The Big Picture with Mohamed Hassan Middle East Eye

“I was definitely raised to be a Jewish leader of some kind.”


With college campuses all over the US gripped by intense battles around free speech, antisemitism and Palestinian rights - the voices of young Jewish Americans have led the way. 


One of the boldest and most prominent voices is that of Simone Zimmerman.


Zimmerman was raised in a conservative Zionist household, taught to idolise and support Israel as the highest aspiration of all young Jewish Americans like her.


But as she got older, she began to question whether there was another side to Israel she was being sheltered from - and when she sought answers, she was shocked at what she discovered.


Prompted by conversations with Palestinians under occupation and Jewish activists, she went home and began to organise in an attempt to stop her government’s military support for Israel, and as she puts it, “live out the values of justice I was raised on”.


On the frontlines of protests in campuses and halls of power, she suddenly found herself a target of accusations by pro-Israeli groups, who now called her “antisemitic” and a “jew hater” and threatening her online.


After October 7, she became more determined than ever to challenge the beliefs in her community about Israel, and the reluctance by many to see the horrific reality of what’s happening in Gaza.


This week on The Big Picture, we sit down with Simone Zimmerman to talk about her story, which has been documented in a provocative new documentary called ‘Israelism’, and whether we’re witnessing a turning point in how young Jewish-Americans see Israel, and how young Americans see their government’s support for the occupation.


Check out the trailer for Israelism here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bondvm3hvGM&ab_channel=TikkunOlamFilms

Check out Simone Zimmerman’s work with If Not Now here: https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

Did Iran fall into Israel’s trap when it attacked on Saturday, or did it outmanoeuvre Netanyahu? Are we on the brink of regional war, or can the US contain the spill?


When Israel bombed an Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April, killing top Iranian commanders, many saw it as bait laid out by Benjamin Netanyahu to force a direct confrontation that would drag the US into a wider regional conflict. More isolated than ever on the world stage after six months of brutal war in Gaza, Israel needed a distraction.

Iran vowed to respond, and despite warnings from US President Joe Biden, launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Israel, the first direct confrontation with Israel after decades of proxy aggressions between the two adversaries. 


Most of the attack was thwarted by the US and Israel’s aerial defence systems, with the help of British and French air power as well as, surprisingly, Jordan. It was an incredibly expensive show of defensive force that sent a message to Israel’s enemies, but also potentially exposed a contingency strategy the US had in place for years against Iran.


The aftermath of the attack, which Iran declared a victory, left the region and the world reeling, fearing what could be the first spark in a much-feared regional war spilling out from Gaza - one that Israel had at times provoked, but that all its neighbours, as well as the US and even Iran itself, had desperately tried to avoid.

In this episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with Middle East Eye’s editor-in-chief David Hearst to talk about whether Iran’s attack was a stroke of strategic shrewdness, or if it played directly into Israel’s hands.


We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

Is Europe ‘nostalgic for a racist past’ when it didn’t have to apologise for its colonialism? 


In this week’s episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with renowned Australian anthropologist Ghassan Hage. 


Hage is currently fighting against the prestigious Max Planck Society in Germany over accusations of ‘antisemitism’ over his critiques of Israel.

This week, Germany’s government had to defend its ongoing military support for Israel’s war in Gaza after a legal case was filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Nicaragua, who accused Germany of “facilitating the commission of genocide”.


We go in-depth and speak about Germany, antisemitism and the end of liberal Europe.


Hage was invited to a placement at a Max Planck institute last year, but soon became the target of attacks by right-wing media in Germany, who lobbied the Max Planck directors to fire him. They did.

Despite being married to a Jewish refugee whose father fled Mussolini, and building a career in creating dialogue, Hage was denied a chance to defend the accusations.


Now he’s fighting back, and says his case is part of a wider trend in Germany and many western nations who are using ‘antisemitism’ as a cover to keep immigrants under control.




We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

In this episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with Sadiq Khan for a wide ranging conversation about Labour’s election hopes, his political regrets and his vision for the future of London.

Sadiq Khan wants to make history by winning a third term as London’s mayor - but his confidence is shaky.

A winter of mass protests, a smear campaign in the media and a new set of voting regulations ushered in by a hostile Tory government have pushed him to rally his supporters not to take the upcoming May elections for granted.


On top of that, Khan’s trying to talk his Muslim base out of punishing him and Labour in anger over the war in Gaza, which he says would be politically naive.

So what’s he saying to his fellow Londonders to convince them otherwise, and what’s his view on Keir Starmer’s public positions since October 7?
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

How do you humanise people facing unimaginable odds?


That was the task Plestia Alaqad gave herself when she first put on her press vest on October 7. Freshly graduated from journalism school and dreaming of a bright future, she suddenly found herself in the middle of a war zone, with the eyes of the world watching.

Armed with her phone and internet access, she began documenting the lives of her family and the people around her - finding stories of hope and resilience amid the rubble.


Overnight, she became one of the most followed people on the internet, as each day, millions tuned in to watch the war unfold through her eyes. It was a kid of journalism we hadn’t witnessed before, immediate, empathetic and spoken through the voices of young Palestinians facing the unimaginable. 


In this episode of The Big Picture Podcast, Mohamed Hassan meets with Plestia in Melbourne, where she and her family fled after leaving Gaza, reluctant and tearful, praying for the day they would return but knowing that day may not come.


We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

In this episode of The Big Picture Podcast, we sit down with investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein to talk about how for decades, Israel used its occupation of Palestinians as a testing ground for new weaponry, which it then packages and sells to governments around the world.

In fact, Loewenstein argues that since its inception, Israel built its economy around military and surveillance technology, exporting it to some of the world’s most repressive regimes including Myanmar, Pinochet’s Chile and apartheid South Africa.

As the devastating war in Gaza wages on, Israeli defence contractors have already begun advertising drones, hightech firearms and robot dogs battle-tested in the field and ready to be sent abroad.

The Big Picture is produced and presented by Mohamed Hassan. It’s a weekly show about the big ideas that shape our past, present and future.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG