Human rights attorney and activist Stanley Cohen discusses the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, its long-term outlook, why it wasn’t enacted eight months ago, and whether Biden or Trump deserves credit for it.

Should Trump or Biden Get Credit for the Ceasefire?

Jess & Jamal discuss the renewed fears of starvation during the holy month of Ramadan as Israel blocks aid to Gaza, violating its ceasefire deal with Hamas. Over a dozen human rights experts have denounced Israel for resuming what they described as "weaponized starvation" in Gaza.

Israel Starves Palestinians During Ramadan

Geopolitical analyst and journalist Sean Mathews discusses his article for Middle East Eye, "How Trump's Gaza ceasefire imploded". More than 700 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, have been killed by Israel since it broke the ceasefire. Netanyahu described the strikes as “just the beginning." However, the United States bears responsibility for the ongoing carnage because it is U.S.-made 2000-pound bombs that have been annihilating entire neighborhoods, killing mostly noncombatants and infants.

Ceasefire Was Never Part of Netanyahu's Plan

Award-winning independent investigative journalist Lila Hassan discusses her recent article in Drop Site News entitled, "Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction." She talks about the challenges facing journalists, human rights organizations and investigators to collect and save evidence of war crimes, and their dangerous efforts to dodge censorship and document the horrors of Israel's war against Gaza.

Archiving Israel's Genocide in Gaza

Jewish Israeli dissident Ronnie Barkan, co-founder of "Boycott from Within," discusses the First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress to be held in Vienna, Austria, on June 13, 2025. The congress aims to ensure anti-Zionist voices are heard globally, and that Israel is not the single legitimate representative of all Jewish people. Vienna was chosen as the location because it is the birthplace of Zionism. The congress features prominent speakers, such as Israeli historian and author Ilan Pappe, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos, Nakba Survivor and researcher Salman Abu Sitta, Dalia Sarig, co-founder of the “Not in our Name” initiative founded by Jews in Vienna, and others, including our guest Ronnie Barkan.

First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress

Susan M. Akram, Clinical Professor and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law, discusses a significant report she co-authored and published through the University Network for Human Rights. Titled "Apartheid in Israel: An Analysis of Israel's Laws and Policies and the Responsibilities of U.S. Academic and Other Institutions," the report presents a detailed legal analysis demonstrating how Israel's treatment of Palestinians meets the internationally recognized legal definition of apartheid.

Building on this conclusion, the report goes further to explore the ethical and legal obligations of academic institutions in the United States when engaging with or supporting a state accused of committing the crime of apartheid. It underscores that, rather than facing punishment, students and others who protest these injustices should be afforded protection under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders.

Universities Are Actors with Human Rights Obligations Under International Law

Jess and Jamal discuss the ongoing widespread hunger in Gaza. Jens Laerke from OCHA highlighted that Gaza is the only territory where the entire population is at risk of famine, underscoring the severity of the crisis. 
Recently, a new aid distribution initiative backed by the US and Israel, operated independently of the UN by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began functioning in the region. However, tensions surrounding aid access have led to violence. On Tuesday, at least 47 Palestinians were reportedly shot and injured while attempting to collect aid from a distribution site in southern Gaza. Then on Sunday, dozens were killed near an aid site.

"Gaza Is the Hungriest Place on Earth"

The Madleen set sail from Sicily on June 1st as part of the renewed Freedom Flotilla Coalition, aiming to establish a humanitarian corridor to Gaza. On board are 12 international human rights defenders from seven countries, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

Huwaida Arraf, a human rights lawyer and former chair of the Gaza Freedom Flotillas, stated from Sicily that the mission directly challenges what she described as Israel’s illegal and genocidal blockade, as well as its violations of international law.

Israel has reportedly instructed its military to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza. The departure of the Madleen comes just one month after Israeli drones targeted and bombed the Conscience—another Freedom Flotilla aid ship—in international waters off the coast of Malta.

Israel Plans to Stop the Madleen from Reaching Gaza

Jess & Jamal discuss the recent developments of the Israeli attack on Iran. 
Professor William A. Schabas talks about the escalating pressure on the International Criminal Court to abandon its case against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. President Trump recently issued an executive order sanctioning four of the judges presiding over the case. Schabas is a Professor of International Law at Middlesex University, London, as well as Professor Emeritus at Leiden University and the University of Galway.

Israel's Attack on Iran Is About Regime Change

Despite pledging during his election campaign to end America's involvement in "endless" and "forever wars," President Trump ordered a strike on Iranian nuclear sites, risking entangling the U.S. in another conflict in the Middle East. Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Senior Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of York, discusses Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran’s massive retaliation, and the escalating risks moving forward.

