Episode 001: Welcome to the Palestine Pod

Lara and Michael welcome you to The Palestine Pod! Lara discusses her family’s history and origins from Yaffa and Gaza, Palestine including how her family became stateless refugees, the broader history of the Palestinian struggle including the expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian population in 1948 as a result of the establishment of the state of Israel on top of historic Palestine, Israel’s ongoing land theft of Palestinian land as well as its oppressive system of apartheid, occupation, and siege which continue until today. Lara reflects on her college activist years and the path that led to her pursuing a career as an international lawyer focusing on refugee rights. Michael focuses on his experience growing up in a pro-Israel Jewish household and his evolution to becoming an anti-Zionist including his realization that Israel was an apartheid state, involvement in campus activism, and absurd encounters with his former IDF frat brothers. Lara and Michael explain the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism and the weaponization of the latter in order to suppress any discussion of the very harmful consequences of the implementation of the Zionist project in Palestine: the creation of the world’s largest refugee population: 8 million Palestinian refugees today out of a global population of 13 million people, the majority of whom remain stateless and prevented from returning to their land by Israel as well as the daily deprivation of rights by Israel of the Palestinians who continue to live in historic Palestine (whether in Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza).

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Books

1. Palestinian Refugees under International Law (Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg)

2. The Question of Palestine (Edward Said)

3. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Ilan Pappe)

4. The 100 Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonialism and Resistance (1917-2017) (Rashid Khalidi)

5. The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (Noam Chomsky)

6. The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (Norman G. Finkelstein)

Articles/Video

1. Obama hands Israel the largest military aid deal in history (Electronic Intifada)

2. Statement by Israeli PM Netanyahu regarding ICC investigation for Israeli war crimes (YouTube)

3. Why I am not a Zionist (Electronic Intifada)

4. A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid (Btselem)

5. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Position on Zionism

6. The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A movement under attack in the US (Palestine Legal)

7. Killing 40 civilians in one go is “reasonable,” says Israel army ethicist (Electronic Intifada)

8. Seth Rogen: 'I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel' (The Guardian)

9. Israel surveils and blackmails gay Palestinians to make them informants (Mondoweiss)

10. How a Private Israeli Intelligence Firm Spied on Pro-Palestinian Activists in the U.S. (The New Yorker)

11. Israel Eyes Expanding Export of Surveillance Systems in Shadow of Coronavirus (Haaretz)

12. How Israel became a Hub for Surveillance Technology (The Intercept)

13. Dr. Norman Finkelstein on “Crocodile Tears” at the University of Waterloo

14. Ninety-seven Percent of Gaza Drinking Water Contaminated by Sewage, Salt, Expert Warns Gazans are forced to buy water at six times the standard rate from private enterprises (Haaretz)

15. Israeli occupation cost Gaza $16.7 billion in past decade - UNCTAD estimates

16. Gaza Under Blockade (BBC)