Makdisi Street
A podcast co-hosted by Saree Makdisi, Ussama Makdisi, and Karim Makdisi. Follow us on X: @MakdisiStreet Follow us on YouTube: @MakdisiStreet
"Their appetite grows with every war" w/ Aslı Ü. Bâli
The brothers welcome back Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for an intense and wide-ranging discussion of the state of the Middle East in the aftermath of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran. They discuss the potential geopolitical outcomes the apparent US strategic defeat, examine the nature and assumptions of what had been American primacy over the Gulf, the liability and costs to the US and the Middle East of the decades-long American political embrace of an Israel drunk on borrowed power and impunity, Turkey's role in the regional realignment, the question of pipelines and reso...
"FIFA is a racket" w/ Abdullah Al-Arian
With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome Abdullah Al-Arian, Chair of History at Georgetown University Qatar and editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game. We talk about how football shapes Arab identity, including the role of diaspora, and how it is instrumentalized by Arab states. We also talk about the controversies and politics of the World Cup, including the journey of Team Palestine during a genocide, and discrimination against Iran's team and fans from across the global south. We wrap by discussing the question of FIFA Eurocentrism, corruption, an...
Makdisi Street Reviews w/ Eyal Weizman
In anticipation of the publication of Eyal Weizman's new book, Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide, which will be released in the US next month, the brothers hosted a livestream with Eyal to which our Patreon supporters had access, including the opportunity to ask questions of Eyal either via the livestream chat (which we will moderate) or in advance via email.
Watch the livestream edition
https://youtu.be/EInAD1Utpgw
Date of recording: June 16, 2026
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"We should not become our own worst enemy"
The brothers discuss the latest developments in the regional war, with a special focus on Lebanon and the nature of Israeli bombardment of civilian homes, which is tied to the destruction of homes on different scales across historical Palestine since 1948. The brothers also discuss co-existence in the Mashriq region and the Zionist challenge to that.
Check out Ussama's article
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/opinion/lebanon-israel-iran-war.html
Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel
Date of recording: June 8, 2026
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"Every war ends at the negotiating table" w/ Trita Parsi
The brothers welcome Trita Parsi back to the show to discuss the status of US-Iran negotiations, the pressures of the ongoing stalemate on both sides, the prospects of an agreement given Israel's continued disruption in Lebanon and the vagaries of Trump's egotism, whether Iran can coerce a stop to Israeli aggression in Lebanon & Germany's experience of schadenfreude in the UN.
Check out Trita's Substack
https://tritaparsi.substack.com/
Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel
Date of recording: June 4, 2026
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"Only proper deterrence works"
The brothers get together for a conversation about the ongoing Israeli war on Lebanon, the meaning of deterrence, the role of Iran in Lebanon, the question of Lebanon's sovereignty, and the divisions within Lebanon about how best to defend the country and its people.
Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel
Date of recording: May 28, 2026
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Sign up at Patreon.com/MakdisiStreet to access all the bonus content, including the latest b...
"No peace and prosperity with apartheid" w/ As`ad Abukhalil
The brothers welcome Lebanese scholar and original "Angry Arab" Asad AbuKhalil, author, columnist, professor, and public intellectual. The discuss the increasing depravity of a long history of Israeli wars on Lebanon going back to 1948; why so many in Lebanon continue to put their faith in the pipe-dream of peace with a state that is actively committing genocide, the neglect of the South during the decades of alleged Lebanese prosperity in the run up to the civil war, the origins of the Dahiye, why the current Lebanese government has turned its back on resistance, and the extent to which Lebanese l...
"The Zionist project is what it has always been" w/ Jehad Abusalim
The brothers welcome to the show Jehad Abusalim, who grew up in the city of Deir el Balah in the Gaza Strip and now heads the Gaza Genocide Center. They discuss what it was like to grow up under occupation in Gaza, what normal life was like for a generation under siege, isolated and cut off from the world. They discuss the ongoing Gaza genocide, still being perpetrated by Israel (though it is no longer being covered in Western media), the conditions for yet again displaced Palestinians living in the aftermath of Israel's destruction of Gaza and in the de...
