“The bottom is falling out in the US” w/ Ryan Grim
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome Ryan Grim of to the show to discuss shifts in the American political landscape, the growing disillusionment with Israel and how AIPAC has become an index of political corruption, the contradiction between donors and electoral base in Democratic Party politics, Abdul el-Sayed’s political maneuvering ahead of the Michigan senate vote, and Trump’s embrace of the legacy of early modern piracy. Date of recording: Sept 29, 2026 Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel X: YouTube: Insta: TikTok: Check out Ussama's personal SubStack ...
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Makdisi Street Reviews w/ Fady Joudah
Makdisi Street
The brothers host the award-winning Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah to discuss his newest work, . Watch the livestream on our YouTube channel Consider supporting the show for access to the next livestream edition of Madisi Street Reviews!
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"The UK government was definitely complicit" w/ Chris Doyle
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for British-Arab Understanding (CAABU) and leading expert on British policy to the Middle East. We discuss the context behind British complicity in the Gaza genocide under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and why he thinks the apparent shift in policy under new Foreign Minister Ed Milliband is genuine. We also talk about the power of the Israel lobby in the UK and the unprecedented crackdown on free speech and Palestine solidarity protests. Date of recording: Sept 15, 2026 Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel X: ...
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"Uncontained Malice"
Makdisi Street
The brothers regroup to discuss israel’s ongoing campaigns of genocidal destruction in southern Lebanon and Gaza; the regional consequences of the apparent stalemate in the US war on Iran; continuing shifts in Western public attitudes toward the question of Palestine and the gap between public or voter sentiment on the one hand and actual policy making on the other, as well as an illustrative contrast between the consolidation of pro-Israel establishment politicians in the US (witness the recent bill to protect Israel by muzzling US universities) and possible signs of change in Europe,...
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"They’ve lost all the arguments”
Makdisi Street
Two of the three brothers reflect on summer travels and discuss Ussama’s recent visit to Australia, the extraordinary repression across the Western world intended to shield Israel from criticism or even analysis, the provenance of the so-called IHRA misdefinition of “antisemitism,” and the replacement of a culture of denial by a culture of suppression. Date of recording: August 25, 2026 Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel X: YouTube: Insta: TikTok: Check out Ussama's personal SubStack Consider supporting the show
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"Surrender is not an option"
Makdisi Street
The brothers reunite in a special, in-person episode at their parents’ mountain house in Dhour Choueir, Lebanon, to discuss their recent trip to southern Lebanon, what they saw on the ground, the wider regional implications, and where U.S. politics stands today. Produced by Layla Makdisi Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel X: YouTube: Insta: TikTok: Check out Ussama's personal SubStack Consider supporting the show
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"Palestinians are wholly excluded from the room" w/ Ta-Nehisi Coates
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome journalist and author back to the show to discuss Kamala Harris’s ill-fated 2024 presidential campaign and the debacle of the Democratic Convention’s exclusion of Palestinian-American voices (about which he’s written recently for Vanity Fair), the betrayal of the radical Black tradition, tensions in the civil rights movement over the question of Palestine and the significance of the emerging break with Zionism on the American right. Check out his article: Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 13, 2026 X: ...
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Patron-only livestream: Latest on Iran, Lebanon and US policy
Makdisi Street
**Please join our Patreon for access to our next livestream and to submit your questions/comments** Come and join the brothers for another patron-only livestream discussion of the situation in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We look forward to your questions and comments! Watch the on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2026 X: YouTube: Insta: TikTok: Check out Ussama's personal SubStack Consider supporting the show
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"Their appetite grows with every war" w/ Aslı Ü. Bâli
Makdisi Street
The brothers welcome back , 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...
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"FIFA is a racket" w/ Abdullah Al-Arian
Makdisi Street
With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome , 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...
info_outlineThe brothers reunite in a special, in-person episode at their parents’ mountain house in Dhour Choueir, Lebanon, to discuss their recent trip to southern Lebanon, what they saw on the ground, the wider regional implications, and where U.S. politics stands today.
Produced by Layla Makdisi
Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd2P3lOkN8
X: @MakdisiStreet
YouTube: @MakdisiStreet
Insta: @Makdisist
TikTok: @Makdisistreet
Check out Ussama's personal SubStack
https://makdisi.substack.com/
Music by Hadiiiiii
Consider supporting the show
www.patreon.com/makdisistreet