UNAPOLOGETIC Middle East Eye

Miko Peled is the son of a decorated Israeli general. His grandfather was one of 37  Israelis who signed Israel’s declaration of independence.


His mother came from a wealthy family of “blue-blooded” Zionists, yet even though she has lived her whole life in support of Israel, she would lament to her son about the unfortunate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem in 1948. 


Peled had his doubts about Israel’s occupation ever since its actions in Lebanon in 1982, but his eyes were fully opened after he did a tour of the occupied territories in the early 2000s. It was then clear to him that Israel was involved in what is now an “eight decades-long ethnic cleansing and genocide” of Palestinians.


Peled believes that Israel will stop at nothing if given the opportunity to completely ethnically cleanse Gaza and the West Bank; it’s just a matter of when and how.


The only thing that will stop Israel, he believes, is if the international community forces it to, by imposing "sanctions immediately".
00:00 Intro
00:57 Growing up as the proud son of an Israeli general
02:30 Grandfather was on of 25 people who signed Israel's declaration of Independence
03:30 Father's role in pushing a two-state solution
05:15 Influence of Mother who was "zionist blue blood" 
07:00 Mom's recollection of the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem in 1948
08:45 Cognitive dissonance and living with contradictions
10:25 Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982
12:30 Sabra and Shatila Massacres and the bombing of Beirut being eye-opening
13:45 Embarking on the Journey of an Israeli in Palestine and meeting Palestinians
15:45 Niece killed in 1997 by a suicide bomber
17:30 Confronting Ehud Barak at the funeral
19:05 The two state solution was never taken seriously by Israel
21:15 The path of tears
24:00:00 The only solution a complete solution with full rights to Palestinians
25:50:00 Has Israeli society changed much in the last 20 years?
28:00:00 Israeli society has been racist for eight decades now
29:30:00 I've always been weary that Israel's brutality could get more horrific
31:30:00 The only way to stop this "genocide" is to force an end to it
33:00:00 October 7th  and Israel being a "paper tiger"
35:00:00 The U.S, UK and others are completely complict and their stances will not change
37:00:00 Protests are great but we need to be meeting with those in power
39:00:00 This could be a watershed moment or a footnote
40:00:00 Israel's end game is ethnic cleansing - the world needs a response
42:00:00 Conditions in Gaza, people are dying from small cuts
43:30:00 Israel is the problem
45:00:00 We need sanctions now, not the next generation

“It became almost part of American values, post 9/11, to demonise the Middle East.”

Jess Natale created the Instagram account So.Informed in 2020 so that she could keep her colleagues who were campaigning for Bernie Sanders up to date with information and facts that were well sourced.

Once Bernie dropped out, the account became a reference that sourced reliable information that aimed to pushback against misinformation being spread by Donald Trump supporters.

Now, four years later, So.informed has 3.1 million followers, unapologetically criticises Israel’s occupation and atrocities, and strongly advocates for a free Palestine.

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC we speak with the person behind the account, Jess Natale, who tells us why she started the account, how her perspectives were shaped by her country’s and father’s reaction to 9/11. How she learnt about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the content journey she has been on with so.informed since it began.

Other episodes of UNAPOLOGETIC can be seen here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySmZCDwUxqccJkdFSC27TTI&si=nmawha50CjsLmV4w

Chapters

00:00 Intro
01:00 Lessons from the last six months
01:45 Starting so.informed, Trump and Bernie
05:10 How do you manage to run so.informed
07:30 Thoughts on mainstream media
11:00 Moving from presenting information to having a voice
13:05 May 2021 Covering West Bank and the reaction to that
15:00 Receiving death threats
17:30 influence of the Iraq War and 9/11
20:00 hate crime at a gas station and relationship with her father
23:30 How has the page been received since doubling down on Palestine.
25:00 Shutting down thinking about followers
27:15 Being disappointed with Bernie Sanders and AOC reaction to Gaza
31:30 Will the U.S government become more humane on Palestine?
34:00 Special interest groups or plain old white supremacy
36:00 What will the USA be like in 2040?
38:30 Stuck between Genocide Joe and Donald Trump, what do voters do?
41:00 Would Obama or Bernie done a better job the Joe on Gaza
43:30 Will the world heal from this atrocity
46:00 Iran has had no affect of protest action
47:30 The settler apartheid state needs to come to an end
50:00 The spirit of Palestinians

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Rabbi Elhanan Beck has lived outside of Israel since he was three years old, this is despite the fact that his family lineage in what he calls “Palestine” goes back seven generations.

