The Palestine Pod

The Legacy of MOVE with Mike Africa Jr.

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Mike Africa Jr., author and Legacy Director of MOVE, a Philadelphia-based activist collective and liberation movement. Mike recalls the history of the MOVE and the 1985 Move bombing, during which Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at MOVE members in their homes killing six adults and five children. Mike Africa Jr. addresses police impunity and efforts to seek justice for the MOVE bombing, which are ongoing until today. Mike Africa Jr. expresses solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocide and describes his awakening to the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Lara asks Mike Africa Jr. what justice would look like for him. Mike Africa Jr. responds that it begins with getting back his family's house which was taken by the US government through the legal process known as eminent domain.

Accountability for Complicity with Genocide with Damia Taharraoui

This week, Lara and Michael sit down with Damia Taharraoui, a lawyer at the Paris bar, who recently filed a criminal complaint for complicity with genocide and incitement to genocide in Paris against an NGO whose members blocked the entrance of humanitarian aid into Gaza and posted about it on social media, calling on others to join them in their efforts. Damia explains the importance of holding perpetrators of atrocity crimes accountable, how open source investigation was facilitated in this case because of the individuals’ brazenness, the difference between extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction, and the political context and public discourse in France when it comes to struggling for Palestinian rights. Lara contextualizes this case as part of a pattern of emboldened perpetrators of the Gaza Genocide gleefully posting their crimes on social media noting that the Hind Rajab Foundation recently filed a submission before the ICC with evidence connecting 1000 Israeli soldiers to crimes in Gaza.

Live from Beirut with Rania Khalek

This week, Lara and Michael sit down with acclaimed Lebanese-American journalist, Rania Khalek. Reporting from Beirut, Rania comments on Israel’s use of a 2000-pound bunker-buster bomb on a residential building filled with families in Central Beirut on the evening of November 22, 2024. Noting that killing sleeping families was a policy first rolled out in the Gaza Genocide through the use of the Israeli AI “Where’s Daddy”, Lara asks Rania to elaborate on the similarities and differences between Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon. Rania comments on the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Michael provides an update on the Israeli occupation's military losses in Lebanon. Lara reminds listeners of the essential truth that Palestinians are struggling for their freedom against colonialism, which is the gravest affront to a people’s right to self-determination.

The Announcement of the Nakba

This week Lara and Michael cover the formal announcement by Apartheid Israel of the plan to not allow for the return of Palestinians to the Northern part of Gaza while it continues to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from there towards the center and southern part of Gaza. Michael comments on the recent fiasco in Amsterdam where Israeli hooligans chanted genocidal songs celebrating that there were no schools in Gaza because there were no children left, while committing acts of violence and destruction of property. Predictably, the Global North's politicians and media painted the incident, whereby genocide apologists were confronted by locals for their anti-Palestinian threats as "anti-semitic" and a "pogrom". Michael explains his theory as to why it happened, namely to strike fear into Jewish communities in Europe for the purpose of recruiting more people to settle in Israel and the OPT. Lara references Professor Avi Schlaim's findings that Iraqi Jews left their homelands after Mossad orchestrated terrorist attacks in Baghdad in the 1950s. 

Breaking the Siege on Gaza with Huwaida Arraf

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian activist and lawyer who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement. We discuss her previous efforts to break the Israeli siege on Gaza with various flotillas over the years. One was successful, having successfully docked in Gaza without Israeli permission while in 2010, Israeli commandos attacked one of their ships (the Mavi Marmara) in international waters, killing several humanitarian aid volunteers. Huwaida revealed that attempts to bring another flotilla to Gaza to provide relief during the ongoing US-Israeli genocide are currently being blocked by Türkiye. 

Real Art Disrupts with Amanda Seales

This week Lara and Michael sit down with the one and only Amanda Seales. Amanda shares her path to learning about and speaking up for Palestine as an artist, explaining that it takes about seven minutes to figure out what is going on, especially if one is armed with knowledge and understanding of white supremacy and colonialism. She invites listeners to check out her latest project, “What would the ancestors say” which explores Black-Palestinian solidarity amongst other social justice issues through a comedic and artistic intellectual lens. Amanda understandably reminds us of George Bernard Shaw’s saying that “if you’re going to tell people the truth, make them laugh them or else they’ll kill you.” Lara teaches Amanda Arabic. Michael wonders why Amanda still moves her own boxes. 

Batman Origin Story

This week Lara and Michael discuss Israel's expansion of its Nakba and ongoing genocide into Lebanon, with a word on the pager terrorist attacks, and the history of Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Turning back to Gaza, Lara reminds that by now 902 Palestinian families have been wiped off the civil registry and will no longer be a part of a Palestinian future. With over 1000 Palestinians now also the only surviving member of their families (including many children), Michael notes that this is the Batman origin story. 

Murder Capital of the World with Dr. Mark Perlmutter

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a hand surgeon and recent humanitarian volunteer in Gaza during the genocide. He describes seeing a number of children with multiple sniper shots to the heads and hearts, indicating there is no way such wounds are "accidental" as Israel often claims. He speaks of why he was inspired to go to Gaza and why he cannot wait to go back. 

Israel's Economic Collapse

This week Lara and Michael discuss Israel's latest scheme to recruit African asylum seekers to the genocide effort and the frozen death toll in Gaza in the mainstream media despite Israel's continue daily livestreamed massacres. Lara covers a recent piece indicating an economic collapse in Israel based on available data since the genocide began. 

NYT Killed Medo Halimy

This week on the Palestine Pod, Lara and Michael cover the ongoing genocide in Palestine with updates from on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank including Israel’s bombing of the Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital (again) on August 31, 2024 and the invasion of multiple cities and refugee camps in the West Bank including Jenin where Israeli occupation forces besieged the city, destroyed 70% of the city’s roads in a manner of days and, at the time of recording of this episode, killed 22 Palestinians. Lara reminds us this is all part of the plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine which has been ongoing since Day 1 over 76 years ago noting that Israeli officials are even calling for the “temporary” displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank, a tactic which has historically never proven to be temporary and has only ever been used as a means by Israel to steal more Palestinian land. Lara and Michael also critique a recent move by NYU to propose that “Zionist” be considered a protected class under the school’s code of conduct, a move which comes on the heels of social media giant Meta announcing that content targeting Zionism or Zionists could be removed under the company’s hate speech policy. Finally, the Palestine Pod recalls the brutal killing of the brilliant Palestinian content creator Medo Halimy and the legal case for the mainstream media’s role in perpetuating the genocide of the Palestinian people.