Episode 128 - NYT Killed Medo Halimy
Lara and Michael investigate how the occupation is repeating the atrocities they’ve committed in Gaza for the past 11 months in the West Bank. More than 70% of the streets in Jenin have been bulldozed, and only within a few days. Lara points out how the Biden administration only talks about ‘lessening the civilian casualties’ rather than sanctioning Israel for the genocide. She goes on to highlight why polio vaccinations have been allowed by the Israeli government; it’s purely to protect Israeli children from getting the disease which has already paralyzed at least one Palestinian child. In an act of resistance, Medo Halimy would plant and tend to his garden, citing that the Israelis only take life, but Palestinians create it. He was recently killed in an Israeli airstrike while on the beach with his friends. Michael talks about New York University updating its code of conduct to include zionism as a protected class, and how no other political ideology has this protection. Meta continues to crack down on Palestinian sentiment by censoring posts mentioning zionism in a political context; Michael points out that the very nature of zionism is political; an apolitical zionist post does not exist. Lara mentions how the US has said nothing regarding the mass rape of Palestinian prisoners. Michael points out how the media were the first to be tried at the Nuremberg trials, and Lara emphasizes the legal precedents of media outlets, like the New York Times, being held accountable for inciting violence through their publications; she cites the Rwanda genocide and 3 journalists found guilty along with the importance of independent media at a time like this.
Episode 122 - The Writing is on the Apartheid Wall
It’s day 227 of the genocide. The ICC judge, Karim Khan, has applied for arrest warrants for three Hamas members (Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, & Ismail Hanieyh) as well as Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gollant and Benjamin Netanyahu. Lara points out that this list could have been (and should be) so much longer. She also clarifies that applying for these warrants is not the same as issuing them, and now it’s a waiting game to see if they’re issued. Lara also points out that Judge Khan did not file for genocide, rather for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In reality, the ICC remains a legislative body without any power to enforce; this is the first step among many to end the Israeli apartheid state. The duo discusses the recent attack on a Jenin refugee camp which killed a doctor and a journalist among children and other civilians. Michael compares Netanyahu’s directives to those of Hitler when he fled to his bunker. Lara reads out new legislation introduced in the House (H.R. 8445) providing IOF members visa free entry into the US and full Veteran’s Affairs hospital & healthcare access, including being put at the top of the organ transplant list. Michael reads out quotes from Knesset members who are admitting defeat.
Episode 098 - Pogroms on “Birthright”
Lara shares personal stories from her extended Palestinian family reunion. Her family members have been in exile from Palestine for multiple generations, yet many still have the land deeds to their plots in Gaza dating back hundreds of years. She speaks to the generations of resistance by Palestinians, going all the way back to Alexander the Great. She also shares her experience being rejected from entering Gaza at the border. Michael shares updates from the resistance in Jenin, and he and Lara reflect, once again, on the lack of western media coverage after a Palestinian man was murdered by a Zionist pogrom. Many of the battles happening in occupied Palestine are between American Israeli’s and American Palestinians. Lara shares that 40% of all West Bank settlers in 2021 are from the US, and how Israel’s nuclear and military power against Palestine resembles that of the US. Michael speaks to the history of zionist militias attempting to recruit nazis, zionist literature calling for a ‘unifying race’ in Israeli, and the Haavara negotiations of 1933 between nazi Germany and zionist German Jews.