228 episodes

From the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), Occupied Thoughts amplifies the voices of FMEP grantees and partners, offers critical framing, and promote new ideas and new angles on the many issues connected to achieving justice, security, and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

FMEP works to defend and support Palestinian rights, end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and ensure a just and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis. FMEP advances this goal through its grants program, public programming, and research. www.fmep.org

Occupied Thoughts Occupied Thoughts by FMEP

    • News
    • 4.3 • 118 Ratings

From the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), Occupied Thoughts amplifies the voices of FMEP grantees and partners, offers critical framing, and promote new ideas and new angles on the many issues connected to achieving justice, security, and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

FMEP works to defend and support Palestinian rights, end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and ensure a just and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis. FMEP advances this goal through its grants program, public programming, and research. www.fmep.org

    Rania Batrice & Ryan Grim on the Urgency & Need for Independent Journalism

    Rania Batrice & Ryan Grim on the Urgency & Need for Independent Journalism

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Rania Batrice speaks with journalist Ryan Grim about the limitations of mainstream media's reporting on Israel's war on Gaza and the opportunities and potential for independent journalism focused on Israel & Palestine more broadly. Addressing the high stakes of U.S. politics, they also speak about repression against advocates for Palestinian life and rights and the upcoming US elections.

    Rania Batrice is an activist and strategist for progressive change, a public relations specialist, and a political consultant. She is one of two FMEP’s 2024 Palestinian non-resident Fellows.

    Ryan Grim is The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief and the host of the podcast Deconstructed. He authors the newsletter Politics With Ryan Grim and was previously the Washington bureau chief for HuffPost, where he led a team that was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and won once. He edited and contributed reporting to groundbreaking investigative project on heroin treatment that not only changed federal and state laws, but also shifted the culture of the recovery industry. The story, by Jason Cherkis, was a Pulitzer finalist and won a Polk Award.

    Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

    • 58 min
    What Comes After the Destruction of Gaza?

    What Comes After the Destruction of Gaza?

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with writer Ahmed Moor about a range of urgent issues, including how the conversation about post-war Gaza doesn’t include Palestinians, the ethics of not voting for Joe Biden, and in what ways the Palestine solidarity movement can change Washington.

    Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

    • 40 min
    Biden & Israel: What it’s Like to Make Policy in the White House

    Biden & Israel: What it’s Like to Make Policy in the White House

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart is joined with Steven Simon, former Director of the National Security Council in the Obama Administration. The two discuss what the conversation in the White House in regards to U.S. policy towards Israel, as it was in the Obama Administration and possibly now in the Biden Administration.

    For bios and resources, see: https://fmep.org/resource/biden-israel-what-its-like-to-make-policy-in-the-white-house/

    • 47 min
    Media Bias in Reporting on Sexual Assault on October 7th - Breaking Down the Damage

    Media Bias in Reporting on Sexual Assault on October 7th - Breaking Down the Damage

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Rania Batrice and analyst Krystal Ball look at the controversy surrounding allegations of widespread and systematic sexual assault by Hamas on October 7th. This conversation does not ask “was there or wasn’t there sexual assault on October 7?” Rather, it focuses on the harm caused by biased media reports and the absence of independent and thorough investigations. The podcast discusses how the narratives promulgated by mainstream US media - most notably the 12/28/23 New York Times front-page article entitled "Screams Without Words: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on October 7th" - have contributed to the dehumanization of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza, and the politicization of what should be a serious demand for professional investigation and accountability for the crimes of October 7th.

    Krystal Ball is the host of Breaking Points, a former MSNBC contributor and former Democratic nominee for Congress in the First District of Virginia.

    Rania Batrice is an activist and strategist for progressive change, a public relations specialist, and a political consultant. She is one of FMEP's 2024 Palestinian non-resident Fellows. 

