Crash Course With Michael Walker

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I've taken a break from the Palestine series on this episode to interview an expert on another topic that has fascinated me this month: The election of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.

Bukele has been criticised by human rights groups for locking up vast numbers of people suspected of being members of gangs. He is far from a liberal. But the harsh measures have been incredibly effective at reducing what were astronomical levels of violent crime. El Salvador's population has rewarded him with 83% of the vote in this month's presidential election. I spoke to Latin America analyst Nik McNally to discuss how we should interpret Bukele's success.

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Is the West's unconditional support for Israel thanks to the existence of a powerful Israel lobby?

I spoke to Hil Aked about Britain's Israel lobby, and its activity during the war on Gaza.

Hil Aked is author of "Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity" - https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/723-friends-of-israel

Twitter: @hil_aked

Website: hilaked.com

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Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East. The Houthis were a Yemeni group of rebel outsiders. Yet they now have the entire West on the ropes with their blockade of the Red Sea. 

I spoke to Beirut-based writer Séamus Malekafzali for a primer on how we got here. 

Séamus's substack: https://www.seamus-malekafzali.com/

Séamus on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Seamus_Malek

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Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen are all part of the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance" which poses the biggest challenge to Israel in the Middle East. I spoke to Trita Parsi about the surprising history of Israeli-Iranian relations, and whether rising tensions between Israel and the axis could lead to an all-out regional war.

Trita Parsi is Executive VP of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of the classic book "Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States."

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Earlier in the year I started a series on Migration which I put on hold to focus on the Gaza War. This was going to be episode 2 of that series. It's with Jonathan Portes, who was a very senior civil servant in the New Labour years and is now a Professor of Political Economy at Kings College London. We discussed the history and economics of immigration to Britain, including the major waves of migration since WW2 and how, paradoxically, immigration has increased after Brexit. Jonathan is one of Britain's leading thinkers on immigration policy, and this was an illuminating discussion in a year when the Tories are desperate to get migration back up on the political agenda. 

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Andrew Feinstein is a campaigner and author who grew up in apartheid South Africa and became an MP for the ANC. Andrew is also jewish, and has spent extensive time in Israel-Palestine, so I couldn't have found a better placed guest to discuss the connections and comparisons between apartheid in Israel and South Africa.

Andrew is author of 'The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade', and 'After the Party' on his time in the ANC. Towards the end of the discussion Andrew mentioned a film about Marwan Barghouti. More details can be found here ->  https://www.newarab.com/features/tomorrows-freedom-documenting-palestines-nelson-mandela

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For my sixth episode on the Gaza War I interviewed Jon Lansman on the Labour Party and Israel-Palestine. Jon is a long-time stalwart of the Labour left who ran both of Jeremy Corbyn’s successful leadership campaign, and I've known personally since 2015. I have a lot of time and respect for Jon, though as you’ll hear though in this conversation, I’ve disagreed with him on a number of things since the start of the Gaza War.

I hope you’ll agree we managed those disagreements in a productive way, and that you’ll learn something from them regardless of the side on which you fall.

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I spoke to Ben Judah from the Atlantic Council about how the U.S. sees the Gaza War.

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From Balfour to Braverman, Britain has consistently backed Israel in its war on Palestine. To discuss why, I was joined by David Wearing Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sussex. 

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Since 1948, the relationship between Israel and its arab neighbours has gone from open hostility, to accommodation and collaboration. I spoke to Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston, about Egypt and Jordan's role in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and how that can inform our understanding of the current Gaza War.

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Crash Course is produced and edited by Lewis Bassett and Patrick Heardman.

Patrick Heardman does the sound design.

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