Beck stands with what he says are the vast majority of Orthodox Jews who strongly oppose Israel. Their reason: The Jewish religious principle that Jews need to live in exile until the “peaceful” arrival of the messiah, and because of the “oppression” and “brutality” that Israel is built upon.

In this in-depth interview Rabbi Elhanan speaks about Judaism, Israel and Zionism and reacts to what he openly calls Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.

00:00 Intro
00:56 Rabbi early life and connection to the holocaust
04:41 Life in England and anti-Israel activism
09:02 Judaism as a religion vs a race or state
12:53 The idea of Jewish people being in exile and what it means
13:30 What is Zionism
15:49 Zionism and Judaism - compatibility
22:20 The Rabbi's perception of non-religious Jews
28:28 The Problem with Zionism
32:27 Orthodox Jews and the state of Israel
35:27 How Zionism adopted some Orthodox Rabbis
38:27 The Orthodox Rabbi's who support Israel?
40:27 Jewish persecution in Europe
42:27 Jews who live in the muslim world
44:27 How Mossad created a rift between Jews and Muslim Arabs
46:27 Jewish rabbi speaks about no anti-semitism in Iran
48:27 What about having a fair and just Jewish state
52:49 Why some Orthodox Rabbi's support Zionism - protection vs belief
58:49 Isreal is the most unsafe place for Jewish people
01:03:54 Media doesn't show Orthodox Jews who are anti-zionist
01:04:59 taking a moment to break fast
01:06:33 Did he Rabbi always want to be a Rabbi
01:07:55 When did the state of Israel first hurt you?
01:09:12 How would you feel if you were in Gaza
01:11:55 Palestinian relationship with Jews
01:15:15 The Rabbi's feelings on Hamas and October 7th
01:18:15 Why Israel as a state cannot succeed
01:21:27

This is Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed’s harrowing, nearly three hour account of all that she witnessed while covering Gaza.

Youmna El Sayed has reported from Gaza for more than a decade. She was in Gaza on 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel and then remained in Gaza covering Israel's assault on the strip. In this in-depth conversation over nearly three hours she recollects events as she remembers them unfolding. From waking to the sound of rockets being fired into Israel on 7 October, to then finding herself and her family forcibly displaced five times in the ensuing bombardment as she covered the war.

She speaks about the scarcity of food and water, losing colleagues who were killed, needing to evacuate her family while fearing for their lives, literally stepping over the remains of dead bodies, and so much more

Through all of the above El Sayed continued her work as a journalist for Al Jazeera until she and her family managed to evacuate Gaza to Cairo, where they are presently living.

She also speaks about the challenges that now face her and her family and the residents of Gaza as many of them face a future where they do not know if they will ever be able to go back to their homes which now lie in ruins.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
01:10 what can you remember about October 7th
04:00 Going to the bureau and starting to cover the war
06:30 thoughts on what Israel's retaliation would have been 
09:30 Preparing your family for what is going to happen
12:11 Not being able to be close to your family as bombs are falling on your neighbourhood 
18:15 My kids we terrified, only able to sleep in my arms
20:12 Palestinians don't have choices, they just need to endure
23:23 Bombardments of the night vs bombardments of the day
26:44 Leaving home
37:06 Having no water or food
38:04 how what you see changes your soul
39:52 Bearing witness to what I never thought I would see
43:45 The child with the blue backpack
01:00:55 On Joe biden
01:09:24 Bombing Jabaliyah refugee camp and almost dying
01:14:17 If we die, we all die together as a family
01:17:38 anonymous call 
01:24:39 we will be killed because of you
01:26:40 when I started to feel that I would be killed because I was a journalist
01:27:52 Youmna and family leave Gaza city for a 2nd time
01:32:29 taking shelter with 60  people in a small apartment building
01:39:57 bodies decomposing on roads and crossings
01:44:36 having conversations on leaving Gaza and where to go
01:52:26 Walking to Khan Younis with Wael Dahdouh
01:56:43 Walking through the corridor of death
02:00:39 ceasefire and going to the beach
02:05:44 Isreal begins ground operation in Khan Younis, going to Rafah
02:09:39 How Youmna and family left Gaza
02:14:38 having fate that they would be able to leave
02:17:08 adjusting to life in Cairo and PTSD

