Palestine This Week

In this episode of Palestine This Week, we discuss Mouin Rabbani’s Gaza Apocalypse, a real-time account of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the decades of policy, international complicity and failed diplomacy that preceded it. 

We also examine Israel’s plan for the occupied West Bank, described as a staged process of ethnic cleansing: first entrenching apartheid, then emptying rural areas, forcing Palestinians into cities and creating the conditions for mass expulsion.

The episode also covers Mladenov’s Gaza plan, Ben-Gvir’s humiliation of flotilla activists, the normalisation of Israel’s far-right politics, US' "suicidal empathy for Israel", Trump’s efforts to link Iran negotiations to the Abraham Accords and reported US-Israeli moves to strip Jordan of its custodianship over Al-Aqsa

Get your copy of ‘Gaza Apocalypse’ by Mouin Rabbani: https://orbooks.com/catalog/gaza-apocalypse/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction & Overview

01:18 Key arguments of Gaza Apocalypse and why Mouin Rabbani wrote it

04:27 Who is Gaza Apocalypse for?

09:03 Writing books in the age of social media

11:40 Mladenov’s Gaza plan and the “Board of Peace”

21:50 From apartheid to transfer: Israel’s plan to ethnically cleanse the West Bank

26:57 Ben-Gvir, the Gaza flotilla and the Israeli far right

35:15 US “suicidal empathy” for Israel

44:25 Iran war negotiations, Trump and the Abraham Accords

47:56 US-Israel efforts to strip Jordan of Al-Aqsa custodianship

In this week’s episode, we take on some of the most persistent myths used to justify Zionism, erase Palestinian dispossession and rewrite the history of the Nakba. We begin with the claim that Arab conquest expelled Jews over the centuries, before examining how this distorted reading of history is used to present Zionism as a “return of Jews to their ancestral homeland” rather than a colonial project.

We then turn to the Nakba, challenging claims that Israel was founded on legally purchased land, that the 1948 war was a war of annihilation against Israel and that Palestinians left because Arab leaders told them to evacuate. The episode also unpacks the accusation that Palestinians want to “push Jews into the sea”, before addressing post-Nakba myths about Jewish refugees from Arab states and the claim that mass displacement after the Second World War makes the Palestinian case unexceptional.

Get your copy of ‘Gaza Apocalypse’ by Mouin Rabbani: https://orbooks.com/catalog/gaza-apocalypse/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction & Overview

02:05 Myth #1: “Arab conquest expelled Jews over the centuries”

16:17 Myth #2: “Zionism is not colonialism”

29:19 Myth #3: “Israel was founded on land purchased by early Zionists”

32:59 Myth #4: “The 1948 war was a war of annihilation against Israel”

44:45 Myth #5: “Palestinians fled because Arab leaders ordered them to evacuate”

51:11 Myth #6: “Palestinians want to push Jews into the sea”

56:42 Myth #7: “Jewish refugees from Arab states cancel out the Palestinian right of return”

57:02 Myth #8: “Population displacement was normal after WW2 — why single out Israel?”

In this episode, we mark Nakba Day with a special discussion on the historical roots and continuing reality of Palestinian dispossession. We place the Nakba within the wider settler-colonial project that shaped Palestine from the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate through 1948, 1967, Oslo and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The episode examines whether Gaza represents the final and most violent stage of a century-long project to erase the Palestinian people, or whether this moment marks the beginning of the end of Zionism as a settler-colonial system. It also looks at the crisis of Palestinian political leadership, the collapse of Israel’s claim to moral legitimacy and the regional fallout from Gaza, including Iran, Trump and the limits of US power in a changing Middle East.

Get your copy of ‘Gaza Apocalypse’ by Mouin Rabbani: https://orbooks.com/catalog/gaza-apocalypse/

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction & Overview
01:09 The Nakba in the historical context of the Palestinian question
08:38 Gaza and the possible final stage of Israel’s century-long settler-colonial project
11:16 The impact of 7 October and the Gaza genocide on global understanding of 1948
19:39 Zionism’s survival in a post-colonial world
26:08 Zionism’s framing as Jewish self-determination, refuge and biblical return
33:03 The Nakba and the fragmentation of Palestinian political life
36:15 Palestinian leadership in the final stage of Israeli domination
48:02 New York Times coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees
54:50 Iran, Trump and the strategic limits of US power

In this episode of Palestine This Week, we examine Israel’s expanding control over Gaza through the shifting “Yellow Line” and the emergence of a clandestine “voluntary migration” programme, before turning to the occupied West Bank, where the JNF is cutting funding to settler farm outposts as Israel’s wider strategy moves from “conflict management” towards annexation.

