In this episode, we welcome Professor Jonathan Hafetz for an insightful discussion on the complex legal challenges involved in prosecuting individuals accused of mass crimes. Our conversation traces the development of international justice mechanisms from the foundational Nuremberg trials through to contemporary approaches in the age of global terrorism.

Professor Hafetz examines how nations have attempted to hold perpetrators accountable while maintaining commitment to fair trial principles - a tension that continues to define international criminal law. The discussion explores the significant impact of the U.S. War on Terrorism on legal frameworks and its disproportionate effects on Arab and Muslim communities.

Throughout the episode, we consider how these legal precedents influence current justice systems and what lessons can be drawn from past successes and failures. This thoughtful analysis offers listeners a clearer understanding of the delicate balance between pursuing accountability for grave crimes and preserving fundamental rights protections, even for those accused of the most serious offenses.

This episode provides valuable context for anyone interested in international law, human rights, and the ongoing evolution of justice mechanisms in response to atrocities and terrorism.

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There is a critical need for a comprehensive examination of the historical forces that have shaped the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from its colonial origins to the present day. Professor Joseph Massad has meticulously analyzed Western imperial involvement in Palestine, tracing the pivotal events that preceded and followed Israel's establishment. European colonial ambitions and policies have created the foundation for ongoing tensions in the region, demonstrating historical patterns of Western imperial expansion. Massad's perspective reveals the often-overlooked continuities between historical colonial projects and contemporary geopolitical realities, offering listeners a framework that challenges conventional narratives about the Middle East. A deep appreciation of the colonial roots of the powers influencing the region’s political makeup is needed to better understand the complex intersection of power, identity, and territorial claims that continue to define the Palestinian experience.

Professor Joseph Massad offers listeners rare insights drawn from decades of research on Middle Eastern history and politics. His analysis moves beyond simplified accounts to reveal the sophisticated interplay between Western imperial interests, Zionist aspirations, and Palestinian resistance throughout the past century. This approach confronts uncomfortable historical truths while providing a nuanced understanding of how external interventions have fundamentally shaped the region's trajectory. 

Join Sahar Aziz and Professor Joseph Massad for a conversation that adds necessary historical context to understand one of the world's most persistent conflict and the underlying tie to Western colonial desires.

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Genocide #ICC #HumanRights

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"Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine" examines the profound concept of sumud—psychological resilience and defiance—within the context of Palestinian life under occupation and settler colonialism. This episode explores psychoanalytic frameworks that illuminate the complex psychological expressions of both individual and collective endurance in circumstances of ongoing trauma and oppression. Clinical case studies reveal the sophisticated ways Palestinian mental health practitioners and communities navigate lives marked by systematic violence while actively resisting the narrative of victimhood. Moving beyond conventional human rights discourse, we will uncover how psychological resistance manifests as a form of political and existential assertion, offering new perspectives on trauma, healing, and identity in contexts of prolonged conflict.

Dr. Lara Sheehi brings her groundbreaking research to this episode, offering listeners rare insights into how psychoanalytic practice functions as both healing modality and resistance strategy in occupied Palestine. In her dialogue with Professor Sahar Aziz, Dr. Sheehi presents powerful clinical examples that demonstrate how Palestinian clinicians and their clients maintain dignity and agency despite overwhelming structural violence. Her analysis challenges traditional Western psychological frameworks that often fail to account for political realities and collective trauma responses. 

Join Sahar Aziz and Dr. Sheehi for this essential conversation about how mental health practices can honor Palestinian lived experiences while contributing to broader movements for justice and liberation in contexts of ongoing oppression.

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Genocide #ICC #HumanRights

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Islamophobia functions as a transnational political strategy weaponized by both democratic and authoritarian regimes worldwide. The American War on Terror has served as a crucial catalyst, amplifying and connecting anti-Muslim campaigns across continents—from Europe and Asia to the Middle East and beyond. There are striking parallels between seemingly disparate anti-Muslim policies in different countries, exposing how these measures share common ideological foundations despite emerging from vastly different political systems. This comprehensive global perspective shifts understanding of Islamophobia from isolated incidents to a coordinated, worldwide phenomenon with profound implications for international relations, human rights, and Muslim communities.

