Real Talk

'You will lose everything.'That was Saudi King Faisal's warning to American oil executives in 1973. But Washington didn't listen. Months later, Saudi Arabia led an Arab oil embargo that nearly quadrupled the price of oil, drained petrol stations across America and pushed Washington to weigh seizing Gulf oil fields by force.And at the heart of it all was America’s unconditional support for Israel. Mohamed Hashem unpacks the story of the oil embargo of 1973 which shook the global energy market. This is Real Talk: Explained.

'Obama’s first term was sort of a hinge moment. It was when the old bipartisan pro-Israel consensus... began to visibly crack.'How did the pro-Israel lobby shape Obama's Middle East policy during his two terms in office? Mohamed Hashem speaks to Eli Clifton, co-founder of the Quincy Institute and co-author of Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

'Iraq didn't have a Jewish problem.'Avi Shlaim is one of the most celebrated historians on Israel-Palestine. The Oxford Emeritus Professor was born into an Arab Jewish family in Baghdad, Iraq.At five years old, his family moved to Israel, where he felt he was treated as a second-class Israeli due to his Arab background.In this Real Talk interview, Avi sits down with Mohamed Hashem to speak about his life story, growing up as an Arab Jew inside Israel, his journey from Zionist to 'fierce' anti-Zionism, and why he now believes the two-state solution was never even born.

"It's my burden. I was born into it."Eyal Weizman is a leading architect, author, and the founder of Forensic Architecture, whose evidence has fed directly into South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.His new book, Ungrounding, traces the destruction of Gaza back to the Nakba of 1948 and argues that what's happening there today isn't a rupture, but a continuation of decades of dispossession.In this Real Talk interview, Eyal sits down with Mohamed Hashem about the founding of Forensic Architecture, the argument at the heart of his new book, and how he holds all of it against his own Israeli identity.

'Nothing for me is worth selling my soul.’ Hala Rharrit spent 18 years as a US diplomat, most recently serving as the State Department's Arabic language spokesperson. In the wake of the Gaza genocide, she was tasked with defending America’s Gaza policy to the Arab world. She refused and soon quit. In this Real Talk interview, Hala sits down with Mohamed Hashem about what she saw from inside the Biden administration, and what she makes of former Biden officials now claiming they should have done more.

'You cannot run in a Democratic primary as a pro-Israel candidate and not get destroyed.’ AIPAC poured nearly $15 million to unseat Jamaal Bowman in 2024, making it the most expensive House primary in US history at the time.The former Congressman joins Mohamed Hashem on Real Talk to break down what the progressive wave, including Abdul El-Sayed's primary win in Michigan. means for the Democratic Party, and what's next for AIPAC's millions in US elections.

'That pro-Netanyahu, pro-Likud crowd have been gunning for me for 25 years’ Trita Parsi, political analyst and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, joins Mohamed Hashem on Real Talk to respond to the campaign against him, including calls for his deportation from the US, and explains why it backfired.

"I am now getting death threats from registered Telegraph readers."Misan Harriman is a widely celebrated photographer and activist. He’s also the first Black male photographer to shoot the cover of British Vogue, and the director of an Oscar-nominated short film. His work has spanned at least three continents, documenting protest movements from the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 to the pro-Palestine marches in London.In this conversation on Real Talk, Mohamed Hashem joins Harriman at Hope 93, a gallery in London, to discuss his work, his activism, and what happened when he turned his lens to Palestine.Harriman also opens up about the right-wing outlets that have been accused of a coordinated smear campaign against him, and where it left him.

Fadi Kattan is a renowned Palestinian chef from Bethlehem and the co-founder of Akub, one of London's most celebrated Palestinian restaurants.In this conversation on Real Talk, Fadi invites Mohamed Hashem into his restaurant to talk about Palestinian food,Israel's appropriation of Palestinian cuisine, and why food is one of the most powerful tools of cultural survival.All while Mohamed attempts to cook musakhan for the first time, under Fadi's supervision.

"You got me to talk about things I don't talk about normally."Daniel Levy is a former Israeli negotiator who served under two prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak. Today, the British-born analyst and president of the US Middle East Project is one of the most prominent voices heavily critical of Israel's actions against Palestinians.But in this conversation on Real Talk, Daniel Levy speaks to Mohamed Hashem about his own journey. From an Orthodox Zionist upbringing in North London, to sitting at the negotiating table with Palestinians, to where he stands today.