NAZA film sees through the Israeli mask

Soumaya Ghannoushi, a writer and expert in Middle East politics, argues that attempts to suppress artists and filmmakers speaking about Palestinian suffering are ultimately feeble.

Speaking about the political backlash faced by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over their Gaza documentary NAZA, Ghannoushi says efforts to silence or intimidate artists will not work.

She argues that while institutions may be able to control who gets access to stages and platforms, they will not succeed in supressing the truth about Palestine. She draws comparisions to the Vietnam War and Apartheid South Africa where artists became oustpoken critics.

Francesca Albanese on NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor's Gaza documentary | UNAPOLOGETIC

"The moment the enemy recognises your pain, is no longer the enemy."

Francesca Albanese on the debate within the Palestine movement over NAZA, and Israeli voices being platformed over Palestinian ones.

Full episode available on our channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wPawZE4GWk

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.

Ed Sheeran fans react to singer’s Gaza statement after Macklemore controversy

Ed Sheeran fans in Philadelphia gave mixed reactions to the controversy surrounding the singer’s concert after he addressed Gaza on stage.

The controversy began after rapper Macklemore, who was opening for Sheeran, made comments in solidarity with Palestine during a performance in New Jersey, including saying “Free Palestine” and performing his protest song “Hind’s Hall”.

Macklemore was subsequently removed from the remaining US dates of Sheeran’s tour after venue owners, including billionaire Robert Kraft, objected to his participation.
Kraft said the decision followed Macklemore’s recent comments and accused the rapper of antisemitism.

Sheeran and the tour’s producers ultimately conceded to the pressure, and Macklemore was removed from the remaining dates.

Saudi air strike targets a local market in a village near Bab al-Mandeb in Yemen

Footage released by Yemen’s Houthis shows what they say is a Saudi air strike targeting a local market in a village near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.


The Houthis now control strategic coastal areas overlooking the strait after seizing them from Saudi-backed government forces.

JD Vance blames Iran for rising oil prices

US Vice President JD Vance says the reason oil prices are rising in the US is “because the Iranians continue to fire missiles and drones at commercial shipping”, failing to mention the role the US-Israeli war on Iran played in the disruption to international shipping. 

“This is fundamentally about the Iranians. If the Iranians want to terrorise international shipping, we, of course, are going to do everything that we can to push back against that,” says Vance, in an interview with Newsmax.

Iran’s Pezeshkian accuses US of ‘trampling’ on MoU ahead of UN General Assembly

Speaking in Tehran before heading to New York for the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of trampling on its agreement to end the war with Iran. 

“They are blocking the routes, they are blocking the air routes, they are blocking the land routes, they want to stir up internal divisions. But we will, God willing, render all of this futile by the grace of God,” he said, referring to new US sanctions on 27 Iranian air carriers as part of a wider sanctions project aimed at blocking Iran's access to the global economy.

‘People had given up on Gaza’: Norman Finkelstein on The David Hearst Podcast

“The moment you say it’s a war, Israel has won the propaganda war.”

Norman G. Finkelstein joins David Hearst to discuss his new book, Gaza’s Gravediggers, the evidence behind claims arising from 7 October, changing attitudes towards Israel among American Jews, Ed Miliband, international law—and why he argues that what happened in Gaza was not a war, but a genocide.

The full episode of The David Hearst Podcast will be released tomorrow, Wednesday, on Middle East Eye’s YouTube channel.

Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss it.

Macron calls Gaza ‘a spectacle that shames us all’ at UNGA address

Speaking at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron slams world leaders’ inactivity in the face of Israel’s violations of the Palestinian people’s right to exist. 

“What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza? Some claim that peace has been achieved, but this has not opened up humanitarian deliveries for a second. Are we to just watch this spectacle that shames us all?,” he said.

Who Controlled the Narrative After 7 October? | Norman Finkelstein

"The moment you say it’s a war, Israel has won the propaganda war.”

Norman G. Finkelstein joins David Hearst to discuss his new book, Gaza’s Gravediggers, the evidence behind claims arising from 7 October, changing attitudes towards Israel among American Jews, Ed Miliband, international law—and why he argues that what happened in Gaza was not a war, but a genocide.

The David Hearst Podcast latest episode is now out, watch it now on Middle East Eye’s YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/d03UK9jO1fw

Medics smuggle iPhones into Gaza to film documentary

“I am not the same person I was before I went to Gaza.”

In this interview, British Iraqi war surgeon Dr Mohammad Tahir and filmmaker Mike Lerner discuss The Mission, a documentary following Tahir’s medical missions to Gaza. The film offers an unfiltered look at the reality of working inside Gaza’s hospitals, from treating patients in overwhelmed medical facilities to witnessing the immense pressures faced by local medical teams.