"We cannot negotiate without national consensus" w/ Michael Young
The brothers welcome to the show Michael Young, journalist and editor of the Carnegie Middle East Center's Diwan blog, to discuss the vexed and controversial question of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations against the background of the continued Israeli bombardment and occupation of Lebanese territory and the deliberate destruction of entire towns along Lebanon's southern border.
Date of recording: April 28, 2026
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Music by Hadiiiiii
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"It hasn't worked": Lebanese defiance of Zionist oppression w/ Karim, Ussama and Saree Makdisi
**Producer's note: This is a special co-published episode with Psychic Militancy, hosted by Makdisi Street guest Lara Sheehi. Make sure to subscribe to her channel if you haven't already!!**
In this episode, I sit down with Makdisi Street podcast hosts and brothers, Karim, Ussama and Saree Makdisi to discuss the current situation in Lebanon. We get into a lot, as you can imagine, including the US and Zionist interventionism in Lebanon, their attempt to foment sectarian hate and violence, internalized Arabophobia (and other potential explanations) and, importantly, how we believe they have not succeeded in whittling away soli...
"Palestine does matter" w/ Yousef Munayyer
The brothers welcome Yousef Munayyer of the Arab Center in Washington, DC to the show to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon, the role of the Zionist lobby and the nature of the relationship between the US and Israel, rapidly shifting attitudes on Israel and the Palestinians among the American public, the ferocious crackdown on dissent and protest against Israeli apartheid and genocide, and prospects for the urgent renewal of the anti-apartheid campaign for boycotts, divestments and sanctions.
Date of recording: Apr 14, 2026
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"Energy is at the heart of it" w/ Laleh Khalili
The brothers welcome University of Exeter Professor Laleh Khalili to the show to discuss the geopolitical and geoeconomic contexts of the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran, including the role of Iran and the Gulf in global energy and trade markets and circuits; shifts in international trade and finance away from circuits controlled by the US and its coercive mechanisms of financial and trade sanctions; the gradual dismantling of US sanctions regime; Iran's destruction of US bases, radar systems and other military infrastructure in and around the Gulf; the role of the Arab Gulf states; the reshaping of Gulf...
"Locking in the ethnic cleansing of 1948" w/ Omar Shakir
The brothers welcome the human rights advocate Omar Shakir to the show to discuss the legal basis for the Palestinian right of return, Israel's crime against humanity for denying the right of return, the ongoing attempt to recuperate a "good Israel" of 1948 from a "bad Israel" of 1967, the approaches and limitations of human rights work, and his recent resignation from Human Rights Watch as a result of the decision to withhold a new report on the right of return.
Date of recording: Feb 11, 2026
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"Now or never"
The brothers convene to discuss the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, the positions and alignments within Lebanon, Iran's objectives in the containing and responding to the attack, and the Israelis' sense that they are losing America and hence face a last chance opportunity to take advantage of American power to try to impose control over the region—a risky project of domination that faces considerable resistance.
Date of recording: Mar 17, 2026
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"The war in Lebanon is existential" w/ Hala Jaber
The brothers are joined by the award-winning Lebanese investigative journalist Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) to discuss the ongoing Israeli war on Lebanon in the context of the US-Israeli war on Iran, the timing of the unexpectedly strong re-emergence of Hizballah following 15 months of Israeli violations of the Nov 2024 ceasefire, the humanitarian catastrophe and displacement of hundreds of thousands from the south and the suburbs of Beirut, and the reasons for the Lebanese government's unprecedented decision to outlaw Hizbullah military and security parts even as Israel prepared for invasion.
Date of recording: Mar 11, 2026
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"The Israelis are not interested in peace" w/ Jad Ghosn
***Note: This was recorded on the eve of Israel's expansion of its ongoing bombardment and destruction of Lebanon***
The brothers welcome the Lebanese investigative journalist Jad Ghosn to the show to discuss the internal tensions and crises in Lebanon on the eve of Israel's expansion of its ongoing destruction of the country. They discuss the Lebanese sectarian system dominated by oligarchs and warlords, the financial crisis overseen by the country's bankers and politicians, who were never held to account for the ponzi scheme they ran at the expense of ordinary depositors who lost billions of dollars, the no...
