Israel is about to hold its fourth parliamentary election in the past two years. The last time Israelis went to the polls, in March 2020, the Joint List — a coalition of four Arab Palestinian political parties — won an unprecedented 15 seats in the Knesset. But since then, the Joint List has fractured. Why? And what does this mean for the future of Palestinian politics? Producer Max Freedman speaks with Anan Maalouf, former chief of staff and policy advisor to Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List ...
Mar 08, 2021•34 min•Ep. 40
“So it becomes this dance of cameras where the whole goal of the Palestinian camera is to document a human rights violation, to take back some kind of power. And the goal of the Israeli camera is to block that power from being taken through vision.” — Liat Berdugo B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, has been running its Camera Distribution Project since the early 2000s. The project distributes video camcorders to Palestinians, training them in documentation, and building an archive o...
Feb 22, 2021•31 min•Ep. 39
In recent years, a term has emerged in leftist activist circles: “progressive except for Palestine,” or “PEP” for short. It describes a person whose values and political leanings are consistent across issues of racial justice, homophobia, healthcare, immigration and more—but on Palestine, they are either silent, or actively hostile to a progressive point of view. It’s a worldview that permeates media spaces, academia, and Washington. What causes the progressive exception for Palestine, and are w...
Feb 08, 2021•37 min•Ep. 38
President Joe Biden campaigned on the idea that he'd bring the country back to “normal.” But that message has raised some eyebrows, as many have pointed out that America’s “normal” doesn’t necessarily mean good, or right. In this episode of Unsettled, producer Ilana Levinson interviews Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace , about what is considered normal U.S. foreign policy on Israel-Palestine, the relationships with Israeli and Palestinian leaders that Biden inherit...
Jan 25, 2021•37 min•Ep. 37
Samiha Hureini is a university student from the village of a-Tuwani, in the South Hebron Hills. She is one of the founders of Youth of Sumud , a group of young people who came together to defend their community in the wake of a dramatic direct action (chronicled in the very first episode of Unsettled ). In this interview with producer Max Freedman, Samiha explains how Youth of Sumud has maintained a Palestinian presence in the caves of Sarura despite the constant threat of violence from soldiers...
Jan 11, 2021•23 min•Ep. 36
"Five years ago, Jeremy Corbyn brought Palestine solidarity politics into the heart of the largest left-wing party in Europe. And [his leadership has] ended with criticisms of the occupation being untenable in British politics." How did this happen? The unlikely election of Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour Party in 2015 appeared to signal the renewed political viability of both socialism and Palestine solidarity. But under Corbyn's leadership, Labour was consumed by a series of anti-semitism sca...
Dec 28, 2020•38 min•Ep. 35
When we first pitched our documentary "The shepherd and the settler" to be part of the "Rulebreakers" series on the BBC World Service, we started with a question: What are the rules, exactly, where Palestinian shepherds and Israeli settlers live side-by-side? Who makes the rules, and who’s breaking them? To better understand the legal landscape in the occupied West Bank, we turned to Noura Erakat: a human rights attorney, a scholar of law in the Middle East, and the author of Justice for Some: L...
Nov 19, 2020•24 min•Ep. 34
Amiel Vardi is a professor of Classics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the founders of a grassroots movement called Ta'ayush : Israelis and Palestinians striving together to end the Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily non-violent direct action. Amiel was with our producer Max Freedman when he visited Rashash to report "The shepherd and the settler" for the BBC World Service . Listen to the full documentary, then return to this episode to learn mor...
Oct 29, 2020•30 min•Ep. 33
We're back with another extended interview from "The shepherd and the settler," produced by the Unsettled team for the BBC World Service. Aviv Tatarsky is a researcher for Ir Amim and one of the founders of Engaged Dharma Israel . Aviv was with our producer Max Freedman when he visited Rashash to report "The shepherd and the settler." Listen to the full documentary to hear Aviv's close encounter with a settler on an ATV, then return to this episode to learn about how Aviv uses meditation to chal...
Oct 22, 2020•26 min•Ep. 32
This is the first in a series of extended interviews from "The shepherd and the settler," produced by the Unsettled team for the BBC World Service. Muhammad Jahaleen is a 30-year-old Bedouin shepherd in the occupied West Bank, living with his family in a remote place called Rashash. Listen to "The shepherd and the settler," then return to this episode for more of Muhammad's story and more details about his life under threat from the settlement next door. Unsettled is produced by Asaf Calderon, E...
