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On this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi breaks down one of Donald Trump’s most fascistic plans yet – using the US military to crush dissent.
“It’s not a conspiracy theory, nor is it a secret,” Mehdi says, as he brings the receipts exposing Team Trump’s plan to use the Insurrection Act to crack down on protesters via military force, starting on day one of his second term.
“We're not exceptional,” Rosa Brooks, former Obama Defense Department adviser, tells Mehdi. “I think one thing that Americans tend to think is that somehow bad things that happen in other places couldn't possibly happen here, but we are not immune from the forces of history.”
Watch Mehdi’s monologue, and his full conversation with Rosa Brooks and Yale University fascism expert Jason Stanley, above.
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Christians in Gaza: Khalil Sayegh, a member of Gaza’s Palestinian Christian community, joins Mehdi in the studio to discuss how Israel has repressed and attacked his community, both before and especially since October 7, 2023, and how the US evangelical elite has ignored the Christians of Gaza.
“My sister was entering a room with my infant niece, literally walking into the room and just before she got into this room, the room itself just collapsed,” Sayegh tells Mehdi, referencing the recent Israeli strike on a house next to Gaza’s Saint Porphyrius Church.
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Khizr Khan is back: Also on the show, Mehdi talks to legendary Gold Star father Khizr Khan, on set, about Trump’s recent stunt at Arlington Cemetery, in violation of federal law, and why it matters. “Trump is void of accountability, sense of responsibility. That is why we see that civility in our political discourse is at its lowest,” says Khan, who lost his son Humayun in Iraq in 2004 and famously denounced Trump at the Democratic National Convention back in 2016.
If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too.
Oh and check out the big Washington Post story on how Zeteo, with your support, is going from strength to strength. Thank you!
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“I was the first president in modern times to start no new wars,” Donald Trump declaimed at the RNC in Milwaukee in July.
That statement, like pretty much every statement Trump makes, is false. On multiple levels.
And yet, I keep meeting people – in leftwing circles, in Muslim-American circles, in Arab-American circles, and beyond – who tell me that they’re voting for Trump in November because they believe him; they think that he isn’t a hawk and that he killed fewer Muslims than Democratic presidents have.
“At least he didn’t do a genocide like Biden,” I hear some say.
It’s an argument that gives me a proper headache because it simply is not true. In fact, it’s total and utter nonsense.
So, when it comes to Trump and the topic of war, and especially the killing of Muslims in the Middle East, it’s time for a thorough debunking.
Please do watch and share my video explainer above.
(It’s such an important issue that we have kept it free for all subscribers!)
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Twenty years, trillions of dollars, and the longest war in US history failed to eradicate the Taliban. Now, with the Taliban having taken back the country – and having implemented some of the most troubling restrictions on women we’ve seen from them – what’s next for Afghanistan and its people? And what’s been happening since the mainstream media mostly stopped covering the story?
The head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) Ali Maisam Nazary joins Mehdi Unfiltered in Washington, D.C. to talk about his coalition group’s efforts to force out the Taliban and take back the country.
But how effective have they been so far – including in their efforts at getting foreign help? Are they even popular in the country? And what was their record when their members were part of the last government?
Watch the interview above, including Nazary explaining the dire state of women in Afghanistan at this very moment (he calls it gender apartheid). And for paid subscribers, join the conversation in the comments and let us know what other countries you want to see us covering!
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Donald Trump has a seriously abusive relationship with the media. He bashes them as “enemies of the people,” tries to discredit them as “fake news,” and even calls for reporters and anchors to be jailed, yet much of the so-called ‘liberal’ US media seem to give him a pass on so much of the shocking stuff that he says or does.
No lessons seem to have been learned from the 2016 debacle, and our media is now bent on trying to find some sort of ridiculous equivalence between the ordinary exaggerations and misstatements of the Democrats and the brazen gaslighting and fabulism of Trump and the GOP. By trying to look ‘neutral’ and ‘unbiased,’ the press has effectively assumed the role of Trump normalizers, at best, and Trump apologists, at worst.