Netanyahu Lures US into Another War

For decades, Christians in the Middle East have witnessed their numbers dwindle due to war, occupation and sectarianism, threatening centuries of cultural and religious pluralism that characterized the region. In his recent article "The Damascus Church Bombing and the Collapse of Middle East Christianity," Daoud Kuttab discusses the imperative of reversing this trend. Daoud Kuttab is a former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University and publisher of Milhilard.org, dedicated to the Christian community in Jordan and Palestine.

Will Christianity Survive in the Middle East?

Jess and Jamal discuss the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s bombings in Gaza. According to an analysis of over 35,000 pieces of content produced by the UK’s public broadcaster, the BBC is “systematically biased against Palestinians.”

They are also joined by Professor Hicham Safieddine, who discusses his recent article titled “Nawaf Salam is Failing to Rebuild Lebanon—While Bending to US-Israeli Interests.”

BBC Accused of Bias Over Israel and Palestine Coverage

Former Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol, David Miller, discusses the British Parliament’s vote to ban Palestine Action, a civil disobedience and direct action protest group. He also addresses a private prosecution brought against him by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which alleges that he “used X to send messages of a menacing character.”

Outrage in UK over Palestine Action Ban

Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, discusses the growing evidence of famine and widespread starvation in Gaza.

Famine is officially confirmed when three core thresholds are breached: a drastic decline in food consumption, high levels of acute malnutrition, and deaths caused by starvation. However, gathering reliable data on malnutrition and starvation-related deaths is extremely difficult due to the collapse of health systems, according to a joint alert from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Mounting Evidence of Famine and Widespread Starvation in Gaza

The number of international human rights organizations, genocide scholars, public officials, and UN representatives making this assertion continues to grow.
Now, two well-respected Israeli human rights groups have released reports concluding that Israel is committing genocide. One is B’Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. The other, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, issued a report titled "Destruction of Conditions of Life: A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide," which focuses on the dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare and other life-sustaining systems.
Aseel Aburass, Director of the Occupied Territories Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, discussed the findings that led to the report’s genocide determination.

Israeli Rights Groups Conclude Israel Is Committing Genocide

Ian Williams, President of the Foreign Press Association, discusses the targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Williams, who is also an author, writer, and broadcaster, highlighted the silence of western journalists and the growing toll on Palestinian media workers in the besieged territory.

Israel has systematically targeted and killed Palestinian journalists in Gaza for nearly two years. Since October 2023, more than 270 journalists and media workers have been killed. In the most recent incident, the Israeli military killed six journalists who had been sheltering in a tent used by media staff in Gaza City. Among those killed was 28-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with other members of the network’s team reporting from Gaza.

Israel Keeps Killing Palestinian Journalists With Impunity

In addition to the United States, several key European governments continue to provide intelligence and arms to the Israeli military—support that enables the ongoing genocide in Gaza and obstructs the path toward a political solution.

Germany is among these governments, and its complicity is particularly striking given its own history of genocides in the 20th century.

In a recent article for Middle East Eye titled “As Gaza becomes a death camp, German complicity reveals the West’s racist biopolitics,” Dr. Jürgen Mackert analyzes how this ideology determines who is deemed worthy of life and resources, and who is not.

Dr. Mackert is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and the author of several works. His most recent book, On Social Closure: Theorizing Exclusion, Exploitation, and Elimination, explores the mechanisms by which societies create and enforce boundaries of belonging.

Scholars Accuse Germany of Complicity in Gaza Genocide

Can a Gaza reconstruction that excludes Palestinian heritage, silences their participation, and denies their suffering truly succeed? Journalist and analyst Sean Mathews argues the 'Gaza Riviera' is doomed to fail.

Why the 'Gaza Riviera' is Doomed to Fail

The 80th United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Week begins on September 22, bringing together heads of state to deliver speeches and set the policy agenda for the year ahead.

The prospect of several major Western powers—such as the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada—formally recognizing Palestinian statehood has drawn significant media attention. At the same time, it has prompted warnings of serious consequences from both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dr. Ardi Imseis, Professor of International Law at Queen’s University in Canada and legal counsel to the State of Palestine in its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), offers insight into the potential impact of this recognition and what developments might unfold at the UN in the coming weeks.

Why the Recognition of Palestine Matters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed Palestinian independence, and he recently reaffirmed that there will be no Palestinian state as long as he remains in office. He also vowed to take retaliatory measures as a second wave of recognitions is expected at a U.N. summit in New York this week. Around 10 additional countries—including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and Portugal—are set to join the 147 U.N. member states that already recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation. Jess and Jamal discuss these unfolding events.

Netanyahu Fails to Prevent Palestine Recognition, Vows to Retaliate

Acknowledging Palestinian sovereignty is increasingly seen as a necessary—but not sufficient—step toward a just resolution of the conflict, particularly among those who also call for an end to what they view as Israeli impunity.
Human rights attorney and activist Stanley Cohen argues that countries recognizing Palestinian statehood should also be barred from aiding or abetting Israel in actions against Palestinian civilians.