"Turning West Asia into a wasteland"" w/ Ali Alizadeh
The brothers welcome the London-based Iranian analyst and journalist Ali Alizadeh to the show to discuss the history and context of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, internal dynamics within post-revolution Iran, the background of and political framework of negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, and the scope and scale of damage being inflicted by US and Israeli forces on Iran as the current war assumes an increasingly attritional character, as well as Iran's capacity to retaliate against Israel and US assets and bases in and around the Gulf.
Date of recording: Mar 4, 2026
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"Everyone was bombing Yemen" w/ Farea Al Muslimi
**Note: This was recorded before the US-Israeli aggression on Iran**
The brothers welcome Farea Al Muslimi, founder of Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, research fellow at Chatham House in London, and analyst of Yemen and wider Gulf region. We discuss the implications of the new Yemeni government formation at a time of open Saudi-UAE conflict, contextualize this within the period since the Arab uprisings and ensuing civil war and multiple international interventions that left Yemenis in a catastrophic humanitarian situation, and facing a civil and proxy war. We discuss the strategic positioning of Yemen along the Red S...
"Trump isn't just President, he is a gangster and a businessman" w/ Jeremy Scahill
The brothers welcome the investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News back to the show to discuss the looming threat of a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, the various forces driving US foreign policy, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the capacity of Palestinian steadfastness to withstand either the plan for the dystopian reduction of Gaza to a wasteland of biometric concentration camps and foreign privatization and profiteering or the ongoing Israeli drive for total annihilation.
Date of recording: Feb 26, 2026
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"Justice or Annihilation" w/ Sharif Abdel Kouddous
The brothers welcome Drop Site News journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous to the show to discuss the latest developments in Gaza, as, despite a nominal "ceasefire," Israel's genocide grinds on, and as, meanwhile, dystopian plans to remake Gaza put forward by the likes of Jared Kushner are slowly put into place, which would see Palestinians forced into biometrically controlled concentration camps as parts of the territory are plundered or developed for the enrichment of foreign investors. The conversation shows that we are entering a pivotal moment, in which either Israel's worst and most dystopian desires will be fulfilled or they...
"My disenchantment with Zionism was a very gradual process" w/ Avi Shlaim
A special edition of the Makdisi Street podcast in which Ussama interviews fellow historian Avi Shlaim in Jaipur, India where both were attending the Jaipur Literature Festival. Ussama asks Avi about his new book Genocide in Gaza, the history of coexistence devastated by the project of colonial Zionism, and about when and why Avi became an anti-Zionist. They discuss the importance of archives, ethical history writing, the virulent anti-Palestinian racism of Benny Morris, and the significance about the refusal of the historical profession's leading bodies in the West to take a clear stand against genocide.
Date of re...
"Trump, Venezuela and an empire in crisis" w/ Greg Grandin
The brothers welcome Professor Greg Grandin to the show to discuss the US kidnapping of the Venezuelan president against the historical context of other American imperial interventions in Latin America, the recurring use of Latin America as a stage to reboot US interventions elsewhere around the world, different models of regime change, the collapse of international law and legitimacy and the specificities of Trump as a symptom of American decline and the crisis of empire.
Date of recording: January 7th, 2026
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"We are not defeated" w/ Mustafa Barghouti
The brothers talk with the prominent Palestinian politician, activist and medical doctor Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, and presidential candidate during the last elections in Palestine in 2005. We discuss the awful realities of Palestinians living under Israeli genocide and attempted ethnic cleansing despite a "ceasefire," the essence of Palestinian steadfastness and the importance of international solidarity. We also debate the meaning of Palestinian unity as key to the liberation struggle connecting forces, movements and people globally. We end by talking proposed upcoming elections, the importance of democratizing the PLO, and the gap in solidarity between...
