Arab Talk with Jess & Jamal

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has applied for a summons in the magistrate’s court in the United Kingdom in an initiative to prosecute a British citizen who they allege fought in the Israeli military against Palestine and Palestinians. It states that the individual was in breach of the UK’s Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870, which proscribes any British citizen from fighting in another country’s military against another country with which Britain is at peace. Jonathan Purcell, Head of Public Affairs and Communications for the ICJP elaborates on the case and the implications of what precedent a successful ruling could set.

Professor Liat Kozma explains that Israel has been systematically working to delegitimize and restrict international NGOs and human rights organizations operating with Palestinians in the occupied territories. One of the largest of these organizations, UNRWA, which has provided services in Gaza for many years, has been banned from operating in areas under Israeli control — including East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza. Professor Kozma teaches in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and holds the Harry Friedenwald Chair in the History of Medicine at the Hebrew University.

President Trump has named former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the newly formed Board of Peace, which will oversee the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. Blair has reportedly been involved for months in developing proposals for Gaza’s postwar future. However, his controversial legacy—stemming from his role in the Iraq War and his limited success during eight years as the Middle East Quartet’s peace envoy—makes his selection a surprising one. Journalist Rayhan Uddin explains why.

Acknowledging Palestinian sovereignty is increasingly seen as a necessary—but not sufficient—step toward a just resolution of the conflict, particularly among those who also call for an end to what they view as Israeli impunity. Human rights attorney and activist Stanley Cohen argues that countries recognizing Palestinian statehood should also be barred from aiding or abetting Israel in actions against Palestinian civilians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed Palestinian independence, and he recently reaffirmed that there will be no Palestinian state as long as he remains in office. He also vowed to take retaliatory measures as a second wave of recognitions is expected at a U.N. summit in New York this week. Around 10 additional countries—including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and Portugal—are set to join the 147 U.N. member states that already recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation. Jess and Jamal discuss these unfolding events.

The 80th United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Week begins on September 22, bringing together heads of state to deliver speeches and set the policy agenda for the year ahead. The prospect of several major Western powers—such as the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada—formally recognizing Palestinian statehood has drawn significant media attention. At the same time, it has prompted warnings of serious consequences from both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dr. Ardi Imseis, Professor of International Law at Queen’s University in Canada and legal counsel to the State of Palestine in its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), offers insight into the potential impact of this recognition and what developments might unfold at the UN in the coming weeks.

Can a Gaza reconstruction that excludes Palestinian heritage, silences their participation, and denies their suffering truly succeed? Journalist and analyst Sean Mathews argues the 'Gaza Riviera' is doomed to fail.

In addition to the United States, several key European governments continue to provide intelligence and arms to the Israeli military—support that enables the ongoing genocide in Gaza and obstructs the path toward a political solution. Germany is among these governments, and its complicity is particularly striking given its own history of genocides in the 20th century. In a recent article for Middle East Eye titled “As Gaza becomes a death camp, German complicity reveals the West’s racist biopolitics,” Dr. Jürgen Mackert analyzes how this ideology determines who is deemed worthy of life and resources, and who is not. Dr. Mackert is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and the author of several works. His most recent book, On Social Closure: Theorizing Exclusion, Exploitation, and Elimination, explores the mechanisms by which societies create and enforce boundaries of belonging.

Ian Williams, President of the Foreign Press Association, discusses the targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Williams, who is also an author, writer, and broadcaster, highlighted the silence of western journalists and the growing toll on Palestinian media workers in the besieged territory. Israel has systematically targeted and killed Palestinian journalists in Gaza for nearly two years. Since October 2023, more than 270 journalists and media workers have been killed. In the most recent incident, the Israeli military killed six journalists who had been sheltering in a tent used by media staff in Gaza City. Among those killed was 28-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with other members of the network’s team reporting from Gaza.

The number of international human rights organizations, genocide scholars, public officials, and UN representatives making this assertion continues to grow. Now, two well-respected Israeli human rights groups have released reports concluding that Israel is committing genocide. One is B’Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. The other, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, issued a report titled "Destruction of Conditions of Life: A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide," which focuses on the dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare and other life-sustaining systems. Aseel Aburass, Director of the Occupied Territories Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, discussed the findings that led to the report’s genocide determination.