Oct 15, 2020•26 min•Ep. 31
Unsettled producer Max Freedman spends the day in Rashash, a small herding community in the West Bank, with a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad. Muhammad's family has been herding sheep and goats in Rashash for 30 years, and in Palestine for generations. But since Israeli settlers recently moved in nearby, it has become difficult for Muhammad to graze his flock undisturbed. After watching this conflict in action, Max sets out to understand what he saw in Rashash. "The shepherd and the settler" ori...
Sep 23, 2020•27 min•Ep. 30
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn is one of the most iconic historically Black neighborhoods in the United States. But Bed-Stuy is changing. Fifty years ago, schools in Bed-Stuy's District 16 were so overcrowded that students went to school in shifts. Today, they're half-empty. Why? "School Colors" is a new podcast from Unsettled producer Max Freedman exploring how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools. Listen to the first episode here, then find "School Colors" in your podcast app...
Sep 27, 2019•44 min
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip shapes people’s lives in many different ways. In this episode, we focus on the chronic energy shortage. Because energy is needed for much more than turning on the lights; water, sewage, and hospitals, schools, farms, and factories — they all depend on a steady supply of electricity. First, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, to learn why Gaza’s energy infrastructure can only meet about half of the demand. Then, the story ...
Apr 01, 2019•34 min•Ep. 29
Too many conversations about Gaza begin and end with one word: Hamas. And conversations about Hamas too often rely on reductive talking points. In this episode, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of the new book Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance . They discuss the origins of Hamas, its position in the Palestinian political landscape, and its governance of the Gaza Strip. This episode was produced and edited by Max Freedman. Fact-checking by ...
Feb 25, 2019•51 min•Ep. 28
Hilmi Hammad was 18 years old in 1948 when Israeli forces entered his village. He became one of about 200,000 Palestinian refugees who ended up in the Gaza Strip at the end of the 1948 war. The site where Hilmi's village once stood is located today in the center of Israel, and though Hilmi has spent his life in Gaza, his home is still in that village, to which he hopes to return. In the second episode of Gaza, a series from Unsettled, we hear from Hilmi and his son Isam. Isam was born in Gaza an...
Feb 04, 2019•37 min•Ep. 27
American and Israeli politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries met in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 to mark the United States moving its embassy there. While they celebrated with songs about peace, thousands of Palestinians assembled at the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip for the Great March of Return. This mass demonstration was originally planned to last six weeks, but has continued to this day. How did it all begin, and who are the protestors that continue to risk their live...
Jan 14, 2019•33 min•Ep. 26
In January, Unsettled is launching a series about the Gaza Strip. As Gaza has kept coming up in the news this past year, you’ve probably had questions - and so have we. Why did thousands of people risk so much to take part in the Great March of Return? Why does a majority of the population identify as refugees, even many who were born in Gaza? How are Gazans innovating in order to survive? How can art be used to upend conventional narratives about Gaza and its people? These are just a few of the...
Dec 20, 2018•3 min•Ep. 25
> I feel like in some ways, for the first time in my life, I’m standing on my own two feet. Because I know the truth about where I’m from. A few years ago, you would have found Ita Segev in the Israeli army, training to patrol the West Bank. Today, Ita is a transfeminine performance artist and anti-Zionist activist in New York City. In this episode, Ita tells her story: how gender and Zionism shaped her early years, and how learning the truth about her home created space to understand and exp...
Oct 15, 2018•40 min•Ep. 24
The Nation-State Law is actually affirming a lot of the practices that were in place for decades. In many ways, it’s nothing particularly new, and the right wing is just making it more explicit. The center-left wants to keep it delicate enough so that you maintain that democratic image. For Palestinian citizens of Israel, these two debates are unacceptable. We’re not looking for an overt system that legitimizes our inequality, and we’re not looking for a delicate system either that still legiti...
Jul 24, 2018•22 min•Ep. 23
If every time a child does something we detain them, we destroy their future, we make them basically dreamless young men. This is how Palestinian children who go through the system become. — Yazan Meqbil On December 19, 2017 Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi was arrested after slapping an Israeli soldier on her family's property. She was taken from her home in the middle of the night, interrogated without an adult present, and eventually signed a plea deal and was sentenced to eight months in p...