So what’s wrong with our ‘liberal’ media? And how do we fix it before it’s too late?
To answer these questions and more, Mehdi was joined in the studio this week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ by two of the US media’s most eloquent critics. Journalist and author Wajahat Ali, who publishes the Left Hook Substack newsletter, and veteran reporter and author James Fallows, who was chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter, and publishes the Breaking the News Substack newsletter.
“I think it's time for fact checkers to retire for this election cycle.”
“There's a bias towards normalizing things that are objectively crazy and being afraid to say, this is crazy.”
Watch the panel discussion above to hear the full conversation about how the media lost their way, why truth is no longer prioritized in today’s mainstream media landscape, and listen out for at least one very dark, but very funny joke, from Wajahat!
If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too!
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In an exclusive interview with ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, speaks to Mehdi on the threats that face both Palestinians in Gaza and his own organization.
“I don't know how much worse it can become, I have to say, we are losing and we are lacking words to describe the situation,” says Lazzarini. UNRWA is currently fighting a polio outbreak in Gaza, but a successful vaccination campaign there is nearly impossible given Israel’s bombardment. “This is a communicable disease which doesn't know any border and could also spread in the entire region, including Israel,” Lazzarini tells Mehdi.
In addition to disease, UNRWA faces repeated Israeli attempts at dismantling their entire organization. From accusations that staffers took part in the Oct. 7 attack, to allegations that Hamas builds tunnels under UNRWA schools.
“I do not have the military expertise to look at what's underneath the entire Gaza Strip… All these allegations need to be investigated. First, we need to investigate the killing of the UN staff,” says Lazzarini.
Watch the full conversation above to hear what the Commissioner-General also has to say about war crimes in Gaza.
Also on the show: why can’t U.S. news organizations get their coverage of Donald Trump right? Mehdi is joined by journalist and author Wajahat Ali as well as former chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter, James Fallows, to talk about it.
The conversation includes Ali calling for “fact checkers to retire for this election cycle,” Fallows on the “failure of imagination” among liberal white journalists, and a dark joke about detention camps from one of the two that we’ll leave for them to tell.
Then there is Afghanistan, where the situation for women and minorities gets worse by the day, under Taliban rule, but which is being ignored by much of our mainstream media.
“What we see today in Afghanistan is gender apartheid. Women have been erased from public life. Their basic rights have been taken away from them,” Ali Maisam Nazary, Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), tells Mehdi on this week’s show.
Watch the full interview to hear more on the status of women in Afghanistan. Mehdi also challenges Nazary on the fighting in the Panjshir Valley, the NRF’s record in the last government, and the difficulties that lie ahead.
If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too!
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CHICAGO – In this special episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, we’re at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, around the corner from the United Center, at the Palestinian-American owned OUD Coffee and Cafe. Mehdi is joined in this exclusive interview with prominent voices from the Uncommitted Movement – and just moments after it was revealed that the DNC would not be allowing a Palestinian to speak at the convention.
Joining ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ are co-chair of the Uncommitted Movement Layla Elabed, who briefly spoke with Vice President Harris recently; former U.S. Representative from Michigan Andy Levin, a progressive, Jewish critic of Israel; and Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, the first Muslim-American woman, and first Palestinian-American to be elected to the state’s House of Representatives.
Just minutes before this recording began, the panel got word that the DNC officially confirmed a Palestinian speaker would not be brought to speak on stage at the convention on Thursday, despite officials suggesting to the movement earlier that it could happen. The DNC had gone so far as shortlisting potential speakers, according to unnamed members of the movement who spoke to Zeteo.
“I really thought I could take something back after this week,” Romman said. “And now I don’t know what I’m going to say to [my community].” Romman was the Palestinian-American who most likely would have been the speaker on stage Thursday evening.
The Uncommitted Movement has been a prominent anti-war, pro-Palestinian coalition that’s secured more than 700,000 votes during the Democratic Party primaries, including more than 100,000 in the swing state of Michigan alone. It has thirty delegates from 8 states here at the DNC.
