Occupied Thoughts

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP Non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart is joined by Ziv Stahl (Yesh Din) to sketch out what the new Israeli government has said - and in some cases already started to implement - its policy on settlements, outposts, and Palestinian life in Area C will be. In addition, Ziv discusses the deepening challenges facing human rights organizations and their employees.

FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with FMEP Fellow Jehad Abusalim about antisemitism, ranging from the views of 19th century Palestinian intellectuals to responses to the Holocaust and Zionism, from the first Hamas charter to today's rising accusations of antisemitism to delegitimize Palestinian rights. Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator. Follow Peter: @PeterBeinart, peterbeinart.substack.com. Jehad Abusalim is a 2022 Palestinian non-resident Fellow at FMEP, the Education and Policy Coordinator of the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee, and is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. He tweets @JehadAbusalim. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Rebecca Vilkomerson, author of the recent report "Funding Freedom: Philanthropy and the Palestinian Freedom Movement." They speak about the trends, impediments, and dynamics around funding Palestinian rights, how and why funding decisions are political, and how funders - both institutional and individual - can begin or deepen their engagement with the movement for Palestinian freedom with strategy, humility, and courage. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks to investigative journalist David Armiak about the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, in drafting, promulgating, and promoting legislation in U.S. states targeting values-based protest and grassroots activism, These legislative efforts in the first instance targeted Palestine-related protest and free speech, but today have evolved into legislation targeting protest and free speech that relates to literally any industry or group that states might want to protect, all under the umbrella of fighting against “woke capitalism” and combating those who seek to hold the private sector accountable to concerns about the environment, social issues like human rights, and governance issues -- aka ESG. For resources related to this podcast, see: https://fmep.org/resource/alec-anti-esg-the-battle-against-palestinian-rights/

A new anthology, Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, features personal narratives and political essays from Palestinians in Gaza "imagining the future of Gaza beyond the cruelties of occupation and Apartheid." This podcast features two of the anthology's editors - FMEP Fellow Jehad Abusalim and AFSC's Jennifer Bing - as well as one of the contributing authors, Dorgham Abusalim, who discuss the importance and impact of amplifying voices from Gaza. We focused on the valuable conversations that the book and its publication have created as a counter to Israel's ongoing siege and the general marginalization of Gaza and explore how the exercise of imagining a different future can challenge the present realities. Haymarket Books, the publisher, says: "As political discourse shifts toward futurism as a means of reimagining a better way of living, beyond the violence and limitations of colonialism, Light in Gaza is an urgent and powerful intervention into an important political moment." Main site for info on the anthology: https://gazaunlocked.org/anthology Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks to international legal expert in business and human rights Tara Van Ho about the current controversy involving the Chicago-based financial services company Morningstar Inc. and its subsidiary Sustainalytics, over how it deals with Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. Specifically, the podcast explores Morningstar’s recently adopted policy changes with respect to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in the context of Israel, and the questions these new policies raise both about the company's basic competence with respect to human rights in ESG research, analysis, and recommendations, and about the broader implications for the future of business and human rights work writ large. Podcast notes/further resources: https://fmep.org/?post_type=resource&p=24876&preview=true

In this episode of the Occupied Thoughts podcast, Dr. Maha Nassar speaks with FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin about how to talk about Zionism and anti-Zionism in ways that acknowledge different definitions of Zionism and, at the same time, take seriously the power asymmetries between anti-Zionists and Zionists/supporters of the state of Israel in Israel/Palestine and the U.S. public spheres. Speaking from experience as an educator, advocate, and scholar, Maha discusses how she navigates different audiences and invitations as well as her thoughts on anti-normalization, engaging with campus Hillels, and why and how it is imperative to keep returning to Palestinian lives and experiences. Dr. Maha Nassar is an associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona, where she specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of the modern Arab world. Her award-winning book, Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World (Stanford University Press, 2017), examines how Palestinian intellectuals connected to global decolonization movements during the mid-twentieth century. A 2018 Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project, Dr. Nassar’s analysis and opinion pieces have appeared in numerous publications, including The Washington Post, +972 Magazine, The Conversation, and The Hill. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, son, and daughter, and she is working on her next book, a global history of Palestine’s people. Follow Dr. Nassar on Twitter @mtnassar Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD is the Director of Programs & Partnerships at FMEP. She is an expert on the intersection between Israeli civil society and Palestinian civil rights and human rights advocacy as well as the ways that American Jews approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She leads FMEP’s programming, works to deepen FMEP’s relationships with existing and potential grantees, and builds relationships with new partners in the philanthropic community. She earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley for research focusing on the sociology of emotion, nationalism, and Jewish Americans’ relationships with Israel/Palestine and is an affiliated faculty member at University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies. She tweets @saminkin. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, Dr. Alana Vincent (Umea University, Sweden) joins FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin to discuss how she moved from supporting the use of the the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Working Definition of Antisemitism to opposing it. Dr. Vincent describes the chilling and silencing effects of the IHRA definition, the shortcomings of European Union research that purports to justify it, and the advantages of alternative definitions that offer clarity and nuance. Original music by Jalal Yacquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks to Sarah Posner, renowned expert on American pro-Israel evangelicals, about U.S. pro-Israel evangelicals and their agenda in the context of both the recent Israeli elections, the recent US midterms, and the race for the 2024 White House.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with internationally-acclaimed documentary filmmaker Julia Bacha about the growing campaign against “woke capitalism,” and specifically the attacks on what is known as ESG – shorthand for the movement to take environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into account in investing. This podcast seeks to answer the question: why is an organization called the Foundation for Middle East Peace interested in the battle over ESG, and what does this have to do with acclaimed documentary filmmaker whose work has focused largely on Israel/Palestine?