Occupied Thoughts

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Shaul Magid and Zev Mishell about their new book, Jewish Anti-Zionism: A Historical Anthology (Princeton University Press 2026). They discuss the definitions of Zionism and anti-Zionism, the history of Jewish opposition to Zionism, and how those arguments have been projected into the present day.  Shaul Magid is Professor of Modern Judaism in Residence at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of many books, including Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical (Princeton) and The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance, and the translator of Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology: The Major Writings of Yoel Teitelbaum. Zev Mishell is a writer, activist, and graduate student at Harvard University’s Committee on the Study of Religion. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Hebron resident & activist Issa Amro about what is happening now in the West Bank and specifically in Hebron, where Israel recently launched a major incursion that forced thousands of people from their homes. They discuss how Israel's behavior in Hebron has changed and the impact of settler outposts moving into Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank (Area B). They also discuss what kind of international sanctions can end Israel's occupation. Issa recently published this article, "In Hebron, Netanyahu is turning displacement into an election spectacle," in +972 Magazine.  Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights defender, engineer, and nonviolent activist from Hebron in the occupied West Bank. He is the founder of Youth Against Settlements and the Executive Director of Working for Peace and Justice in the Middle East. He has written articles and opinion pieces for many international media outlets, including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, openDemocracy, The Nation, The Huffington Post, The Forward, Mondoweiss, and Amnesty International UK. Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNOW Political Commentator. His newest book (published 2025) is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. He publishes regularly on https://peterbeinart.substack.com/. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay of Rabbis for a Ceasefire and Oriel Eisner of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. They talk about the activists who join with Palestinians in the West Bank, especially now during the olive harvest, looking at the difference in the framing of “protective presence” versus solidarity work. They discuss the nature of Israel settler violence and its impact on Palestinian livelihoods and look at the possible role of sanctions in producing a different future in Palestine/Israel. Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay serves as the Dean of Religious Life and Chaplain at Grinnell College in Iowa. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is part of Rabbis for Ceasefire. Oriel Eisner is an Israeli-American activist and organizer living in Jerusalem. He is an on-the-ground organizer with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor.

In this episode of FMEP's Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Palestinian writer, scholar, and activist Tareq Baconi about his new book: What Now, On Palestine, Freedom and Our Global Future. The conversation examines Palestinian self-determination versus what it means for Jewish Israelis and Zionists to call for self determination. It also covers decolonization and what liberation could mean in Palestine and beyond. Check out Tareq's new book, What Now, On Palestine, Freedom and Our Global Future, here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668250551

Barred from Knesset Elections: Sami Abu Shehadeh on the State of Israeli "Democracy" In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Sami Abu Shehadeh, the leader of the Balad Party who was recently told by the Supreme Court that he would be deemed a terrorist and banned from running in the upcoming Knesset elections. Hear Sami explain why he decided to resign from Knesset, and what he makes of Israeli "democracy." For resources and bios, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/barred-from-knesset-elections-sami-abu-shehadeh-on-the-state-of-israeli-democracy

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with journalist Dalia Hatuqa about what's really going on in the West Bank. They discuss the settlers who are moving into new areas of the West Bank, why the Palestinian Authority doesn’t try to stop settler violence, and how the Israel army and the settlers have converged.  Dalia Hatuqa is a multimedia journalist specializing in Israeli/Palestinian affairs, and regional Middle East issues as they pertain to business and economics, culture, art and U.S. foreign policy. She also writes about religion, minorities and immigration in the U.S. You can read her work in major outlets around the world, including the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, NPR, BBC, the New York Review of Books, The Economist, Time, the Nation, the Intercept, Jewish Currents, the Guardian, and Al Jazeera, to name just a few. You can see her full bio and a compendium of her work at https://www.daliahatuqa.com Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNOW Political Commentator. His newest book (published 2025) is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. He publishes regularly on https://peterbeinart.substack.com/. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with journalist & researcher Mahmoud Mushtaha and researcher & writer Muhammad Shehada about the new Israeli documentary NAZA. All three are from Gaza; Mahmoud survived the genocide, leaving Gaza for the UK in 2024. They discuss Israeli impunity and the goal of the wholesale destruction of Gaza, and they articulate criticisms of the film. Also see Mahmoud's review of NAZA for +972 Magazine, "The moment a human life becomes ‘collateral damage’" (Sept 11, 2026). Mahmoud Mushtaha is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, currently based in the UK, where he completed an MA in Global Media and Communication. He is the author of Sobrevivir al genocidio en Gaza (“Surviving the Genocide in Gaza”), his first book, published in Spanish. Muhammad Shehada is a Gazan researcher, writer, and human rights advocate and a visiting fellow with ECFR’s Middle East and North Africa programme. His work focuses on investigating human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, and more broadly in the Middle East and Europe, with an emphasis on the treatment of migrants, refugees, and civilians in conflict zones. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak about B'Tselem's newest report, "The Elimination Project," which "looks at the current reality not as a collection of isolated incidents or specific harms, but as part of a comprehensive mechanism of elimination that works to dismantle the conditions for continued Palestinian existence in the West Bank, while deepening Jewish control and supremacy in an irreversible manner." Yuli and Ahmed discuss the report, which draws from more than 2,000 interviews with Palestinians since October 2023 as well as three decades of B'Tselem's work in the West Bank. They also talk about growing incitement to violence and the upcoming Israeli elections. Additional resources: Yuli Novak's recent NYT op-ed: "Israel's Elimination Project," (9/14/26) July 2026 Occupied Thoughts episode with Ahmed Moor & Yuli Novak: Born into Apartheid: The Work of Dismantling Jewish Supremacy Yuli Novak is the Executive Director of B’Tselem. From 2012-2017, she was Executive Director of Breaking the Silence. In 2022, she published (in Hebrew) the memoir Who Do You Think You Are?, which will be published in English in 2027. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with poet & physician Fady Joudah about Fady's new book, Exhibit G, which was released today by Milkweed Press and named on the 2026 National Book Award's Long List for Poetry They discuss the book's poetry, prose poems, and photographs, most of which come from the Gaza Soup Kitchen, and how Fady uses these to communicate the language and experience of daily living during this genocide. Fady asks, "what it is that Palestinians speak in a time like this?," and points to the ways that he and other Palestinian writers and artists are addressing an erasure of Palestinian life and society that has existed for decades and been ignored until the genocide made the erasure impossible to deny. Fady and Ahmed discuss the mulitfaceted nature of gaining accolades and exposure for the book and the growth of solidarity with Palestinians as these come "at the cost of genocide." Fady articulates "the condition of being Palestinian in English," in which Palestinians are "starved...for any kind of believability." Finally, Ahmed and Fady talk about Fady's background -- born in the United States to Nakba-refugee parents who grew up in Gaza and raised in Libya and Saudi Arabia, with extensive and extended family in Gaza -- and his love of poetry and deep attachment to Arabic.  Fady Joudah is the author of […], a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Exhibit G. Exhibit G was released on September 22, 2026, by Milkweed Press: https://milkweed.org/book/exhibit-g Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com and on X at @AhmedMoor. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of FMEP's Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with historian and author Dr. Assal Rad about the media's role in the Gaza genocide, and about her newly-published book on this topic, "Don’t Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide." [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/834977/dont-say-palestine-by-assal-rad/]. For resources related to this podcast, go to: www.fmep.org