02:23:40 On losing Al Jazeera colleague and friends - Samer and Hamza
02:28:47 What if there is no Gaza to return to
02:32:48 Where will Palestinians in Gaza go to
02:34:05 Will Gaza be ethnically cleansed
02:37:19 What does accountability look like
02:41:00 consequences of there being no accountability

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Over the course of a lengthy discussion, Mustafa Barghouti recollects his life from growing up as a child in Ramallah, which was then controlled by Jordan, to the present Israeli assault on Gaza.

Topics covered include how the 1967 War and subsequent Israeli occupation changed his life and propelled him to become a medical doctor and into political activism, studying medicine abroad. He describes life under occupation and the hopes that the First Intifada brought, the failed Oslo peace process and his role in those negotiations, how he was shot in 1996 by Israeli security forces, the decades-long brutality of the Israeli army, the Second Intifada, the death of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian elections in 2006 and the civil war, the siege of Gaza. He talks about the 7 October, how the media perceives the current assault by Israel on Gaza, and the future of Palestinian liberation.


Recorded on 22nd February 2024

Topic breakdown
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - Growing up in Ramallah
02:44 - Impact of the 1967 War and occupation
05:55 - How occupation changed regular life
07:17 - How long did you think the occupation will last
08:54 - Why he studied Medicine in Russia
13:25 - Life after returning home
15:00 - The occupation tightening it's grip on Palestinians
17:24 - Contributions as a medical doctor
18:55 - Palestinian resistance before the 1987 uprising
23:37 - Circumstances around the Oslo peace process
26:35 - Israel's policy of breaking bones
28:30 - The Oslo accords
33:00 - How Oslo was doomed to fail
34:31 - Netanyahu come to power in 1996
37:10 - thoughts on the 2nd uprising
39:20 - Reflections on Yasser Arafat
41:39 - 2006 election and civil war and siege
45:27 - The situation on October 6th
49:02 - October 7th and crisis in Gaza
55:13 - Response to Israel's genocide and US position
1:11:00 - Media bias and racism
1:14:30 - Israel's intentions in Gaza
1:18:30 - Inadequate world reaction
1:22:15 - the way forward for Palestinians
1:24:00 - hopes for the year 2050


UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

“I saw evidence that really challenged everything that I knew”

Ilan Pappe shares how he came across historical documents back in 1978 that debunked  Zionist myths and set him off on his journey to becoming an Israeli dissident, why what is going on in Gaza is a ‘genocide’ that is much worse than the Nakba of 1948, and why he thinks Zionism is near its end.

Episode Outline
00:00 Introduction
00:30 What was the Nakba?
04:23 Zionist fabrications around the Nakba
09:15 Gaza compared to 1948 Nakba
12:12 Why did you decide to study the Nakba
14:34 Meeting Palestinian academics
17:00 False assumptions I took for granted
19:07 How did you approach the documents
21:10 how I became secure in my work and my findings
21:45 being forced out of Haifa University
24:40 life in Israel as a dissident
27:30 Getting sh*t parcels in the mail
29:30 Observations on Israeli society becoming racist
32:30 The Israeli education system indoctrinating a new society
36:25 Israel's ruthlessness in Gaza now
38:30 Gaza a strategic challenge to Zionist project
40:15 What happens in Gaza now
43:30 What Israel is doing now will lead to a strategic loss for Israel
45:00 Reasons why Zionism will come to an end

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

Recorded on the 22nd February 2024

Middle East Eye Website: https://middleeasteye.net