Jun 13, 2018•37 min•Ep. 22
For the last three weeks, my Nakba was losing my best friends, covering the march with their press-marked vest. Every week, every day I have like personal Nakba, and this is the case with every Palestinian. With every Palestinian around the world, they have their own Nakba. — Ahmed Mansour Every year, when Israelis and many American Jews celebrate the creation of the state of Israel, Palestinians remember their people’s expulsion, or what they refer to as the "Nakba," the Arabic word for catas...
May 14, 2018•27 min•Ep. 21
Israel is now turning 70, and for 70 years we’ve brought in millions of Jewish refugees from all over the world. And now, for the first time in 2000 years that we have some kind of Jewish sovereignty and we have a political body that is able to protect others, we have non-Jews seeking asylum in the Jewish state. If Israel sends off my Eritrean and Sudanese friends to Africa...if I haven’t done everything in my power as a human being and as a Jew to stop it, I don’t know if I’ll be able to live ...
Feb 16, 2018•39 min•Ep. 19
With your help, from online donations and our fundraising party, we made $3,233: more than a thousand dollars more than our goal! We’re humbled by your support, and more committed than ever to continuing this work and growing the audience for it. We’ll be back next week with a full episode, about African asylum-seekers in Israel -- tens of thousands of whom are at risk of being deported. Here’s a preview of our interview with Sudanese refugee and activist Mutasim Ali.
Feb 06, 2018•4 min
Exciting news: if you’re in the New York City area, Unsettled is throwing a party -- this weekend! You can help support the podcast, and meet other Unsettled listeners, by joining us for #GetUnsettled this Saturday, February 3rd, at Starr Bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Tickets are just $5 in advance or at the door. We’ll have Unsettled merch, including stickers and t-shirts, and there will be a raffle with amazing prizes: a signed copy of Dov Waxman ’s book, Trouble in the Tribe ; the new album by D...
Jan 29, 2018•5 min•Ep. 17
We are so thankful and excited to announce that over the past two weeks, we have made it just over halfway to our fundraising goal ! No matter the amount, each donation will help us continue this work. If you've learned something new from listening to Unsettled, if your views have been challenged, if you want to hear more, or all of the above -- please visit gofundme.com/unsettledpodcast and donate $18, or whatever makes sense for you. This week's featured story comes from our listener Rivka M....
Jan 22, 2018•8 min•Ep. 16
We're back with another listener story, part of our January fundraising campaign to support the future of Unsettled. In just the first week, we've raised over 700 dollars! Thanks to you, we're on our way to reaching our goal of $2018 in the first month of 2018 . In this episode, Unsettled listener Toby Irving explains what brings her to a critical conversation about Israel-Palestine. If you think it's important to create a space for this conversation, please visit our fundraising campaign and do...
Jan 16, 2018•5 min•Ep. 15
We're launching our first-ever fundraising campaign for Unsettled! Donate now to help us raise $2018 in the first month of 2018. These funds will support our operations and growth, including: keeping our website running, editing software, recording equipment, and access to a sound studio. To accompany this campaign, each week in the month of January we’ll release a personal story submitted by one of our listeners. We asked you: Why are you here? How did you get engaged in this conversation and w...
Jan 08, 2018•6 min•Ep. 14
I believe in the liberation of the people of Palestine, and I believe in the liberation of the Jewish people. And those things are not just not mutually exclusive, they require each other. — Dan Fishback This is a bonus episode featuring extra content from our December 4th episode on Cultural Resistance . Playwright and musician Dan Fishback explains the difference between boycott and censorship, why he uses the word "apartheid" to describe Israel-Palestine, and why he wants to start identifyi...
Dec 29, 2017•14 min•Ep. 13
So if you want to really learn what Jerusalem is and what happens here, come here and go to both sides. Come here and talk to Palestinians. — Leena Dallasheh This is the sixth installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For this episode, Unsettled producer Emily Bell interviewed Leena Dallasheh, assistant professor of history at Humboldt State University. They spoke about what East Jerusalem is like for its Pa...
Dec 22, 2017•17 min•Ep. 12
When nobody’s happy, you know you did the right thing. Especially if you’re a centrist. — Rabbi Steven Wernick This is the fifth installment of a special miniseries responding to the U.S. President's decision on December 6 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For this episode, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson spoke to Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which serves and represents Conservative congregations across North America. On December 8...
Dec 14, 2017•19 min•Ep. 11
