The Palestine Pod

This week Lara and Michael sit down with one of the world's most renowned Palestinian authors Susan Abulhawa. We discuss her trips to Gaza the writing workshops she organized and the subsequent compilation of stories from people in Gaza that became Every Moment Is a Life: Gaza in the Time of Genocide. We talk about the time spent in Gaza, the horrors she witnessed, and the community she built. Susan tells us about her children's book Palestine On the Moon which is available to purchase (within the US) from her website. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Dr. Mimi Syed a brave medical professional who went on two medical missions to Gaza before being banned by Israel on her third attempt. During her time in Gaza she documented numerous occasions where babies were murdered by the Israeli occupation forces with single bullets to the head and chest. We talk about the horrors she saw that Palestinians live every day during her time as an eyewitness to the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. 

This week Lara and Michael reconnect with artistic intellectual Amanda Seales to talk about the release of her book What Would the Ancestors Say. We dive into the attempts to cancel Amanda from performing standup, how recommitting to the written word is revolutionary in a time when everything is controlled by crypto-fascist oligarchs, and Amanda calls Lara jolly. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Omar Zahzah the author of the recent book on big tech censorship called, Terms of Servitude Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. Omar has written for the Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and other publications. He covered the story of Michael's Instagram being deleted by Jordana Cutler, and is a strong advocate for Palestinian liberation. 

This week, Janine, a lawyer and Palestine representative for CODEPINK, discusses the critical findings of Francesca Albanese's report on corporate complicity in Israel's occupation. She reveals how Airbnb profits from over 300 listings in illegal West Bank settlements while legitimizing colonization. The conversation delves into upcoming legal actions against Airbnb for potential war crimes and the moral implications of vacationing in exploited homes. Janine emphasizes the urgency of boycotting companies that support occupation and advocates for Palestinian rights.

This week, Lara and Michael sit down with Abdulrahim Harara, owner of Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California. They explore Abdulrahim’s family history in Palestine and his vision for the café as a space for community organizing and connection. The conversation reflects on the importance of building community in the face of state violence designed to isolate and fragment. The episode concludes with Abdulrahim’s account of the incident that led to Jerusalem Coffee House becoming a target of the latest wave of lawfare, involving the DOJ, the ADL, and other Zionist organizations.

In this lively conversation, Palestinian-American comedian Sammy Obeid shares his unique brand of ethnic humor, tackling serious topics with wit. He discusses the media's misleading language around deaths linked to conflict, jokes about his experiences in comedy while navigating cultural sensitivities, and shares a hilarious personal story about staying with co-host Michael. As they explore comedy's role in shaping perceptions of Palestine, Sammy emphasizes the importance of balancing humor with advocacy.

This week Lara and Michael cover Israel's forced starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza, which has reached Stage 5 for many people in the besieged territory, the US sanctions levied against United Nations Special Rapporteur on the oPt, Francesca Albanese, and the odd resignation of all members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the oPt in the days that followed. 

This week Lara and Michael discuss the uprisings in LA and the solidarity seen at the protests. They also cover updates around the groundbreaking lawsuit brought by Palestine Pod alum Damia Taharraoui which seeks to hold Israeli/French citizens accountable for complicity in genocide and incitement to genocide before French courts. 

Lara and Michael sit down separately this week. Lara reads from her submission on the political economy of the Gaza Genocide prepared as part of her work for the Gaza People's Tribunal's Sarajevo session and Michael talks about being digitally disappeared from Instagram by one of Meta's main executives who used to work for the Israeli government as part of an application-wide sweep of several accounts advocating for Palestinian rights.