"The war in Lebanon is existential" w/ Hala Jaber
Makdisi Street
The brothers are joined by the award-winning Lebanese investigative journalist Hala Jaber ( 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...
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"The Israelis are not interested in peace” w/ Jad Ghosn
Makdisi Street
***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...
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"Turning West Asia into a wasteland"" w/ Ali Alizadeh
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome the London-based Iranian analyst and journalist 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 Watch the on our...
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"Everyone was bombing Yemen" w/ Farea Al Muslimi
Makdisi Street
**Note: This was recorded before the US-Israeli aggression on Iran** The brothers welcome 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...
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"Trump isn't just President, he is a gangster and a businessman“ w/ Jeremy Scahill
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome the investigative journalist of 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 Watch the on our YouTube channel Follow us on our socials: X: ...
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"Justice or Annihilation” w/ Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome Drop Site News journalist 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...
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"My disenchantment with Zionism was a very gradual process" w/ Avi Shlaim
Makdisi Street
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 , 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...
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“Trump, Venezuela and an empire in crisis” w/ Greg Grandin
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome Professor 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 Watch the on our YouTube channel Follow us on our socials: X: YouTube: ...
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"We are not defeated" w/ Mustafa Barghouti
Makdisi Street
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...
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From Jerusalem to Cairo and Beirut w/ Jean Said Makdisi
Makdisi Street
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. Date of recording: August...
info_outlineThe 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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Music by Hadiiiiii
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