We also discuss fresh allegations against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, Israel’s application of the Gaza model in Lebanon and Barack Obama’s claim that Benjamin Netanyahu pushed him towards war with Iran before making the same case to Donald Trump. The episode ends by looking at the growing regional divide between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Israel, Iran and the future of Gulf security.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction & Overview
01:20 Israel expands Gaza’s “Yellow Line” and undermines Trump’s ceasefire plan
08:54 Israel’s clandestine ethnic cleansing programme under the guise of “voluntary migration”
18:54 JNF cuts funding to West Bank settler farm outposts
27:22 Israel’s West Bank policy shifts from “conflict management” to annexation
33:14 Allegations against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan as pressure builds over the Netanyahu case
41:21 Israel applies the Gaza model in Lebanon
45:41 Obama says Netanyahu pushed him towards war with Iran before making the same case to Trump
51:20 Saudi Arabia and the UAE split over Israel, Iran and regional security

In this episode, we assess Israel 78 years after its founding, examining whether the Zionist project has reached a point of crisis. We explore competing interpretations of what “went wrong,” from claims of ideological failure to arguments that the current reality reflects the logical outcome of a settler-colonial project. Drawing on historical evidence and contemporary developments, the discussion addresses Israel's genocide on Gaza, the erasure of Palestinian, ongoing patterns of dispossession and looting, and the wider regional and international dynamics shaping the conflict today.

00:25 78 years on: has Zionism reached its breaking point?
10:23 What went wrong: the collapse of Zionism’s founding promise
23:07 Was genocide built into the Zionist project?
26:08 From the Nakba to Lebanon: the looting that never ended
31:05 The 2,700-year claim used to erase Palestinians
36:13 Engineering collapse: is Israel undermining the Palestinian Authority?
51:39 How the US justifies its war with Iran
53:33 Israel, the Gulf and the new regional war map

In this episode of our weekly review, we look at Gaza six months into the ceasefire and the next stage in Israel’s genocide. We also discuss Israel’s settler-colonial “buffer zones”  employed  as a toll of expansion, ideological continuity in Zionism, the symbolism of an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Christ and the latest on US/Israel war on Iran.

1-Gaza six months into ceasefire
2-Gaza’s reconstruction crisis
3-Next stage of Gaza’s genocide 
4-Buffer zones and permanent war
5-Ideological continuity in Zionism
6-Smashing the statue of Christ
7-Iran war and ceasefire talks

In this episode, we examine why the first round of Iran-US talks broke down, how Lebanon has moved to the centre of ceasefire negotiations and why Trump appears to be retreating from his earlier endorsement of Iran’s 10-point plan.

We also ask whether the war on Iran now amounts to a historic strategic defeat for both Washington and Tel Aviv, before looking at the build-up to war and Netanyahu’s role in shaping it. The discussion then turns to the growing rift between Pope Leo and Trump, the dangerous normalisation of political assassination and the rise in US soldiers refusing to fight with Iran. We close by considering why Israel is more dangerous than ever and what Viktor Orban’s defeat could mean for Israel and the global far right.

In this episode, we assess where the war with Iran stands at the six-week mark, examine whether Tehran is emerging stronger from the conflict, and consider where Donald Trump’s latest deadline could lead.

We also look at the murky story of the downed US pilot, Trump’s admission that Washington sent weapons to Iranian protesters, the wider regional risks for the Gulf states, the striking critique of American power by the doyen of neoconservatism Robert Kagan, and what Israel’s moves in Lebanon could mean for the next phase of the war.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:16 Is Iran winning the war?

08:32 Trump’s deadline: where is the war headed next?

13:44 The downed US pilot story: rescue mission or cover for something else?

21:40 Trump admits arming Iranian protesters

26:13 The Gulf states and the regional fallout of a longer war

34:26 America as a rogue superpower

44:24 Israel, Hezbollah and the future of Lebanon

In this episode, we discuss the shocking abuse of toddler Karim Abu Nassar in Gaza, Israel’s proposed death penalty law for Palestinians, the rise of Kahanism and signs of internal crisis within Israel. 

We also examine growing anti-Zionism among US Jews, whether the Strait of Hormuz could become America’s Suez and why Israel’s tactical gains may be masking a deeper strategic defeat.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction & Overview
01:19 The torture of Karim Abu Nassar and Israel’s normalisation of torture
12:41 Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinians
21:29 The Kahanification of Israel
26:52 Is Israel collapsing from within?
33:24 The rise of anti-Zionism among US Jews
38:38 Why Hormuz could become America’s Suez?
45:33 Tactical victories, strategic defeat: Israel and Iran
49:54 Are Gulf states betting on a weakening US?

Is Trump really in control? In this episode, we break down the US and Israel war on Iran, the false intelligence and bad-faith negotiations behind it, the UAE’s harder line, the plagiarised report used to sell the case for war, whether Israel’s project of regional hegemony is coming to an end, and the growing backlash to settler violence.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction & Overview
01:04 How is the war with Iran going?
06:10 Is Trump really in control?
18:46 Why the UAE is taking a harder line on Iran
24:18 How the case for war was manufactured
30:44 The plagiarised report behind the war narrative
37:06 Is Israel’s regional dominance unravelling?
46:22 Why Israel’s “right to exist” argument is fraying
53:18 Why settler violence is triggering backlash