The Big Picture with Mohamed Hassan

Middle East Eye
The Big Picture with Mohamed Hassan

A weekly podcast focused on long-form interviews on history, pop culture and society affecting the MENA region and diaspora communities. It aims to inform and illuminate the region through a non-newsy lens, exploring the MENA region's past, present and future and its people. Each episode begins with a question and an introduction to an expert who will attempt to answer it. 

  1. Judaism is 6000 years old. It can outlive Zionism | Rabbia Alissa Wise

    18 FEB

    Judaism is 6000 years old. It can outlive Zionism | Rabbia Alissa Wise

    Is Judaism itself an anti-Zionist religion? According to Rabbi and organiser Alissa Wise, it's precisely the teachings of her faith that informs her stance against Israel, and her advocacy for a free Palestine. Rabbi Wise is a former organiser with Jewish Voice for Peace, and in December 2023 founded the group Rabbis for Ceasefire, calling for an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza. The group now has more than 200 members, all of them teachers of the Jewish faith. They're a part of a growi...

    47 min
  2. A Hamas official speaks on Gaza ceasefire & the next war with Israel | Basem Naim

    24 JAN

    A Hamas official speaks on Gaza ceasefire & the next war with Israel | Basem Naim

    What has Hamas achieved after 15 months of war with Israel? With the assassination of two of its most senior leaders, and the devastating human toll in Gaza, the future of Hamas appears uncertain. But the scenes of its militia re-emerging hours after the ceasefire sent a message of defiance. The scenes outraged an Israeli public, who were told that victory would only come after the complete destruction of Hamas. While the world prays for an end to the violence in Gaza, Hamas’ se...

    1h 4m
  3. Netanyahu’s total victory narrative collapsed, and Israelis are in shock | Daniel Levy | The Big Picture

    23 JAN

    Netanyahu’s total victory narrative collapsed, and Israelis are in shock | Daniel Levy | The Big Picture

    Netanyahu’s social contract has collapsed, and Israelis are in a state of shock. That is how former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy sees the outcome of 15 months of war in Gaza, after a ceasefire was brokered without Hamas conceding defeat. Instead, Israelis watch the scenes of Hamas militants celebrating in fresh uniforms and wonder what exactly did their Prime Minister achieve after promising nothing short of a total victory. Meanwhile, the abject failures of the Biden Administration i...

    1h 10m
  4. The Muslim senator who took on Australia’s government | Fatima Payman | The Big Picture

    14 JAN

    The Muslim senator who took on Australia’s government | Fatima Payman | The Big Picture

    When Fatima Payman was first elected to Australia’s senate - she didn’t imagine she’d go to war with the Prime Minister two years later. Back in May, the country’s first ever hijabi lawmaker broke ranks with the governing Labor Party and accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Despite attempts by her party to rein her in, she refused to stay quiet about what she saw happening in Gaza, and became increasingly vocal about her party’s silence on the issue, and Australia’s continued trade deals w...

    43 min
  5. Piers Morgan, CNN and the fight for Palestinian dignity | Mohammed el-Kurd

    28/12/2024

    Piers Morgan, CNN and the fight for Palestinian dignity | Mohammed el-Kurd

    What makes a perfect victim? For Palestinians fighting to keep their stories alive in the media, it often feels that they must audition for the sympathies of their Western audiences. If they don’t fit the mould - then their voices are ignored. In 2021, Mohammed al-Kurd was catapulted into the spotlight when his family’s home in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah was being forcefully evicted by Israeli settlers. Since then, he’s been one of the most outspoken and unapolo...

    1 hr
  6. The Syrian dream rises from the ashes of Assad’s nightmare | Waad al-Kateab

    13/12/2024

    The Syrian dream rises from the ashes of Assad’s nightmare | Waad al-Kateab

    Two years after our conversation with Waad al-Kateab about the desperate plight of Syrian refugees, we return to have a very different conversation. Less than a week after the dramatic and unexpected collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal reign, Syrians are beginning to dream once again of a future they believed had died. Waad al-Kateab and her family had settled in the UK, though they continued to fight to speak on behalf of refugees and the Syrian revolution which they refused to give up ...

    27 min
  7. Trump’s intrusive demons and Israel’s ‘enlightened cause’ | Norman Finkelstein

    16/11/2024

    Trump’s intrusive demons and Israel’s ‘enlightened cause’ | Norman Finkelstein

    Has Donald Trump peeled back the veil on the toxicity of America? What will his second term mean for Israel, Palestine and the pursuit of justice? This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we welcome back Norman Finkelstein, political scientist, author and legal scholar, to talk about the aftermath of the US elections, Israel’s war in Gaza and shifting tactics of the Palestine movement. Finkelstein has spent his career chronicling in excruciating detail the Israel-Palestine conflict from th...

    1h 41m
  8. Americans are socialised into capitalism, racism and then Zionism | Noura Erakat

    13/11/2024

    Americans are socialised into capitalism, racism and then Zionism | Noura Erakat

    What is the link between Zionism, capitalism and the American empire? Fresh off the back of a deeply toxic, all consuming US election - one in which the issue of Palestine and the war in Gaza was largely ignored - we examine what it means to survive a system intent on silencing and marginalising dissenting voices. Despite the key role the Biden Administration has played in arming and supporting Israel, a position opposed by the majority of Americans, few political voices were interested i...

    37 min
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About

A weekly podcast focused on long-form interviews on history, pop culture and society affecting the MENA region and diaspora communities. It aims to inform and illuminate the region through a non-newsy lens, exploring the MENA region's past, present and future and its people. Each episode begins with a question and an introduction to an expert who will attempt to answer it. 

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