    Relevant Articles: 

    Krystal Ball, 3/5/24, on the UN Report released on 3/4/24: UN Report CAN'T Prove 10/7 Mass Sex Assault Claims
    Krystal Ball 3/5/24, Local Israelis DEBUNK NYT Sexual Assault Allegation - video clip
    Krystal Ball 2/29/24 on the New York Times 12/28/23 story, ““'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.” - video clip
    CNN 3/1/24: The New York Times stands by its reporting on the Hamas terror attack after questions are raised
    The Nation 3/1/24: The Nixonian New York Times Stonewalls on a Discredited Article About Hamas and Rape - The newspaper of record botches an important story about sexual violence on October 7.
    The Wrap 2/29/24: New York Times Opens Leak Investigation Over Israel-Gaza Reporting
    Jacobin 2/29/24: The New York Times Has an Ugly Anti-Palestinian Bias
    Vanity Fair 2/29/24: New York Times Launches Leak Investigation Over Report on Its Israel-Gaza Coverage
    The Intercept 2/28/24: “Between the Hammer and the Anvil” -The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé
    Al Jazeera 2/28/24: Food blogger, Israeli film director scripted Hamas rape story for NYT
    Daily Beast 2/25/24: New York Times ‘Reviewing’ Reporter Who Liked Gaza ‘Slaughterhouse’ Tweet
    Common Dreams 2/26/24: NYT 'Reviewing' Israeli Reporter Who Liked Gaza 'Slaughterhouse' Post
    Mondoweiss 2/25/24: Extraordinary charges of bias emerge against NYTimes reporter Anat Schwartz
    The Intercept 1/28/24: New York Times Puts “Daily” Episode on Ice Amid Internal Firestorm Over Hamas Sexual Violence Article

    Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

    • 46 min
    Introducing Nour Joudah, 2024 FMEP Palestinian Fellow

    Introducing Nour Joudah, 2024 FMEP Palestinian Fellow

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Nour Joudah, Assistant Professor at UCLA and one of FMEP’s 2024 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellows. Nour speaks of her background, her Palestinian identity, and her research that looks not only at indigenous survival but at indigenous life, knowledge, and duration. She discusses the meaning of this moment in time for Palestinians and Palestine and encourages the listener not to surrender to fatalism but instead to insist that there is another path forward.

    Nour Joudah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at UCLA and a former President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Geography at UC-Berkeley (2022-23). Dr. Joudah completed her PhD in Geography at UCLA (2022), and wrote her dissertation Mapping Decolonized Futures: Indigenous Visions for Hawaii and Palestine on the efforts by Palestinian and native Hawaiian communities to imagine and work toward liberated futures while centering indigenous duration as a non-linear temporality. Her work examines mapping practices and indigenous survival and futures in settler states, highlighting how indigenous countermapping is a both cartographic and decolonial praxis. She also has a MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, and wrote her MA thesis on the role and perception of exile politics within the Palestinian liberation struggle, in particular among politically active Palestinian youth living in the United States and occupied Palestine.

    Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is FMEP's Director of Programs & Partnerships. She leads FMEP’s programming, works to deepen FMEP’s relationships with existing and potential grantees, and builds relationships with new partners in the philanthropic community. Sarah Anne earned her doctorate at the University of California-Berkeley and is an affiliated faculty member at UC-Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies.

    Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

    • 25 min
    How the War in Gaza is Transforming Democratic Politics

    How the War in Gaza is Transforming Democratic Politics

    In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellows Rania Batrice & Peter Beinart speak about Arab American politics and why the Biden administration is out of step with Democratic Voters. They look at the political organizing around the Michigan primary this week, the Arab American political awakening, and discuss whether there is anything President Biden can do to win back progressive voters.

    FMEP is a 501(c)(3) organization and takes no position on elections or partisan matters. We offer this podcast conversation for informational and educational purposes only.

    Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5
118 Ratings

118 Ratings

Zarkin Frude ,

Zarkin

Thank you for all you are doing. Free Palestine ❤️

Kewaunee Gal ,

A needed voice in our country

Peter’s thoughtful discussions bring needed perspectives as we reflect on our country’s policies toward Israel and Palestine. I would be interested in an episode on the growing relationship between Israeli politicians and Evangelical leaders in the United States, many of whom are unconditional supporters of the Israeli government, regardless of its policies.

Granpa Sam ,

The only path forward

I’ve been an avid listener of this podcast and have truly come to appreciate the host, guests and the thoughtful effort put into these episodes.
I do believe that this is progressive in the sense that this thinking is the path forward and a much needed alternative to the unsustainable state that exists today.

I’ve learnt much about actual anti-semitism vs fake claims and how dangerous it would be to expand that definition to create a veil for non-critical thinkers to hide behind.

Overall, this has been enlightening and absolutely changed my perspective, bringing it closer to reality.
Thank you.

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