This episode explores the systematic targeting of Muslim populations across diverse geopolitical contexts, with an analysis of how Islamophobia manifests differently across cultural and political landscapes. In his dialogue with Professor Sahar Aziz, Khaled Beydoun unpacks the complex historical, legal, and social dimensions that have enabled anti-Muslim sentiment to become institutionalized in diverse societies. His examination goes beyond theoretical frameworks to reveal the lived experiences of Muslims facing discrimination, surveillance, and violence worldwide. His work challenges conventional understandings of religious freedom and state power while offering insights into resistance strategies emerging within affected communities. 

Join Sahar Aziz and Khaled Beydoun for a conversation about one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time, as they explore both the troubling scope of global Islamophobia and potential paths toward countering its influence.

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Genocide #ICC #HumanRights

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Muhammad Ali is widely recognized as one of the greatest athletes of all-time and one of the most important figures of the 20th century. In addition to his long and celebrated career as a boxer and three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Ali changed the conversation about race, religion, and politics in America. Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War on religious grounds—a profound act of resistance that resulted not only in Ali’s three-plus-year exile from professional boxing, but also a criminal conviction and five year-prison sentence that Ali almost had to serve until it was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court—represented a pivotal moment of the 1960s. 

Ali has been the subject of numerous books and documentary films, including the Oscar-winning When We Were Kings (1996) and The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013). He is also the subject of the 2001 Hollywood biopic, Ali (co-written and directed by Michael Mann and starring Will Smith as Ali), which focuses on the ten-year period from Ali’s capture of the heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in 1964 to Ali’s fight against George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 (the famed “Rumble in the Jungle”). Once a sharply polarizing figure, Ali became one of the most celebrated and eulogized individuals in America, whose rich, if not incomparable, legacy reverberates around the world today. 

This episode is hosted by Professor Jonathan Hafetz, a faculty affiliate of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights, and was originally released on his Law and Film Podcast.

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In this episode, we speak with award-winning investigative journalist Azad Essa about his research on the evolving relationship between India and Israel. Our conversation explores the historical development and contemporary significance of this alliance, particularly in light of recent events in Gaza.

Essa discusses how, despite growing grassroots pressure for India to implement an arms embargo against Israel, the Indian government has instead strengthened its military and financial ties with Israel. The discussion examines how the Hindutva political movement has played a significant role in supporting and expanding this partnership.

Throughout the conversation, our guest analyzes the sociopolitical parallels between these two nations, exploring Essa's argument that India has adopted certain policies and practices reminiscent of Israel's approach to governance in occupied Palestinian territories. The discussion particularly focuses on questions of religious minorities, citizenship, and how nationalist movements shape domestic policies.

This episode offers listeners a thoughtful examination of how geopolitical alliances intersect with questions of democracy, ethnonationalism, and religious identity in two of the world's most complex political environments.

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In this episode, Sahar Aziz is in dicussion with Dr. Audrey Truschke and Dr. Dheepa Sundaram about the new groundbreaking report published by CSRR entitled Hindutva in America: A Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism, which is available for download at csrr.rutgers.edu

Audrey Truschke is a Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at Rutgers University-Newark.  She is the author of numerous books about India published by Columbia University Press, Stanford University Press and Princeton University Press.  She just released her fourth book with entitled India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent.

Dheepa Sundaram who is an assistant professor at Denver University where she teaches courses in Hindu studies, critical theory, and digital religion.  Professor Sundaram is a cultural theorist whose research examines the formation of South Asian digital religious publics.  Her current book project is entitled “Globalizing Darsan: Virtual Steriology and the Making of a Hindu ‘Brand’” and has written articles critically examining Hindutva’s influence on both India and the United States’ stated commitments to equality and pluralism.

The two experts explain the difference between the global religion of Hinduism and the right wing ethnonationalist ideology of Hindutva. 

