Two years after October 7th, the world still argues in absolutes.

Pro-Israel voices call it a war for survival.

Pro-Palestine voices call it resistance against colonialism.

And somewhere between the slogans and the hashtags, the dead keep multiplying.

In this News Weakly special, Sami Shah steps back from the noise and looks at the long view — drawing lessons from the Thirty Years’ War, Northern Ireland, and moments of fragile hope in Israeli and Palestinian history.

From Westphalia to Belfast, from Gaza to Melbourne, this episode explores what centuries of conflict teach us about exhaustion, reconciliation, and how peace survives when certainty doesn’t.

TOPICS COVERED

• The Thirty Years’ War — how Europe learned that faith without restraint leads to ruin
• The Troubles — how Ireland turned fatigue into peace
• The Children of October 7 — what two years of war are teaching a new generation
• Australia’s role — how to keep our empathy from collapsing into imported hate
• Glimpses of the impossible — moments when Israelis and Palestinians found shared humanity against the odds
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK“You don’t make peace with your friends—you make it with your enemies.” Jonathan PowellSUPPORT THE SHOW

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Sami Shah is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, journalist, and broadcaster.

For more: thesamishah.com

Theme music ‘Historic Anticipation’ by Paul Mottram

This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Sami Shah.

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