The Take

For those protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza, free speech is becoming more and more dangerous. The backlash is hitting students at Harvard University, protestors in France, and Palestinians in Israel. Now, with the murder of a six-year-old in the United States, there are fears of increased violence. Racism toward Arabs and Muslims is nothing new. But will the war in Gaza make things worse? 

In this episode: 

• Moustafa Bayoumi (@BayoumiMoustafa), author of “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror”

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by David Enders, Amy Walters and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St Clair mixed this episode. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

From the streets to world leaders, there’s been widespread outrage over the deadly attack on the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Nearly 500 people were killed in the strike, making it the deadliest single incident since the start of Israel’s war. It came just hours before US President Joe Biden arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings with top Israeli officials. While Biden once again affirmed Washington’s support for Israel, others are distancing themselves from the unprecedented violence. Jordan’s king called off a summit between the US, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. The UN chief, for the first time, called for an immediate ceasefire. And popular momentum is building around the world against Israel’s brutal siege on Gaza. 

In this episode: 

• James Bays (@baysontheroad), Al Jazeera diplomatic editor
• Ali Hashem (@alihashem_tv), Al Jazeera correspondent

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Miranda Lin, Khaled Soltan and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat and Fahrinisa Campana fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St Clair mixed this episode. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

An Israeli air strike hit Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night, according to officials there. The Israeli military denies responsibility, but Gaza’s health ministry puts the blame squarely on them, saying at least 500 people are dead. The Palestinian Civil Defense said the attack was unprecedented. The hospital is in the area where the Israeli military had ordered all Palestinian residents to leave – prompting discussions of war crimes even before the air strike. So as Israel’s siege on Gaza continues, we ask the question: where is international law?

In this episode: 

• Taghreed El-Khodary (@Taghreed1), journalist
• Giulia Marini, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Fahrinisa Campana, Amy Walters and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat and David Enders fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode.

Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

While Israel’s attacks have been concentrated on Gaza, violence has also increased in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed since October 7, with Israel clamping down security restrictions even more and Israeli settlers arming themselves and opening fire on Palestinians. Although Gaza and the West Bank have been divided by distance and politics in the past, the past ten days have galvanized Palestinians in both places to unite their voices and resist.

In this episode: 

• Rania Zabaneh (@RZabaneh), Al Jazeera producer in occupied West Bank
• Imran Khan (@ajimran), Al Jazeera senior correspondent

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by David Enders, Miranda Lin and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

Gaza’s hospitals are under immense stress as patients and doctors grapple with the unprecedented Israeli order for 1.1 million people to leave Northern Gaza, all during massive bombardment. The scale of carnage would put any health system in the world under stress, but the situation is even more dire for Gaza’s hospitals, which have been deprived for over a decade of basic supplies, staff and maintenance due to years of Israeli blockade. Now with the electricity grid shut down and fuel and water supplies dwindling, hospitals are on the verge of total collapse. 

In this episode: 

• Meinie Nicolai, Director General of Doctors Without Borders (@MSF)
• Ghassan Abu Sittah (@GhassanAbuSitt1), surgeon at Al Shifa hospital
• Belal Aldabbour (@Belalmd12), neurologist
• Mahmoud Shalabi, Medical Aid for Palestinians program manager in Gaza (@MedicalAidPal)

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan, Miranda Lin, Sarí el-Khalili, and Sonia Bhagat, with our host Malika Bilal.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

Introducing 'Another Take' – joining you now every Saturday and Sunday, revisiting stories we’ve done that are in the news again. 

This episode was originally published on June 14, 2021.

The Palestinian group Hamas doesn't fit neatly into the labels some try to fit them into — terrorist, freedom fighter, armed group, political party. On the anniversary of Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, we're looking at the past, present, and future of the group, and most importantly, its impact on people living in the territory.

In this episode: 

• Khaled Al Hroub, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwestern University Qatar and author of two books about Hamas
• Mohammad Alsaafin (@malsaafin), Senior Producer at AJ+

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Amy Walters. The original production team was Priyanka Tilve, Alexandra Locke, Dina Kesbeh, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Stacey Samuel, Negin Owliaei, Tom Fenton, and Malika Bilal. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Introducing 'Another Take' – joining you now every Saturday and Sunday, revisiting stories we’ve done that are in the news again. Today’s Another Take is from Gaza, but it’s a side we rarely see. 

This episode was originally published on February 14, 2020.

When the so-called deal of the century normalized relations between Israel and Bahrain and the UAE – in Gaza, all that felt a world away. But back in 2020, there was a moment of relief – an understanding between Israel and Hamas, the group that's run Gaza since 2007 – that gave Gazans a bit of relief. And the signs were in the strawberries. Today, we’re revisiting a story from Gaza that doesn’t usually make headlines.

In this episode: 

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Alexandra Locke. The original production team was Priyanka Tilve, Alexandra Locke, Dina Kesbeh, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Stacey Samuel, Negin Owliaei, Tom Fenton, and Malika Bilal. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza appears all but set to begin. It’s an invasion that the military has been preparing for since October 7, when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack. That attack was described as a massive failure for a country touted to have some of the best intelligence in the world. So where was that Israeli intelligence? And how did that same intelligence inform Israel's decision to invade Gaza now?

In this episode: 

• Youmna ElSayed (@YoumnaElSayed17), Al Jazeera Gaza correspondent
• Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_), Journalist and photographer for +972 Magazine
• Hugh Lovatt (@h_lovatt), Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations
• Mohannad Sabri (@mmsabry), Journalist and Author of “Sinai: Egypt's Linchpin, Gaza's Lifeline, Israel's Nightmare”
• Antony Loewenstein (@antloewenstein), Author of ‘The Palestine Laboratory’

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with David Enders, Ashish Malhotra, and Kevin Hirten, in for our host Malika Bilal. Farhinisa Campana fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

As the war on Gaza rages, we’re looking at how the media covers it, in conversation with three people in the US, UK and Canada, all with media experience in those countries. We discuss the struggles they’ve faced when it comes to accurate information and narratives on Palestine and Israel, and what has and has not changed in this latest escalation of violence.

You can find this on YouTube here.

In this episode:

• Omar Baddar (@OmarBaddar), Political analyst
• Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar), Contributing Editor, Novara Media
• Pacinthe Mattar (@Pacinthe), Asper Fellow in Media at Western University, former CBC journalist

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra, Fahrinisa Campana, Sonia Bhagat and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

The new Israeli unity government is the clearest sign yet of how the Hamas offensive has brought together a fractured political scene. It put a stop to weekly anti-government protests that threatened to topple a government among the most radical in its history, and for Israelis, it's prompted grief, outrage, and an unrestrained military response. Now, Israel’s military is preparing a record 300,000 army reservists for a ground war in Gaza. But anger over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to protect its citizens remains. So as the country prepares for more conflict, where will that anger go?

In this episode: 

• Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_), Photojournalist, 972 Magazine
• Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ), Senior Israel analyst, International Crisis Group
• Dror Sadot (@dror_sadot), Spokesperson, B’Tselem 

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by David Enders, Khaled Soltan and our host Malika Bilal. Sonia Bhagat and Sarí el-Khalili fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook