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.

Lara and Michael welcome Amanda Gelender; writer, activist, and Jewish-American anti-zionist. She eloquently breaks down zionism and speaks about its stark contrast to Judaism. Michael points out how the occupation is literally sacrificing Jews in order to ‘win this war’ against Palestinian civilians. Evangelical Christianity and its ties to zionism are explored along with the antisemitic roots of zionism; wanting to expel the Jewish population from Europe is at the core of the movement. Lara speaks about self-determination of Palestinians, and how this is often confused with antisemitism in the western media. She clarifies that Palestinians don’t hate their oppressor because of their religion, they hate them because of their treatment. Amanda explores how this could possible end; it’s not with a petition, as ‘Israel’ has said that they won’t put down their weapons even if a ceasefire deal is signed. It’s a week of ideology and exploring how vocabulary is weaponized to restrict the justice and freedom of Palestinians.

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.

This week, Lara and Michael have the pleasure of speaking with Chris Smalls, the President of the Amazon Labor Union. Chris highlights the need to organize for social change. Michael speaks about the Histadrut, a 1920’s labor union created to ban Palestinian workers from equal access to jobs. The pod discusses the overlaps in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and that of workers from Google, Amazon, and Starbucks, and the importance of community and solidarity. Chris touches on the AFL-CIO and talks about his experience creating his own union. This week’s episode is a call to action for all employees, regardless of your sector.

Immortal Technique shares his wealth of knowledge today. The Peruvian-born rapper & activist talks about the lessons he learned growing up, when and why he became active in the Palestinian fight for freedom, how the US used the aftermath of 9/11 to start a war in Afghanistan, and how Christian Zionists are funding much of the occupation’s actions.

Michael kicks this week off by speaking about how Zionism has coopted Jewish traditions, garb, & symbols while operating from a place of hate following the recent branding of the Star of David onto a Palestinian man’s face. Lara points out how repressive state violence is shared between the US and Israel. The team jokes about the Israeli Arab boyband that Lara describes as a ‘shell company for a band’ as they don’t have any music. Coming back to the news, Michael celebrates a recent article citing settlers running each other over with cars, rather than Palestinians. However, Lara cites a recent statistic; there have been 591 fatal settler attacks compared to just 25 by Jewish Israelis in a short period of time, highlighting the extreme violence of the settler mindset. Israel has recently seen democracy protests, proving that even among them, there is a growing divide and dissatisfaction with their government.

Michael and Lara break down the newly released ‘US National Strategy to Counteract Antisemitism’ and find, unsurprisingly, that it’s rooted in support for the state of ‘Israel’ and received little to no coverage by the western media. Furthermore, 50 organizations across the US have been found to be involved in fundraising for illegal Israeli settlements, and much of this ‘fundraising’ masquerades as charitable activity. A recent law that was proposed in New York to prohibit charitable organization from funding illegal settlements was met with backlash from the Israeli lobby, despite this being agains the Geneva Convention. Money laundering is just another way that the state of ‘Israel’ uses and controls the US, who in turn shell out 4 billion dollars to them each year. Michael goes on to expose the IOF officers caught at a shooting range, naked. This shines more light on the relationship between weapons, sexual violence, and destruction that sits at the root of zionist logic. Sexual violence has been used as a tactic to eradicate Palestinians, and the sexualization of IOF members has been used to attract American spouses for IOF soldiers. Despite the open calls for genocide by the IOF and its supporters, pro-Palestinian support is still classified as antisemitic, and the US media and government are still controlled by the Israeli lobby.

Lara dives into this week’s episode by breaking down a recent US court case which rules that boycotts are not a protected form of speech. In over 30 states, employees are protesting a law required of them by employers stating that they will not boycott Israel, and this often has no bearing on the job responsibilities. In better news, the European Union recently lifted funding restrictions on Palestinian organizations citing no ties to terrorism, as no evidence has surfaced. Michael shares a story of a young Israeli boy who was sexually assaulted and then arrested by the Israeli government when he tried to report it, and Lara investigates why most articles reporting on Palestinian on Israeli violence use the phrase ’lightly wounded’ when speaking about Israeli soldiers. Michael points out how the tactics used by the occupation are the same as those used by the Nazis. Lara discusses The Youth Law and how child labor/jailing is forbidden everywhere else in the world except for in Israel. The duo also look into the ‘shoot to wound’ policy carried out by Israeli forces and the ensuing amputee crisis in Gaza.

The pod is thrilled to welcome the two-time award-winning Palestinian story-teller Jenan Matari this week. Jenan tells us about her Tedx talk and how her Palestinian culture was both problematic and eventually praised. She talks about her family and how her lineage can be traced back generations. She also touches on zionism and how her work in media has been affected over the years. Jenan is a breath of fresh air who is here to promote Palestinian culture, history, and freedom.

This week Lara leads us on a deep dive into the legal frameworks that came into place in the aftermath of the Nakba, including the absentee property law, the law of return, and the nationality law. All these legal devices helped codify the actions of ethnic cleansing and land theft by the rogue Zionist militias into the "legal" actions of a state. We also cover the various ways Zionists stopped Palestinians from returning to their native lands. Lara discusses the examples of Iqrit and Kufr Bir'im, both towns where the Supreme Court of Israel had in one case already ruled in favor of Palestinian return, and the other where the case was pending before the court. In both cases, the IOF demolished the villages so as to render the return of Palestinians impossible. Lara talks about the many thousands of Palestinians who did try to return despite these measures who were murdered in cold blood. We discuss how these policies like the Nakba are ongoing and not something rooted in the past. Finally, we switch gears, covering the censorship of Palestinian content on Tik Tok as a strategy passed down from region-specific moderation teams where Israeli moderators set the standards and Arab moderators were kept in subordinate positions.

This week, Lara and Michael discuss the absurdity of "settler Jacob," the American settler who can be seen in a recent viral video brazenly attempting to the steal the home of Mona al-Kurd, a young Palestinian woman who hails from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem which is currently facing a mass ethnic cleansing campaign at the hands of Zionist settlers who are protected in their colonial pursuits by the Israeli army on a daily basis. #SaveSheikhJarrah because Palestinians, like all humans, deserve to live in their houses without foreign settlers invading and taking over talking about "God said so." Lara provides an update on the lawsuit before the Israeli Supreme Court in relation to the ethnic cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah and spoiler alert, it is loads of garbage and can only be described as quintessentially "Zionist logic." Michael considers that Zionists are like "New York and New Jersey mobsters who intimidate people by hanging them off a bridge" except they do that with logic (lol). Lara insists that the horrific expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah demonstrate that Israel is only interested in stealing more and more land, and that no amount of stolen land will ever be enough when the goal is a Greater Israel, which "map" covers several other countries in the region. Lara and Michael also reveal how Israel's repressive policies extend beyond its borders. For example, Israel provides Mexico with training and weapons in its counterinsurgency against the Zapatistas in Chiapas. Michael underscores the importance of connecting Palestinian activism with May Day solidarity by pointing to Israel's extraction of wealth from Palestinians. Lara provides an update on the Palestinian legislative elections and (spoiler alert), it's not looking good. Lara and Michael share the disturbing results of a global study on the effects of tear gas on reproductive cycles and also shoutout Foodbenders, the Toronto restaurant made target of several baseless lawsuits brought by the Israel lobby (including the terrorist JDL) seeking to crush its displays of Palestinian solidarity. Lara proposes an unusual solution to ending Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid in Palestine.