Arab Talk with Jess & Jamal

Jess & Jamal discuss the drone attack on "Conscience," the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s civilian ship, anchored in international waters 14 miles off the coast of Malta. The ship was scheduled to take on board humanitarian activists from over 21 countries, then cut a humanitarian corridor to Gaza to deliver food, water and other life essentials to Palestinians in Gaza, among them Greta Thunberg and retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright. Israel has imposed a complete siege on Gaza since March 2, not allowing an ounce of food or water in, and the 2.3 million Palestinians there are in imminent danger of starving to death.

Jewish Israeli dissident Ronnie Barkan, co-founder of "Boycott from Within," discusses the First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress to be held in Vienna, Austria, on June 13, 2025. The congress aims to ensure anti-Zionist voices are heard globally, and that Israel is not the single legitimate representative of all Jewish people. Vienna was chosen as the location because it is the birthplace of Zionism. The congress features prominent speakers, such as Israeli historian and author Ilan Pappe, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos, Nakba Survivor and researcher Salman Abu Sitta, Dalia Sarig, co-founder of the “Not in our Name” initiative founded by Jews in Vienna, and others, including our guest Ronnie Barkan.

Since the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has passed freely through France’s airspace in early February and April of this year. French lawyer Sarah Sameur, a member of the Council for JURDI, Jurists for the Respect of International Law, explains how France has been derelict as a signatory to the Rome Statute in not apprehending the plane. She rebuts French officials' claims that France’s airspace did not fall under its jurisdiction in this case.

Award-winning independent investigative journalist Lila Hassan discusses her recent article in Drop Site News entitled, "Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction." She talks about the challenges facing journalists, human rights organizations and investigators to collect and save evidence of war crimes, and their dangerous efforts to dodge censorship and document the horrors of Israel's war against Gaza.

Geopolitical analyst and journalist Sean Mathews discusses his article for Middle East Eye, "How Trump's Gaza ceasefire imploded". More than 700 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, have been killed by Israel since it broke the ceasefire. Netanyahu described the strikes as “just the beginning." However, the United States bears responsibility for the ongoing carnage because it is U.S.-made 2000-pound bombs that have been annihilating entire neighborhoods, killing mostly noncombatants and infants.

Dr. Lama Rimawi discusses anti-Palestinian racism in the US, which aims to censor and erase Palestinians and their narratives from the public sphere either directly through punitive measures or indirectly by eliciting fear of punitive measures to deter anyone from sharing Palestinian narratives.

Jess & Jamal discuss the renewed fears of starvation during the holy month of Ramadan as Israel blocks aid to Gaza, violating its ceasefire deal with Hamas. Over a dozen human rights experts have denounced Israel for resuming what they described as "weaponized starvation" in Gaza.

Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle and Dr. Nidal Jboor co-founders of Doctors Against Genocide talk about their organization's work to prevent future genocides and stop Israel and other countries from targeting hospitals, patients and medical staff. They also talk about the medical community's moral obligation to safeguard life and enhance health universally.

In his recent article in The Babbler, "A Ceasefire Is Not Enough – Resisting the next phase of ethnic cleansing in Gaza," Tariq Kenney-Shawa details how this ceasefire could be nothing more than a pause for Israel to regroup and continue its killing and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their ancestral lands. Jess & Jamal discuss Trump's "owning Gaza" and turning it into "a real estate development for the future."

Jewish Israeli activist Ronnie Barkan discusses how in Europe measures to repress dissent are rapidly accelerating and becoming more draconian. Laws are rapidly altered to circumvent international law to shield Israeli politicians charged with war crimes, while cracking down on critics of Israel.