From Jerusalem to Cairo and Beirut w/ Jean Said Makdisi
Special Christmas/New Year edition with the brothers' mother! The brothers welcome their mother, the author and educator Jean Said Makdisi, to the show, to discuss her books, her memories of growing up between Palestine and Egypt, living in America in the 1950s and 1960s and returning to Lebanon, where she raised her children through the 1975-1990 war while teaching at Beirut University College.
She is the author of "Teta, Mother and Me: An Arab Woman's Memoir" and "Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir."
This episode was recorded live and produced by Layla Makdisi.
D...
[ARCHIVE] Christmas—and Christians—in Palestine w/ Dr. Mitri Raheb
***Producer's note: This is a repost of an episode we released two years ago. Wishing you a Merry Christmas from the Makdisi Street team! Thanks for your support! FREE PALESTINE***
The brothers welcome Dr. Mitri Raheb to the show to talk about the role and visibility of Christians in Palestine's ecumenical culture, so-called Christian Zionism, and how the Bible can be read either as a text authorizing empire and genocide (as with Netanyahu citing the extirpation of the Amalek) or as a text calling for liberation, equality, justice and resistance to empire. Check out his books, Decolonizing Palestine: The Land...
"Pressuring schools to crack down" w/ Darryl Li
The brothers welcome Professor Darryl Li of the University of Chicago to the show to discuss the new AAUP/MESA report on federal "antisemitism" investigations on US college campuses, revealing the extent to which US civil rights laws have been distorted and weaponized to suppress the advocacy of Palestinian rights across the United States, to suppress American academic freedom in order to protect the Zionist project in Palestine, as well as the extent to which this process, though taken to a new level by Trump, was actually initiated by liberal and Democratic administrations long before Trump came along.
...
"Anti-imperialism with solidarity at home" w/ Ali Abunimah
The brothers welcome Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada to the show to discuss mainstream media distortion of Palestine and the rise of alternative media, shifting public opinions on Zionism and solidarity for Palestine in the West, the growing divide between ordinary people and political elites, and the shared sense that we are witnessing the terminal decline of Zionism in the West.
Date of recording: November 3, 2025
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"What did it take for so many Americans to not see" w/ Melani McAlister
**NOTE: The brothers are hosting a live Q&A on NOVEMBER 18 for patrons only. Please sign up today and drop your questions!**
The brothers welcome Melani McAlister, professor of American Studies at George Washington University, author of the new book Promises, Then the Storm and scholar of American culture and evangelical culture. They discuss the meaning and nature of Christian Zionism, Melani's own insight after growing up an evangelical in North Carolina, how she learned about Israel before discovering the question of Palestine, the diversity within the evangelical movement, the different ways American evangelicals are Zi...
"Public opinion is vastly different than the elites" w/ Mandy Turner
The brothers welcome Mandy Turner, a senior researcher with Security in Context, to discuss the world of think tanks, how they operate as hegemony factories, and the divergence between public opinion and elites on the Gaza genocide
Check out her article, "Hegemony factories or independent thinkers? Western think tanks on Israel and Palestine after October 7"
Date of recording: Sept 16, 2025.
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Music by Hadiiiiii...
"At the Threshold of Genocide"
The brothers discuss the "ceasefire" in Gaza, the Trump plan, and the potential contradictions between Israel and its partners and enablers.
Date of recording: Oct 21, 2025.
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Music by Hadiiiiii
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"My fear is that this is a repackaging of the genocide" w/ Diana Buttu
**Producer's note: This episode was marred by technical problems and connection issues. Apologies for the sound quality**
The brothers welcome the Canadian-Palestinian lawyer and former negotiator Diana Buttu (@dianabuttu) to the show to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and the context of the Trump-branded "peace plan" for Gaza and its historical antecedents and possible outcomes.
Date of recording: Oct 9, 2025.
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Music by Hadiiiii...
