Arab Talk with Jess & Jamal

Legal recourse as an alternative to end Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has brought an unprecedented number of filings in international tribunals -- three by South Africa and other signatories at the International Court of Justice, and another referred by the State of Palestine at the International Criminal Court. Dr. Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years, where he was professor emeritus. In his recent article in the “Middle East Eye”, "Civil ICC case against Ursula von der Leyen raises stakes on genocide complicity," Dr. Falk discusses the recent initiative by the Geneva International Peace Research Institute calling on the ICC to investigate the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for alleged complicity in war crimes and genocide committed by Israel.

Joe Biden's support for Israel during its eight-month war in Gaza has spurred at least eight U.S. administration officials to quit, accusing the U.S. president of turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave. Lily Greenberg Call was the first Jewish political appointee to resign on May 15, having served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior Chief of Staff. “I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden’s disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” Greenberg Call wrote in her letter of resignation.

Israeli anti-Apartheid activist Dr. Stavit Sinai calls for an end to arms shipments to Israel which fuel its genocide in Gaza and occupation. She talks about Germany's role in suppressing any display of support for Palestinians. Jess and Jamal discuss whether the US provided support to Israeli forces in the rescue of four hostages in Gaza.

Jonathan Purcell, Senior Public Affairs Officer for the International Centre of Justice for Palestine (ICJP), discusses the ICJP's role in submitting evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza to the ICC. Evidence submitted was collected from first-hand eyewitnesses, many of them medical professionals who had been in Gaza since October.

Arwa Damon, former CNN Senior International Correspondent and founder of INARA (International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance), talks about the scale of the humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza. She says that there are no humanitarian safe zones in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations and sit-ins are spreading at universities across the United States and to campuses around the world. From the US to Australia, students are calling for their universities to divest and sever ties with Israel. Will this affect President Joe Biden's re-election prospects? Our reporter in Washington, DC, Phil Pasquini, interviewed students from George Washington & Georgetown Universities.

Dr. Ussama Makdisi discusses Israel's genocide in Gaza and global anti-Israel movement on college campuses. The podcast explores parallels between current protests and Vietnam era activism, censorship on campuses, and Netanyahu's push for US involvement in Iran. It also debates Israeli actions as a settler colonial state, American policy towards Palestine, and the disconnect between rhetoric and reality.

Ahmed Benchemsi, Advocacy and Communications Director for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) division, discusses HRW's recently released report entitled "Gaza: Israel’s Imposed Starvation Deadly for Children." The report gives a grim assessment of an ongoing famine in Gaza. Since January, humanitarian organizations have been warning that famine in Gaza is imminent. Famine is now a reality, and Palestinians in Gaza are dying from starvation, with the overwhelming majority being children. Eighty percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide now are Palestinians living in Gaza.

Jess & Jamal discuss Israel's military killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in Gaza. WCK has called for an independent investigation, saying that the Israeli military “cannot credibly investigate its own failure”. Several aid agencies described the attack as emblematic of the Israeli military’s systematic disregard for the safety of civilians, including aid workers, during six months of war. The killing of the WCK staff – six of whom were internationals – has drawn strong rebuke, including from Israel’s main allies, the UK and the US.

Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), discusses why some Arab and Muslim-American organizations and individuals living in the San Francisco Bay Area boycotted the San Francisco City Hall Iftar, stating that Mayor London Breed and several city officials have made racist, harmful, and dangerous comments about Palestinians, Muslim and Arab-American communities during the ongoing Israeli Genocide in Gaza where more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, and while Israel is deliberately starving 2.2 million Palestinians by denying the entry of food and other essential supplies into Gaza.