This conversation discusses Muna's recent paper in The Journal of Palestine Studies titled "For Palestinians, Even Death Is No Escape from Israel’s Violence"

The paper discusses how Israel uses the Palestinian corpse as a central site of control and violence throughout decades of Palestinian political mobilization, and that it has converged the range of crimes it carries out against the dead in its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Parsi’s latest book – Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy (Yale University Press, 2017) – reveals the “behind the scenes” story to the nuclear deal with Iran.

He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East.

He has been named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 25 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington DC for five years in a row since 2021, and preeminent public intellectual Noam Chomsky calls Parsi “one of the most distinguished scholars on Iran.”

"Opinions expressed in this conversation are personal and do NOT reflect the opinions or policy of the University of Sydney."

John Keane is a Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney. His latest book is ‘Thinking About Democracy in Turbulent Times’: Sorbonne Lectures (2025). His ‘Open Letter on Israel, Palestine, Genocide and Toleration’ helped trigger the lawfare case against him and Nick Riemer.

Dr Nick Reimer is a Linguistics academic at the University of Sydney and a long-time participant in the Palestine solidarity movement in Australia. He is the author of ‘Boycott Theory and the Struggle for Palestine’ (2023), on the academic boycott of Israel.

Dr Ghada reflected on the ongoing genocide in Palestine, provided commentary on the recent recognition of the state of Palestine by some Western countries and gave us a few cues on how to mobilise for an envisioned free and liberated Palestine. 

What does it mean for the Palestinians that some of the major Western countries, including France, UK and Australia, intend to recognise the state of Palestine this month?

How significant is the recent UN report as well as the voting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars voting that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza?

What are the consequence of Israel bombing Hamas delegation in Doha?

The conversation explores the following important questions:

- What is the relationship between the secular nationalist ideology of Zionism and the theological concept of the restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land of Palestine?

- How did evangelical Christians and Jews manage to unite over support for Zionism and Israel despite the vast theological, political, and cultural differences? 

- How did Christian Zionism use the Western Judeo-Christian identity to entrench the geopolitical realities of the settler colonial project in Palestine? 

- Why have many Western religious institutions been silent over the genocide in Gaza or indeed have sided with Israel?

A former senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa and author of many books including “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” and “Lobbying for Zionism on both sides of the Atlantic”.

Margie Pestorius is a long time activist a co-founders of “Wage Peace”. She has been involved in anti-military work since the first gulf war. In 2016 she walked into Pine Gap to oppose the use of Pine Gap as a military operation base for war crimes.

Lil Barto has been organising for eight years across climate, anti-militarist, First Nations justice and abolitionist movements.

Discussion with renowned Australian journalist Wendy Bacon and Yaakov Aharon. 

Wendy Bacon is an independent investigative journalist and lifelong radical activist. She has investigated miscarriages of justice, deaths in custody, News Corp’s coverage of climate change, urban developments, police corruption and most recently astroturfing in the 2025 Federal election.

Yaakov Aharon is new to journalism, having come from a background of activism. Yaakov brings unique perspectives to the Palestinian struggle, credited to his political journey away from the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish and pro-Israel education of his youth. His research concerns the Israel lobby, Jewish community, party politics, and the arms trade.

Yara completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, where she taught various undergraduate courses and continues to be an honorary research fellow.

In addition to her academic work, which focused on indigenous studies and oral history, she is a frequent political commentator writing for various media outlets including The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Al Jazeera English.

Host of 'Rethinking Palestine' podcast.

He spoke about the ‘rise’ of anti-Semitism in Australia and the recent Universities Australia (UA) endorsement of the new controversial anti-Semitism definition.

During this interview Peter, he inadvertently misquoted Randa Abdel Fattah's words in an interview she conducted with Mondoweiss. The recording [https://youtu.be/LuA59Tu6yZk?si=AeLd05JcUbTWT6l8] from 5:00-5:34 shows the exact phrase she used was 'Zionist Jews', not 'Jews'. 

Randa has been consistent in using the words 'Zionist' or 'Jewish Zionists', and never referred to Jews alone.  In doing so she was making a clear distinction between those who subscribe to the political ideology of Zionism, and Jews as Jews. 

Peter wants to emphasize he is a member of the Jewish community, and uses the term Jew to ask his Jewish kin to reflect and feel discomfort about the crimes being done in their name.

Former Principal Political Affairs Officer with the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria

Her coedited book, Race and the Question of Palestine, is forthcoming with Stanford University Press in June 2025.

Dr. Lana spoke about the current state of affairs in Palestine and how it reflects on the local Australian political, academic and social atmosphere.

"Nagham of Gaza" is a documentary and a theatrical play written and directed by Palestinian award-winning filmmaker Ala'a Al Qaisi, that chronicles Nagham Abu Samra's life.

In this conversation, Ala'a engages with Marwan Abu Samra, Nagham's father, to talk about the life of Nagham, his loss, and why it is important to amplify her story through art and film.

Some parts of the conversation are in Arabic, translated by the interviewer.

A Nakba survivor and author of “Atlas of Palestine” and “Mapping my Return”.

We spoke about the Palestinian right or return and the situation in Gaza in light of the recent Trump announcement of owning Gaza and ethnically cleansing Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt.

Professor Haim is an anti-Zionist Israeli Jew. Author of ”An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Force Made a Nation”.

Author of several acclaimed books including “Irregular Army” (2012), “The Racket” (2015), and co-author (with Claire Provost) of “Silent Coup” (2023)

Matt was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London, UK. He worked as a staff writer for the Financial Times in Washington, DC, New York, and London.

Her grandfather, Khaled Nabhan, was killed last week in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. He’s finally reunited with Reem: the soul of his soul.

Rest in power Reem and Khaled. We will always remember you.

Tony’s recent book published in 2022 titled “Zionism During the Holocaust: The weaponization of memory in the service of state and nation” is an incredible reference for those who wish to learn about the dark and ugly history of Zionism in the early twentieth century, and during the first and the second world wars.

Rami is a Harvard Nieman Journalism Fellow, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Arab East Jerusalem, a senior fellow at the Arab Centre Washington, DC, a regular contributor to Aljazeera online, and a member of the “Just World Educational” board.

This conversation with Helena discusses the recently released book that she co-authored about the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas. The title of the book is "Understanding Hamas and why it matters".

Asa is the author of the best-selling book “Weaponizing Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn”, published in 2023.

Noura is also a Co-Founding Editor of Jadaliyya, an electronic magazine on the Middle East that combines scholarly expertise and local knowledge.

She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019).

Stephen's PhD thesis examined the historical roots, theological basis and political consequences of Christian Zionism in Britain and the USA from 1820. He is the author of “Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon” and “Zion’s Christian Soldiers: The Bible, Israel and the Church”. 

Stephen has written a summary of his book “Zion’s Christian Soldiers: The Bible, Israel and the Church”, that outlines responses to biblical narratives that relate Israel to the church.

A link to a downloadable copy of this summary is available here.

A link to a downloadable copy of Stephen’s book “Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon” is available here.

Ashira Darwish has featured in the powerful film "Where Olive Trees Weep" released early 2024 which is currently being screened worldwide.

Professor Khaled is a Palestinian professor in residence of the faculty of liberal arts at North Western University in Qatar. He authored several books, including "Hamas: A Beginners Guide", "Hamas: Political Thought and Practice", and edited "Political Islam: Context versus Ideology" and "Religious Broadcasting in the Middle East".