Arab Talk With Jess & Jamal

Wasting no time in taking advantage of the aftermath of October 7, Israeli settler organizations recognized an opportunity to immediately expel Palestinians from large swaths of West Bank villages, as well as to lay the groundwork for the more ambitious systematic displacement and reoccupation of Gaza. In his recent article in +972, "Copy-Paste the West Bank to Gaza: Hundreds Join Gaza Resettlement Event," Israeli journalist Oren Ziv explains how the Israeli resettlement movement is gaining plausibility.

Kamala Harris' campaign is struggling to gain traction with Arab and Muslim Americans in the swing state of Michigan. Dr. Ahmed Ghanim, a prominent Muslim leader and former Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan's 11th district, shared his experience with the Harris campaign. He was invited to attend a Democratic rally in the Detroit area, where Harris appeared alongside Liz Cheney, but was abruptly removed without explanation. Ghanim was informed that if he did not leave voluntarily, the police would escort him out by force.

In her recent report published by Brown University's Watson Institute entitled, "The Human Toll: Indirect Deaths from the War in Gaza and in the West Bank," Dr. Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins, a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bard College, explains how death will continue to outlive the war in Gaza. She demonstrates what a realistic assessment of the true loss of life and long-term suffering involves.

Serge Bakalian, Executive Director of the Arab Film and Media Institute, and Managing Director Maya Labban present the 28th Arab Film Festival. The festival opens on Thursday, October 24th at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The festival will feature the documentary film "Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza" by Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly, and special guests, such as Alana Hadid, LIunr, and MC Abdul.

Dr. Rania Masri, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network’s Co-Director of Organizing and Policy, discusses the recent attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. A supporter of Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Masri believes that Vice President Kamala Harris is worse for world peace than former President Donald Trump.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, discusses the difficult work the organization is facing to deliver aid in Gaza, while Israel continues to thwart all its humanitarian efforts. Jess & Jamal discuss the implications to the region due to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.

Dr. Anise Germany describes the rigging of pagers and other electronics that killed at least 37 as barbaric and an act of state terrorism. Among the dead were children, and the attacks wounded over 3,000 people in Lebanon. The explosions went off in crowded supermarkets, on busy roads, and in homes, schools, and hospitals.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the Accountability Program Director at Defense for Children International in Palestine, discusses the findings in a newly released report entitled, "Targeting Childhood: Palestinian Children Killed By Israeli Forces and Settlers in the Occupied West Bank." On average, Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian child in the occupied West bank, including East Jerusalem, every two days since October 7, 2023. In Gaza, Israel has killed more than 16,000 children to date.

Human rights attorney and political activist Stanley Cohen discusses why Israel is consistently allowed to be the exception to U.S. law and ethical norms in the United States Government, even when its soldiers and settlers kill American citizens.

Jess & Jamal explain why time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from U.S. policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and Genocide in Gaza. During her recent CNN interview, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden’s unconditional arming of Israel, angering uncommitted voters and shrinking her chances of defeating Donald Trump. Huge U.S. shipments of weapons and bombs to Israel keep allowing it to massacre and starve civilians of all ages while violating federal statutes as well as international law.

Canadian author and activist Yves Engler explains that the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the tax-exempt status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the Ne’eman Foundation because these organizations used donations to build military infrastructure for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), thereby violating Canadian tax rules.

Jess & Jamal discuss the impact of "uncommitted voters" in swing states in the US presidential election. Uncommitted delegates representing more than 800,000 Americans across the country who cast protest votes against then-candidate President Joe Biden for his military support of Israel are looking to VP Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention to articulate her Israel and Gaza policy and commit herself to preventing major loss of Palestinian life with US-funded weapons.

Israeli BDS activist Tali Shapiro discusses the torture and rape Palestinian prisoners suffer from Israeli soldiers in detention centers, particularly the notorious Sde Teiman military and torture facility. Israel has refused to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to Palestinian prisoners held at Sde Teiman, which is described by human rights activists as "the Israeli Guantanamo."

Our reporter Phil Pasquini covered the "day of rage" demonstration, as approximately 400,000 pro-Palestinian protesters descended on Washington, DC to protest Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the US Congress. Demonstrators carried placards calling for his immediate arrest, referring to him as a "War Criminal." Netanyahu, who could soon face arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes in Gaza, presented Congress with a slew of claims for which he failed to provide evidence, according to several fact-checkers.

Laila Al-Arian, Executive Producer of Al Jazeera's Fault Lines and co-producer of the riveting documentary "The Night Won't End: Biden's War on Gaza," discusses the stories of three Palestinian families in Gaza. She highlights the devastation and anguish the ongoing genocide has brought on these families and their struggle to survive.

Sociologist and author David Miller discusses Meta’s policies and practices to silence voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook. Miller recently prevailed in an employment claim against the University of Bristol for unfair termination due to his criticism of Zionism.

Veteran journalist Rami Khouri discusses the US Presidential Debate, Israel's threats to Lebanon, and how the narrative on Israel is shifting on US college campuses. Rami Khouri is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Arab Center Washington and Distinguished Fellow at the American University of Beirut.

Legal recourse as an alternative to end Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has brought an unprecedented number of filings in international tribunals -- three by South Africa and other signatories at the International Court of Justice, and another referred by the State of Palestine at the International Criminal Court. Dr. Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years, where he was professor emeritus. In his recent article in the “Middle East Eye”, "Civil ICC case against Ursula von der Leyen raises stakes on genocide complicity," Dr. Falk discusses the recent initiative by the Geneva International Peace Research Institute calling on the ICC to investigate the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for alleged complicity in war crimes and genocide committed by Israel.

Joe Biden's support for Israel during its eight-month war in Gaza has spurred at least eight U.S. administration officials to quit, accusing the U.S. president of turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave. Lily Greenberg Call was the first Jewish political appointee to resign on May 15, having served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior Chief of Staff. “I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden’s disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” Greenberg Call wrote in her letter of resignation.

Israeli anti-Apartheid activist Dr. Stavit Sinai calls for an end to arms shipments to Israel which fuel its genocide in Gaza and occupation. She talks about Germany's role in suppressing any display of support for Palestinians. Jess and Jamal discuss whether the US provided support to Israeli forces in the rescue of four hostages in Gaza.