Helena Cobban is a journalist who has covered events in the Middle East for more than four decades. Through her reporting, she has interviewed senior leadership across Palestinian movements and political organisations and senior members of Israel’s government.

Recently, she co-authored a book with Rami Khouri, an academic and journalist who has also been writing about the Middle East for decades. The book is largely a transcript of a series of conversations that the authors had with five experts who have a deep knowledge of who Hamas is, what it stands for, how it operates and what it is trying to achieve.

We sat down with Helena Cobban in this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC to speak about who Hamas is, what it wants and why understanding it matters. 

This episode was filmed on March 12, 2025

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

00:00 Intro

02:15 About the book

07:15 Laws that make it difficult to speak about Hamas

12:30 The genesis of Hamas

20:00 Misconceptions around Hamas

29:50 Introspection on their own actions

34:00 Hamas beyond being a liberation movement

41:00 Helena's journey covering the conflict

51:00 Helena’s learnings from compiling the book

56:30 How global power shifts change narratives

01:04:30 Does Hamas introspect?

01:12:30 What will happen to Gaza