So, how does the movement feel after the DNC denied a Palestinian voice a spot on the convention stage, especially after they featured the parents of an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza on stage Wednesday night? Do members believe they’ve made headway with the Democratic party in recent months, what’s been happening behind-the-scenes? And, the big questions, what happens next – and what’s the plan for November?
Watch the full conversation above and join the conversation in the comments below!
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Throughout the course of Israel’s brutal 10-month assault on Gaza, Ami Ayalon – the former head of Israel’s Security Service, Shin-Bet, and the ex-commander of the Israeli Navy – has emerged as one of the Netanyahu government’s chief critics, along with several other former Israeli military officials.
In this wide-ranging interview for ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Ayalon tells Mehdi why he believes Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir are a threat to Israeli democracy, why it is time to “stop the occupation,” and why he would fight against Israel if he were a Palestinian.
“[Netanyahu] did everything in order to increase the power of Hamas and to make sure that Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority will not be able to create a unified government,” Ayalon says. “I think that too many Israelis do not understand that we shall not have security unless we shall stop the occupation. And we shall not have democracy unless we shall end the occupation.”
As reports of Israeli torture and rape against detained Palestinians continue to emerge, Mehdi also confronts Ayalon over allegations of torture against Shin Bet on his watch - and the former security chief admits to Mehdi that he has “many regrets.”
Watch the full interview, above, to see Mehdi debate Ayalon on whether or not Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza by bombing civilian targets. Please note that free subscribers can only watch the first ten minutes as a preview.
If you’re a paid subscriber, join the conversation below - we love hearing what you think!
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The streets of Britain took a 180-degree turn from leftists protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza to far-right fascists rioting in favor of the expulsion of migrants and Muslims from the country. On this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi speaks to British Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana, the youngest Muslim woman ever elected to the House of Commons, on what’s happening on the ground and what’s driving this shocking wave of right-wing political violence.
“These racist, Islamophobic, far right riots haven't come from nowhere, they are a culmination of racist headlines and racist framing by our media and our political class,” she tells Mehdi. And it isn’t just newspaper headlines or political rhetoric that has helped exacerbate these riots, Sultana explains.
“You've got people like Elon Musk who are also perpetuating this conspiracy… we see how he has used Twitter to amplify anti-migrant rhetoric, anti-trans rhetoric,” she says.
Watch their full discussion above, unpacking the horrifying riots that have led to more than 500 arrests and are still keeping people on high alert. This week, thousands of anti-racist counter-protestors gathered in public, to take a stand against the far-right, amid a heightened police presence.
Also on the show, Mehdi speaks with liberal YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen about the state of the Harris v Trump U.S. presidential race and the ongoing radicalization of the Republican Party. With his new book ‘Shameless: Republicans' Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy,’ releasing soon, Brian doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the modern MAGA-led GOP.
“The case is that Republicans are not who they have claimed to be in terms of their historical branding… and I think exposing the reality of the situation that we're living in… will kind of pry them [Americans] away from the spell that Republicans have put on them,” says Brian.
That spell Brian talks about is one that is rarely broken by mainstream media, but rather protected through ‘both sides’ normalizing coverage of Trump’s insane rhetoric. “They [the mainstream media] feel this obligation somehow to continue on as these neutral observers that have no skin in the game,” Brian tells Mehdi, who he also interviewed for his new book.
Do watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next!
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Among the thousands of Israelis of age to be drafted into the military, teenager Tal Mitnick stands out. Although military service for most Israeli Jews is mandatory, Tal picked a second, much less popular, option: go to prison.
Last December, 18-year-old Tal went to prison for the first time after refusing a mandatory draft. “I felt like I needed to take the stance,” Tal tells Mehdi in this wide-ranging interview, and he has… five times. Tal has been sent to prison on five separate occasions since Oct 7th, for his ongoing refusal to serve - and spent more than 180 days behind bars.
“It was a sacrifice that I was willing to take, to show this voice inside Israeli society,” said Tal.
