The Mideast Beast Podcast The Mideast Beast

Are our leaders evil, stupid... or both? Whatever the answer, the world of satire has its hands full like never before. The newest episode of our podcast series sees the Editor of The Mideast Beast in conversation with Professor Sophia A. McClennen, who’s literally written the book on satire. They discuss satire in the age of Trump, why you shouldn’t worry too much about stupid people, and how to handle satire in a region where you can get hung for a cartoon.

It’s hot in Saudi Arabia, but are there snowflakes this summer? The answer to that is of course not, and it won’t be snowing for a long time if ever, desipe the Fresh Prince of Riyadh and all his modern changes. On this week’s Mideast Beast Podcast host Molly Livingstone speaks with Perry Cammack, a fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussing the behind the scenes mess of human rights, potential wars, and the Canadian (yes, kind and friendly Canada) tweet that set off the Kingdom. Listen and get your Saudi Arabia for Dummies understanding of this hot mess.

While the Mideast Beast Podcast is on summer hiatus, enjoy this classic episode from last year! (Don't worry, we'll be back soon with new stuff.)

Rudy Rochman, Founder and President of the Columbia University chapter of Students Supporting Israel, shares the BS about BDS, while Molly and Alex explore President Trump's BDSM ketchup fetish that led him to cancel the annual Ramadan White House Feast.

Getting your ass flogged may sound like the latest sex trend, but in the Middle East, it most likely means you were caught being gay, and lucky you weren't executed. So what is it like to be gay in Jerusalem, the epicenter of controversy and all that is holy (that's what he said)? On this week's Mideast Beast Podcast, Religious Gay Rights Activist, Nadav Schwartz, talks about the Rabbis who think gays are perverts destroying society, holding hands in public, and the Gay Religious community that you never knew about.

You work hard, buy your house, and get ready to settle down, so of course, all hell breaks loose. For Aboud Dandachi, life couldn't have been better, until Syrian's civil war stripped him of his new home in Homs, his promising future, and his hate for Israel. On this week's Mideast Beast Podcast, hear about his transition from successful to refugee, and from team Hezbollah to supporting Israel, as well as whether the Mossad Shark had anything to do with this.

Mark Zuckerberg might be Jewish, but Israel doesn't want his social media monster online. Yep, turns out the government tried to pass a bill to take down freedom of speech one post at a time, which would make Israel the first democracy to enforce censorship on social media. But it was just a big mistake (add laugh track here), caught by Times of Israel's Political Correspondent, Raoul Wootliff, who thought the legislation didn't make sense and did a little digging. Listen in, while you still can, to hear from Wootliff himself on the behind the scenes, a #CensorFail, and if there is a Facebook Intifada.