In India, Hindu nationalists advocate a strict form of ethnonationalism that reimagines the secular Indian republic as an exclusively Hindu nation and seeks to relegate religious minorities–especially Muslims–to an inferior status. Hindu nationalism is distinct from Hinduism, notwithstanding Hindutva proponents’ erroneous claims of representing all Hindus.  In the United States, Hindutva proponents seek to silence the voices of Indian Americans and others who disagree with their ideology, promote harmful policies favorable to India’s Hindu nationalist political parties, and control knowledge about South Asia’s diverse, multireligious history. 

Listen to the conversation about this transnational political movement that is threatening the civil rights of Muslim, Sikh, Christian communities of South Asian origin in the United States.

#Hindutva #Islamophobia #Populism #India #Equality #

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In this episode, Professors Nathan J. Brown and Shibley Telhami, leading experts on the region and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel, offer a thoughtful examination of the current situation in Israel-Palestine. Our guests provide nuanced analysis of how decades of unsuccessful peace negotiations have transformed the political landscape.

The conversation explores the increasingly apparent "one state reality" that exists across territories under Israeli control, challenging traditional diplomatic frameworks that have long focused on a two-state solution. Dr. Brown and Professor Telhami discuss how this reality necessitates reconsidering fundamental concepts of statehood, sovereignty, and national identity that have shaped discourse around the conflict.

Our guests provide historical context that helps listeners understand contemporary debates, including controversial questions about the nature of the political system. The discussion offers fresh perspectives on how we might better understand the complex power dynamics and lived experiences of those in the region.

This episode presents a valuable opportunity to move beyond conventional political narratives and engage with the challenging realities facing Israelis and Palestinians today, informed by scholarly expertise rather than partisan positioning.  The conversation is based on the book One State Reality: What is Palestine Israel published by Cornell University Press.

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In this episode, regional experts of the Middle East share their knowledge about Syria's healthcare system and how it has been affected by years of conflict. 

Based on research from the book "Everybody's War: Politics of Aid in the Syria Crisis," (published by Oxford University Press), our guests provide thoughtful analysis of several important issues:

• The connection between healthcare provision and questions of state legitimacy
• How Syria's once-unified healthcare system became fragmented during the war
• The complex dynamics of delivering humanitarian aid in a polarized conflict environment

The discussion examines the practical and ethical challenges facing healthcare workers and aid organizations operating in contexts where corruption and restricted access are common.  The experts provide an informative overview for listeners interested in understanding the intersection of healthcare delivery, conflict, and humanitarian response in complex emergency settings.

This episode offers valuable insights into how humanitarian assistance functions within the broader political and economic realities of the Syrian crisis.

Omar Dewachi is associate professor at Rutgers University whose work is at the intersections of global health, history of medicine and political anthropology. His scholarship focuses on the human and environmental manifestations of decades of conflict and military interventions in Iraq and the broader Middle East. 

Duncan McLean is a senior researcher for Doctors Without Borders . He has published widely on the humanitarian sector and has contributed chapters to book publications Saving Lives and Staying Alive, The Politics of Fear, and Everybody’s War. Dr. Mclean holds a PhD in history and has lectured at several universities in the Czech Republic, France and the UK, focusing on epidemiological and colonial history.

Aula Abbara is a consultant in Infectious Diseases/ General Internal Medicine at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College. She teaches and supervises students on the Global Health BSc course at Imperial College and the TMIH at LSHTM. 

#Syria #Healthcare #HumanitarianCrisis #MiddleEast #ForeignAid

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Host Sahar Aziz is in conversation with scholar and organizer Dr. Maha Hilal as she unpacks two decades of the War on Terror and its devastating impact on Muslim communities. This eye-opening episode, based on Dr. Hilal's book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11, explores how government narratives have been weaponized to build an extensive apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia.

Dr. Hilal offers unique insights into: (1) the evolution of counter-terrorism laws and policies (2) how Muslim Americans have internalized systemic oppression and (3) the complex role prominent Muslim American voices have played in reinforcing notions of collective responsibility.

Through personal and academic perspectives, our guest illuminates what it means to belong to a community perpetually treated with suspicion and discusses pathways toward justice and accountability in a post-9/11 world. 

Listen to this timely conversation about civil liberties, religious discrimination, and the ongoing struggle for human dignity in America.

#Islamophobia #Muslims #CivilLiberties #Discrimination #Equality

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