Return to Makdisi Street w/ Samir Makdisi
The brothers welcome their father, Samir Makdisi, Professor Emeritus at the American University of Beirut, to the show. They discuss the significance of Makdisi Street—the street itself!— in Beirut's cultural history, the social and political location of Ras Beirut in the larger context of Beirut and Lebanon itself, student movements in the 1950s and 1960s, the gradual consolidation of a sectarian political culture in Lebanon and the many forms of resistance to it, and the transformations in Beirut and Lebanon since the onset of the Lebanese war in 1975. They also discuss the history of their own family in relati...
Bonus episode - To proxy or not to proxy?
***Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest bonus episode. Sign up on Patreon for as little as $5 a month to access this and other great bonus content.***
The brothers get together for a spirited debate on the age-old question: Is Israel a proxy of the US?
Date of recording: Sept 9, 2025.
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Music by Hadiiiiii
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"A little more than nothing is better than nothing" w/ Michael Barenboim
The brothers welcome the prominent violinist, classical musician and Professor at the Barenboim-Said Akademie Michael Barenboim to have a heart-felt discussion about the relationship between classic music and dissent, his regret at not speaking out earlier in his life about Palestine, his horror at the ongoing Gaza genocide, and the implications of anti-Palestinian racism and repressive climate in Germany despite Berlin having the largest Palestinian community in Europe, the question of boycott, and the legacy and current meaning of his father and (our uncle) Edward Said's famous collaboration in creating the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Barenboim-Said Akademie in...
"This is the moment of accountability" w/ Michael Fakhri
The brothers welcome back to the show Michael Fakhri (@michaelfakhri), United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, to discuss the open war of starvation on Gaza, how international institutions have abjectly failed their moral and legal duties, the role of the media, and what individuals can do to hold the responsible actors to account.
Check his episode from April 2024, "Famine is never a natural occurrence"
Date of recording: Aug 26, 2025.
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"Is God Listening?" w/ Munther Isaac
The brothers welcome to the show the Palestinian theologian and pastor Munther Isaac to discuss Palestinian Christianity in the context of the depravity of the Gaza genocide, the theology of empire, the anti-Palestinian distortions in both so-called Christian Zionism and liberal Western Chrisian churches, the urgent need for rethinking the meaning of witness and the need for global intervention because of the horrors of the Gaza genocide, as well as his recent book Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza (2025).
Date of recording: August 19, 2025.
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"Palestine is getting relegated to an impermissible viewpoint" w/Christine Hong and Theresa Montano
We welcome two brave California educators, Dr. Theresa Montano of Cal State Northridge and Dr. Christine Hong of UC Santa Cruz, who have been at the forefront of developing and advocating for a California Ethnic Studies Curriculum grounded in liberation and social justice rather than identity politics. We discuss how Ethnic Studies went from an insurgent field of knowledge in the 1960s to one adopted in 2017 by California. We also cover why the racist Palestine exception remains alive and well in the state of California; how educators, progressive politicians, and union organizers are pressured into complicity in denying Palestinian...
"A free press is supposed to challenge the government" w/ Assal Rad
The brothers welcome historian and headline fixer Assal Rad to discuss the mainstream media's role in manufacturing consent and perpetuating Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, how it enables the Gaza genocide, how it accepts Israeli state propaganda as fact while rendering suspect Palestinian eyewitness accounts, and the differences between the coverage of Israel's genocide in Gaza from its war on Iran.
Date of recording: July 15, 2025.
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Music...
"The rot is very, very deep" w/ Ilan Pappé
The brothers welcome back historian Ilan Pappé to the show to discuss whether he still believes that the Gaza genocide marks "the beginning of the end of the Zionist project", his understanding of the nature of Israel's decline, the attacks on institutions of higher learning, and how Palestine has become the keystone for liberatory projects.
Date of recording: July 8, 2025.
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Music by Hadiiiiii
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Bonus Episode - Live at Socialism 2025
**Producer's Note: This is a preview of the latest bonus episode. You can listen to the entire episode by becoming a member of the Makdisi Street patreon, where you can also find all our other bonus content, including the latest Q&A**
The brothers hosted a special live episode as part of the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago.
Date of recording: July 4, 2025.
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Music by Hadi...