The Mission contains graphic footage from inside Gaza’s hospitals. Viewer discretion is advised.

Israel orders 187-year-old British consulate in Jerusalem shut within 30 Days

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced the closure of Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, giving diplomats 30 days to leave, a facility that has operated in the city since 1838, predating the State of Israel by over a century.

The move came hours after UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on imports from Israeli West Bank settlements and accused Israel of turning a blind eye to what he called the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. France and Canada joined the measure the same day, with nine more countries backing it.

Sa'ar also banned 11 to 12 British MPs from entering Israel and ordered UK staff off the Gaza coordination mission within a week, as senior Israeli officials including President Isaac Herzog and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly slammed the UK's decision.

Far-right Israeli minister Ben Gvir says he seeks defence post

Speaking at a presser on Tuesday, far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he will seek the position of defence minister in the next government ahead of pivotal elections next month. 

Ben Gvir says one of his priority as defence minister would be to devise “a strategic plan to encourage voluntary emigration (of Palestinians) from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria".

Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed pushes back against Gaza genocide denial

Speaking on the Raging Moderates podcast hosted by Scott Galloway, US senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed defended the use of the term genocide when describing the situation in Gaza.

“When people use dehumanising language against a people, when they bomb their hospitals and their schools, when they attempt to displace them from where they are … that seems to me to be deliberate targeting,” he says.

One on One - reel 1

"We don't sleep, all night long"

For centuries, the last fully Christian village in the West Bank has stood, a link to Palestine's Christian roots. Today, Taybeh is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and settler outposts from all directions.

Speaking to MEE's Jerusalem Bureu Chief, Lubna Masarwa in this latest one on one, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Father Bashar Fawadleh shares his fears and hopes for the community - and faith - under attack.

Click the link below to watch the full episode
https://youtu.be/B8xIvL4myLg

'I was indoctrinated': Avi Shlaim on his Israeli education | Real Talk

'I was indoctrinated.'

Celebrated historian Avi Shlaim on the Zionist version of history he was taught growing up in Israel.
Shlaim, born into an Arab Jewish family in Baghdad, went on to become one of the most celebrated historians on Israel-Palestine. 

He recently sat down with Mohamed Hashem on Real Talk.
Watch the episode early by joining Middle East Eye's YouTube membership: https://youtu.be/jbNy6cNHCws

Defining war vs. genocide in modern context | The David Hearst Podcast with Norman G. Finkelstein

“What the difference between a war and genocide? They are the opposite.”

In our latest episode of The David Hearst Podcast, Norman G. Finkelstein rejects the description of Gaza as a conventional war. He distinguishes between a war, whose principal aim is the military defeat of an opposing force and genocide, whose objective is the destruction of a population.

He argues that describing what happened in Gaza simply as a “war” accepts the language and framing of Israeli propaganda.

The episode is now out on Middle East Eye’s YouTube channel

American activist blasts Macklemore outside Israeli embassy

US activist John Jacobs staged a protest at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, using a modified Ed Sheeran song to speak out against genocide, child casualties, and hospital bombings in Gaza. He followed the performance by blasting Macklemore tracks outside the building.

Video credit: @maybachdiamonds

Macklemore ‘Free Palestine’ tour sparks debate on Channel 5

English actor James Sutton and Seena Shah, Chairman of Chelmsford Conservatives, held a debate on Jeremy Vine & Daytime on 5 over Macklemore’s upcoming "Free Palestine" tour.

Hosted by Jeremy Vine on Channel 5, the discussion followed Macklemore's drop from Ed Sheeran’s tour lineup. Sutton argued that the plight of the Palestinian people should always be kept in the spotlight and that artists have a responsibility to highlight it. Meanwhile, Shah stated that Macklemore’s tour comes “against a backdrop of apparent antisemitism” and called out the rapper for not condemning the 7th October attack on Israel.

US Jewish activists display New York billboard to reject Zionism

American Jewish organisations unveiled a billboard display in New York City's Times Square reading "Netanyahu does not represent American Jews" and "Zionism is not Judaism". 

Organised by Torah Jews and Voice of Rabbis, the message was displayed in response to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his address to the UN General Assembly.

Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Hormuz and end fighting

US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and put an end to the fighting.

Iran raised the initiative at the UNGA in New York, saying it had transmitted a proposal to the Americans via Qatari mediators and that it could reopen the strait within seven days.

But in comments to reporters at the White House, Trump rejected their deal, saying, “They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately, because they're losing so badly”.