East to West | Voices of the Middle East

Tamer Masudin is Black, Muslim, Arab, Bedouin, Israeli, and proudly identifies as a Zionist. In this episode of East to West, Tamer sits down to talk with Sarah Martinez Amir about an identity that refuses to fit into the labels often imposed on Israel. He shares why he began speaking publicly after October 7, why he sees Zionism as compatible with his own identity, and what growing up as a Black Bedouin in Israel actually looked like. The conversation also goes much deeper: Tamer discusses discrimination he experienced within his own community, his family’s connection to the history of the Arab-Muslim slave trade, his mother’s former family name “Al-Abid,” and why he believes anti-Black racism in the Middle East needs to be discussed openly. He also recalls traveling to Poland to visit Holocaust concentration camps — an experience he says strengthened his connection to Israel — and reflects on Nazi propaganda in the Arab world, Haj Amin al-Husseini, antisemitism, and the narratives that continue to shape the region today.

What can a single cartoon tell you about the Middle East? In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen sits down with Middle East researcher Noam Bannett, who has spent years studying a language most of us barely notice: political cartoons. Noam explains how he learned to read the symbols hidden inside them: from animals and traditional clothing to religious stories, shoes, olive trees and even familiar characters. Sometimes, understanding one small detail can reveal an entire story about how people across the region see Israel, Iran and each other. He also shares the story behind his own podcast, Uskut – Arabic for “be quiet” or “shut up” — and why the name ended up being unexpectedly appropriate.

Mubin Shaikh once embraced the jihadist worldview. Then he went to Syria, and everything began to unravel.In Part two of his extraordinary conversation with East to West, Mubin explains how studying Islam for himself forced him to confront the ideology he had once believed in, and how a Sufi sheikh slowly challenged the ideas that had shaped his radicalization.But his story took an even more unexpected turn when he returned to Canada. Mubin was recruited as an undercover operative, infiltrated jihadist networks and eventually helped authorities dismantle the Toronto 18 terror plot.Today, he uses that same experience to help young people leave extremism behind. He also warns that the ideology he once embraced is no longer simply being “imported” into the West — in his words, it is increasingly growing from within.

At 17, Mubin Shaikh was a regular Canadian teenager. A few years later, he had embraced a jihadist worldview, learned to see non-Muslims as enemies and even fantasized about blowing up a synagogue.Then came September 11, 2001. His first reaction to the attacks shocked even him, and forced him to confront what he had become.In the first part of this extraordinary East to West conversation, Mubin takes Sarah Martinez-Amir inside the process of radicalization: how a search for identity became extremism, why jihadist ideology can feel morally righteous to a young person, how religious texts are manipulated to justify violence, and why 9/11 ultimately sent him searching for a different understanding of Islam.This is the beginning of a story that would eventually lead Mubin back into the world of jihadist extremism, this time undercover.

On July 27, 2024, a Hezbollah rocket struck a football field in Majdal Shams, killing 12 children and teenagers. Among them was 11-year-old Alma. But Alma was more than a name in a headline.She was a gifted basketball player, a natural leader and a girl with enormous dreams. She spoke four languages, loved drawing, dancing and skiing, and dreamed of studying law so she could stand up for people who could not defend themselves.Two years after the attack, Alma’s mother, Naela, joins East to West host Sarah Martinez Amir to tell the story she wants the world to remember: not how her daughter died, but how she lived.Naela takes us back to their final day together, Alma’s last hug, and the devastating moment she realized her daughter would never come home. She also shares how faith helped her family survive unimaginable grief, and why she made a conscious choice not to let loss turn into anger, hatred or revenge.Instead, Naela has dedicated herself to keeping Alma’s values alive, transforming grief into action and pain into hope. “I want the world to remember the way she lived.”

She was born into a Jewish family in France, married a Muslim man from Yemen, concealed her Jewish identity, and eventually found herself inside the ideological world of the Islamic Republic of Iran.Catherine Perez-Shakdam tells the extraordinary story of how she survived life in Yemen, witnessed radicalization from within, gained the trust of figures connected to Iran’s regime, traveled to Tehran, and ultimately came face-to-face with Ali Khamenei.In this episode, Catherine speaks openly about her Jewish identity, her experiences in Yemen and Iran, her encounter with Khamenei, and why she eventually broke publicly with the regime.

Harley Lippman has spent decades speaking with presidents, diplomats, military leaders, and decision-makers around the world.In this East to West episode with Balig Sladeen, he reflects on how one day changed the way Israel thinks about security, why public opinion has become just as important as military success, and what the next decade could look like for the region.

Most people know Hezbollah through headlines about rockets, wars, and southern Lebanon. But behind that image is another story, one that stretches across Latin America, Africa, Europe, and beyond.

In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen speaks with Dr. Emmanuel Ottolenghi, Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Terror Finance, about the global financial networks that have helped Hezbollah sustain itself for decades.

In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen talks with David Daoud, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), about the country where his story began.

From memories of his childhood and leaving Lebanon, to building a life in Israel and later the United States, David shares how those experiences shaped his identity and the way he understands Lebanon today. It's a personal conversation about home, belonging, and the memories that stay with you long after you've left.

What do you say when the regime you're negotiating with is the same regime that executed your father?

In this powerful episode of East to West, host Balig Sladeen sits down with Gazelle Sharmad, a German-American freedom advocate whose father, Jamshid Sharmad, was kidnapped and executed by the Iranian regime.

For Gazelle, this isn't a policy debate. It's deeply personal.

She shares her family's story, reflects on what justice means after such a loss, and explains why so many Iranians believe the world continues to confuse the Iranian people with the regime that oppresses them.

This is a conversation about grief, resilience, courage, and the fight for a free Iran. It is also a reminder that behind every headline are families whose lives have been forever changed.