Understanding Israel Palestine

Apr 04 2025 93 ep. 28 mins 14
Understanding Israel Palestine Podcast artwork

Understanding Israel/Palestine advocates for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. The program offers multiple perspectives through interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by mainstream media. 

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Project Esther and the Neuroscience of Solidarity

Apr 04 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text On Oct. 7, 2024 the Heritage Foundation unveiled Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Since the Trump administration took office, this document has served as the basis for the escalating crackdown on Palestine solidarity in the United States, under the guise of combating antisemitism. To unpack this document, we spoke with Dr. Yoav Litvin, auth

The Assault on Universities and Free Speech on Palestine

Mar 29 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text Margot Patterson talks to Dr. James Zogby about the Trump administration's effort to deport foreign students and scholars who have protested Israel's war on Gaza. The attempt to stifle dissent over U.S. support for Israel is part of a larger attack on free speech and academic freedom at universities that the Trump administration is waging. Pollster, Middle East schol

Image and Reality of the Gaza Genocide (Part 2)

Mar 21 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text This is the second part of a talk given by Dr. Norman Finkelstein at the University of Connecticut on February 27. The talk was sponsored by the Northeast Connecticut Gaza Peace Group. In this part, Dr. Finkelstein discusses the consequences of the horror inflicted on Gaza and makes recommendations for the tactics and strategy of the movement moving forward.

Image and Reality of the Gaza Genocide (Part 1)

Mar 14 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text This is the first part of a talk given by Dr. Norman Finkelstein at the University of Connecticut on February 27. The talk was sponsored by the Northeast Connecticut Gaza Peace Group. In this part, Dr. Finkelstein dismantles the characterization of the devastation in Gaza as a war between Israel and Hamas. To make this argument, he makes observations about the nature

Part 8 (cont) of "What Is Zionism?": The Jewish History of Anti-Zionism

Mar 09 2025 30 mins  
Send us a text Shaul Magid, visiting professor of modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, talks to Margot Patterson about the long-standing debate among Jews over Zionism and about the impact of the 1967 Six-Day War on the Zionization of American Jews. The author of several books on Jewish mysticism, radicalism and identity, Magid says anti-Zionism is a Jewish phenomenon as old

Part 8 of "What Is Zionism?" Divisions Within Zionism

Mar 01 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text Shaul Magid, visiting professor of modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, discusses his views and personal experience of Zionism, a movement that he says was from its very inception beset by internal divisions. Magid lived in Israel for a decade. He talks to Margot Patterson about the 1940s when World War II transformed Zionism from an ideology into a means of su

Part 7 of "What is Zionism?": Zionism after October 7th

Feb 21 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text What is the spectrum of Zionism in modern-day Israel? How has this changed over time, especially since October 7? And what forces are driving the continuation of the current ceasefire deal? Ori Goldberg, a political analyst and academic based in Israel, joined the show to answer these questions.

Part 6 of "What Is Zionism?": The Principles and Politics of Liberal Zionism

Feb 15 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text Historian Michael Brenner discusses the secular roots of Zionism, the stance of Liberal Zionists and the shrinking space Liberal Zionism occupies in Israel today. A professor of Jewish history and culture at the University of Munich, Brenner also holds the Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies at the American University in Washington D.C. There he is a

Part 5 of "What is Zionism:" Christian Zionism, a Theology of Western Empire

Feb 07 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text Though Christian Zionism precedes Jewish Zionism by almost two centuries, this fact is often overlooked in discussions of Palestine and Israel. In this illuminating discussion with Prof. Robert Smith (Chickasaw), he defines Christian Zionism, pinpoints its historical origins, and connects this to the interplay between theology and Western empire in the past and prese

Can the Gaza Ceasefire Last?

Jan 31 2025 28 mins  
Send us a text A retired CIA officer, senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and author of several books on U.S. foreign policy, Paul Pillar discusses his recent article on why the ceasefire in Gaza is unlikely to last. He says the political realities in Israel militate against making the ceasefire anything but a temporary pause and explain Israel