Recognizing Palestine’s Sovereignty Does Not Exclude Ending Israel’s Impunity

President Trump has named former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the newly formed Board of Peace, which will oversee the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. Blair has reportedly been involved for months in developing proposals for Gaza’s postwar future. However, his controversial legacy—stemming from his role in the Iraq War and his limited success during eight years as the Middle East Quartet’s peace envoy—makes his selection a surprising one. Journalist Rayhan Uddin explains why.

Trump Trusts Blair with Gaza - Do Others?

Professor Liat Kozma explains that Israel has been systematically working to delegitimize and restrict international NGOs and human rights organizations operating with Palestinians in the occupied territories. One of the largest of these organizations, UNRWA, which has provided services in Gaza for many years, has been banned from operating in areas under Israeli control — including East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza. Professor Kozma teaches in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and holds the Harry Friedenwald Chair in the History of Medicine at the Hebrew University.

Will Israel Allow NGOs to Operate in Gaza?

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has applied for a summons in the magistrate’s court in the United Kingdom in an initiative to prosecute a British citizen who they allege fought in the Israeli military against Palestine and Palestinians. It states that the individual was in breach of the UK’s Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870, which proscribes any British citizen from fighting in another country’s military against another country with which Britain is at peace. 

Jonathan Purcell, Head of Public Affairs and Communications for the ICJP elaborates on the case and the implications of what precedent a successful ruling could set.

Human Rights Group Seeks Prosecution of British Citizens Fighting for Israel

Jess and Jamal discuss the recent surge in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which have reached unprecedented levels. This escalation is marked by increased frequency, severity, and coordination—often occurring with the support or presence of Israeli security forces—and has led to casualties, widespread property destruction, and the displacement of numerous Palestinian communities.

Recently, settlers have focused on preventing Palestinians from harvesting their olives, setting fires near churches and cemeteries, damaging olive groves, and harassing local residents.

Israeli Settlers Deprive Palestinians of their Olive Harvest

After two years of relentless Israeli air and ground assaults on Gaza, much of the territory lies in ruins. Many of Gaza’s two million residents have been displaced and are struggling to secure basic necessities. Jaco Cilliers, the current Special Representative for the United Nations Development Programme’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), outlines the vast scale of destruction in Gaza and the immense challenges involved in rebuilding even a semblance of normal life.

Gaza Reconstruction Faces Massive Challenges

A March 2025 report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that sexual violence by Israeli forces and settlers was extensive enough to be considered systematic.

Dr. Samah Jabr, co-author of the paper "Torture as a Tool of Domination: The Logic Behind the Use of Torture Against Palestinians," discusses the long-term impact of sexual and gender-based violence used against Palestinians, especially children.

Dr. Jabr is a world-renowned psychiatrist and writer who has spent more than twenty years practicing in the West Bank and Gaza. Her latest book is Radiance in Pain and Resilience.

Systematic Use of Sexual Violence by Israeli Forces and Settlers Against Palestinians

Supported by Israeli security forces and enabled by government policies, settler violence has become a central component of the Israeli state’s strategy to forcibly displace Palestinian communities in the occupied territory. This approach aims to establish full Israeli control over the area and facilitate further settlement expansion, despite such settlements being illegal under international law.

Photojournalist Oren Ziv has extensively reported on settler attacks across the West Bank. His documentation shows that since October 7, more than 50 rural Palestinian communities have been emptied after residents were compelled to flee amid escalating assaults, threats, and harassment by Israeli settlers—almost always carried out with the backing of the army and police.

Oren is a photojournalist and reporter for Local Call and +972 Magazine, as well as a co-founder of the ActiveStills photography collective. His work has also appeared in Al Jazeera, Vice, Tablet, and other publications.

Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing Plan for the West Bank

Dr. Ezequiel Jimenez discusses his article published in Opinio Juris, “The 24th Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute: Time to Act.” In the article, he explains that, given the ICC’s current state of polycrisis, it is imperative for member states of the Rome Statute to take concrete action to confront the Court’s existential challenges rather than continue the status quo of issuing ineffective resolutions.

Is the International Criminal Court's Future in Peril?

Journalist Daoud Kuttab discusses the recent arrest of Emad Hajjaj, one of the Arab world’s best-known cartoonists, by Jordanian police. He was released only after an international outcry, which included an article in the Washington Post by our guest.
 
Jess and Jamal talk about the reaction to the UAE normalization with Israel and the recent Islamophobic comments by MSNBC host Joy Reid. Reid has previously faced criticism for derogatory remarks towards Muslims and the LGBTQ community.

Islamophobia At MSNBC - 3 Sep 2020

Arab Talk with Jess and Jamal brings news and analysis of the Arab World and Middle East, as well as issues affecting the Arab American community. 
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