Lara and Michael are honored to welcome Plestia this week. 22-year old Plestia reported from Gaza from October 7th until recently, having spent over 100 days capturing the violence against Palestinians. She talks about what life was like in Gaza before October 7th, reminiscing about her favorite restaurants, cafés, and shopping areas. She gets candid about the bleak conversations she would have on a daily basis with her co-journalists, and she touches on survival guilt and how difficult it became to not pit one tragedy against another. Plestia is now safely in Australia but still involved in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and actively calling for a ceasefire.

Lara and Michael have the pleasure of interviewing renowned journalist Jamal Elshayyal this week. Jamal began his field experience aboard the Mavi Marmara as part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The first time he witnessed someone being killed in front of him. Jamal also highlights his colleague Shireen Abu Akleh’s career and her murder by Israeli forces, which still demands an investigation. He touches on the murder of a number of journalists, Ghufran Harun Warasneh being one of them. Many names have not received as much attention despite the ongoing targeting of journalists attempting to cover the Palestinian right to resistance.

Jamal also speaks of the BDS movement, specifically companies like General Mills and Ben & Jerry’s who have divested. Finally, he touches on what it was like to cover the news of the Arab Spring and Muammar Gaddafi’s death.

Lara & Michael discuss the murder of beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed by the occupation on May 11, 2022. The pod takes a moment to recognize all Palestinian journalists who have been targeted by the occupation, and we discuss Shireen’s life and work, and the aftermath of her death.