access to infrastructure, including electricity, water, and roads, and ongoing demolitions in 60% of the West Bank. Targeted violence carried out by settlers, and tolerated if not actively supported by Israeli security forces -- - including harassment, threats, destruction of property, and outright terrorism in the formed of armed, lethal attacks -- has been used to suppress and threaten Palestinian life in the West Bank – and it has been accelerating in frequency and brazenness under the new Israeli government. Together, these factors have already led to the displacement of multiple Palestinian shepherding communities in the West Bank. Today, more communities are in danger, as Israel seeks to remove Palestinians in key areas across the West Bank in order to take over their land.  In this briefing, we describe these communities and discuss the official and unofficial tools Israel used to displace them and how this oppression amounts to the war crime of forcible transfer.  Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.