Locked up, he and other young Israeli conscientious objectors penned a letter to Joe Biden, urging him to stop supporting Israel’s war. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last month shows the U.S. president is not listening to Israeli dissidents like Tal. “Anyone that claims to be a friend of Israel, like Joe Biden or Kamala Harris... should stop arming this war,” he told Mehdi.
Of the many important stories that Zeteo has published on how many Israelis see Palestinians, Tal’s story stands apart. In a society that is now rampant with violence, rage, and hate, Tal seeks a peace that fewer and fewer Israelis seem to be keen on.
“The way that we create societal change is by showing people that another way is possible.”
Watch Tal Mitnick’s full interview with Mehdi above, and - if you’re a paid subscriber - do please let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Project 2025, the super-controversial presidential transition project conceived of by the pro-Trump, right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, is grabbing a lot of headlines these days:
It has been called a “prescription for authoritarianism,” and a “wish list for a Trump presidency” that would “open the door for abuses of political power” and should “send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares about the rule of law.”
But what does it actually say? Most of you don’t have time to read more than 900 pages of right-wing bloviating, but Zeteo has you covered.
Watch Mehdi break down all 30 chapters of Project 2025’s dystopian manifesto in just two minutes flat. (He speaks very fast!)
Start the clock!
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Two historic events happened in the last week and this week’s ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ covered both of them.
On the international front…
The International Court of Justice, the ICJ, issued a landmark 83-page opinion on Friday agreeing with the decades-long assertions from Palestinians that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. Award-winning journalist and Zeteo contributor Rula Jebreal joins Mehdi to talk about what the historic decision means, what it could lead to, and shares some strong opinions about Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
On the domestic front…
For the first time since 1968, a sitting U.S. president decided not to run for re-election. But how will Vice President Kamala Harris fare against Donald Trump? And how do progressive Members of Congress feel about Biden’s decision to bow out of the race? Mehdi spoke to Congressman Ro Khanna of California - who also discusses why he won’t be attending Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday.
PLUS! JOIN ZETEO TOMORROW DURING NETANYAHU’S SPEECH TO CONGRESS
Mehdi and Zeteo’s new political correspondent, Prem Thakker, will go LIVE on Substack Chats tomorrow, July 24th, at 10:30am reporting on the historic and controversial speech from the Israeli prime minister.
Prem will be on Capitol Hill, both outside with protestors and inside with members of Congress, and chatting live during Netanyahu’s speech at 2pm. Mehdi will also have a lot to say, so join in the conversation with your own thoughts and questions!
This Substack Chat event is open to all paid subscribers. You should receive an email notification once the Chat is live and running.
We strongly recommend downloading the Substack app for a better Zeteo experience - including tomorrow’s chat. See you there!
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Kamala Harris has now won the endorsements of Joe Biden, the Clintons, and multiple members of the House and Senate. She has raised tens of millions of dollars in less than 24 hours.
But does she have a plan to beat Donald Trump? A clear winning strategy? In this video for Zeteo, here are my seven pieces of unsolicited advice for the vice-president who has now become the likely 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
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There’s a lot to process, pick apart, and debunk from Donald Trump’s 92-minute-long speech at the Republican National Convention. In the latest episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi looks past the more ‘somber’ version of Trump that the world saw at the start of his speech, and unpacks just how concerning the rest of it was.
Two former Trump administration officials join Mehdi to talk about the moments that stood out to them: Olivia Troye, who previously served as advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, and Sarah Mathews, Trump’s former Deputy Press secretary. In the conversation, they talk about what they regret most from working in Trump’s first administration, the lessons they’ve learned from being on the inside, and their biggest warnings to Republicans, Democrats, and everyone in between about what could come in a second Trump White House.
Mehdi also debates Washington Post columnist and Editorial board member Shadi Hamid, who feels Trump does not pose the level of threat everyone else sees in a potential second term. Should we have faith in U.S. institutions to withstand a Trump-style autocracy? What exactly could Project 2025 do? And what’s the matter with the Democrats?
Watch the full show above and let us know what you think in the comments!
