End of the Empire with Professor Maura Finkelstein

This week Lara and Michael discuss the uprisings in LA and the solidarity seen at the protests. We also cover updates around the groundbreaking lawsuit brought by pod alum Damia Taharraoui which seeks to hold Israeli/French citizens accountable for genocide in French courts. 

Lara and Michael sit down separately this week. Lara reads from her submission on the political economy of the Gaza genocide prepared as part of her work for the Gaza Tribunal's Sarajevo session and Michael talks about being digitally disappeared from Instagram by one of Meta's main executives who used to work for the Israeli government as part of an application-wide sweep of several accounts speaking about Palestinian rights  

This week Lara and Michael cover the Israeli continued forced starvation campaign against the Palestinian people for the last two months which serves as an escalation of its ongoing genocidal campaign. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Professor Maura Finkelstein, a formerly tenured professor who was one of the first people targeted in academics after the Al Aqsa Flood. Maura is one of the many Jewish antizionist voices that rejects normalization. We discuss academic repression, the disappearance of students for political affiliations, and the horrors we see coming out of the genocide in Palestine every single day. 

This week Lara and Michael discuss the unilateral breakdown of the ceasefire by the zionist entity. We cover the Israeli massacres on the Palestinian people during Eid, and how it's all connected to the state-sponsored disappearances of students protesting the genocide in Turtle Island. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with the acclaimed Palestinian researcher, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, a Nakba survivor who has dedicated his life to the Palestinian liberation struggle. Dr. Salman Abu Sitta is the founder and President of the Palestine Land Society in London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and people. He is the author of over 400 articles and papers on Palestine, as well as several books. Notable among them is a series of atlases documenting Palestine at different time periods including Atlas of Palestine 1948, Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966, Atlas of Palestine 1871-1877, The Return Journey Atlas, and the Atlas of Palestine; Land Theft by the Jewish National Fund. He is most known for mapping Palestine and developing a practical plan for implementing the right of return for Palestinian refugees. More details about Dr. Abu Sitta's work can be found at www.plands.org. 

This week, we discuss the bizarre declaration by Milekowsky (aka Netanyahu) that he is proudly committing war crimes by imposing a total siege on the Gaza Strip cutting of all food, medication, fuel, and other aid from entering the besieged territory. We also refer to a number of the Israeli violations of Phase 1 of the ceasefire and cover the onslaught of colonial violence in the West Bank dubbed Operation Iron Wall as well as other stories from the last few weeks. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Lena El-Malak a Palestinian-British author and lawyer to discuss her new book, Stolen Nation. 

This week, Lara and Michael do a deep dive into the kidnapping and torture of Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Edwan Hospital, and a Pediatrician by Israeli occupation forces starting in late December 2024, following months of steadfastness and advocacy aimed at stopping Israeli attacks on the hospital and ending Israel's siege on the Northern part of Gaza. Lara critiques mainstream media's reporting of his abduction and Michael reminds that mainstream media has been used as a tool to whitewash the crimes of the Global North, by providing historical and contemporary examples. Lara and Michael call for the urgent release of Dr. Abu Safiya, all healthcare workers, and the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held unjustly by Israel. 

This week Lara and Michael sit down with Mansoor Adayfi, a Yemeni citizen who was wrongfully kidnapped at the age of 18, sold to the CIA, and spent 15 years in Guantanamo before being released without charge or trial. After surviving the torture and terrorism of the United States government, Mansoor is now working tirelessly for accountability in accordance with international law, including an apology, reparations, and the closure of the torture facility where 15 detainees remain, their fates unknown. Released in parallel with the 23rd anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay, this episode hopes to contribute to the urgent campaign to close this abomination of the US so-called "War on Terror." For more on Mansoor's experiences, check out his book "Don't Forget US Here".