You can find Shadi Hamid’s Notebook here.
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In the midst of all the media frenzy over Joe Biden’s age and mental fitness, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has made one of his most deluded claims yet: That he has nothing to do with the people behind the far-right policy agenda known as ‘Project 2025.’
A bold statement for the GOP’s leading man, especially when you consider his close and long-standing alliance with the right-wing organization behind it: the Heritage Foundation. But beyond that, Trump’s denial begs the question: Did he just suddenly forget about the former staffers of his who worked on the project? People like his former top aide Stephen Miller and his current press secretary Karoline Leavitt?
Watch Mehdi debunk Trump’s desperate and deluded denials, as he goes through just a few of the major players that the former Republican president knows are leading Project 2025.
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The pressure is mounting on President Joe Biden.
Not only is he facing calls to step down as the Democratic nominee from senior people within his own party, but his age has also become the biggest story for every major media outlet.
On the latest episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi moderates a debate between two D.C. insiders on whether Biden should step aside as the Democratic nominee, after his disastrous debate performance two weeks ago.
Plus, as Hollywood stars like George Clooney call for Biden to step down, watch Academy-Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore tell Mehdi why he thinks keeping Biden in office is “elder abuse.”
A debate on Biden’s candidacy…
Should Biden step down from the 2024 election? Can he defeat Donald Trump once again, after all the frenzy over his long pauses and awkward gaffes during the CNN debate?
Journalist Brian Beutler, who has called for Biden to step down, joined the show for a debate with political scientist Norman Ornstein, who says that though Biden may stutter, “he can govern.” Beutler takes a more critical stance on the Biden campaign, telling Mehdi that the president should step aside as the presumptive nominee because, “he can't communicate extemporaneously in public clearly anymore.”
Ornstein and Beutler also discuss what it would look like for Vice-President Kamala Harris to take over the Democratic Party presidential campaign, whether Biden would still serve out his term, and the media’s lack of coverage over Trump’s many gaffes and lies.
Michael Moore on Biden…
This past week, award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore called for Biden to step down not only as the Democratic presidential nominee, but also as president. Moore tells Mehdi that watching the CNN debate was “heartbreaking” for him.
“My first thought is who let him out on that stage in that condition? Who would do that to their parent or grandparent?”
Moore also accuses Biden of displaying “Trumpian behavior” by refusing to step down.
“Remember Trump when he ran said, ‘I’m the only one who can fix the problem, I alone can fix these.’ ” Moore asks Mehdi. “For Biden to think – and I don't think he thinks this – that he's the only one that is going to do this or the only one that can defeat Trump…it's narcissistic and arrogant to dig in and take this position.”
Moore, who has been very outspoken on Gaza, also talked to Mehdi about Benjamin Netanyahu coming to Congress, Biden’s support for Israel’s “massacre” in Gaza, and how it could cost him the votes of young people in November (if his campaign continues)...
“I tried to just say it as loud as I could right away in October: Please don't go and hug Netanyahu,” Moore said, referring to Biden’s support for the right-wing Israeli prime minister’s war on Gaza.
Watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next!
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In the midst of their horrific assault on Gaza, Israel has already started drawing up battle plans for another war – this time with Hezbollah in Lebanon. In this episode, Mehdi exposes the disproportionate Israeli military doctrine that could ultimately kill thousands of Lebanese civilians. Plus, Middle East expert Vali Nasr breaks down what another war would mean for the region.
Also on the show, Mehdi asks US Congress Representative Greg Casar about President Joe Biden’s asylum ban and Representative Jamaal Bowman’s primary loss in New York. Mehdi is also joined by Israeli Historian Lee Mordechai, who recently accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Israel and Lebanon…
Mehdi takes viewers back to the 2006 Lebanon War, when Israel developed the Dahiya Doctrine – a military strategy that aims to intentionally inflict long-lasting and disproportionate damage onto their enemies as a deterrent.
“If you think Israel’s attacks on Lebanon in 2006 were disproportionate, if the Dahiya doctrine was bad back then, just think how much worse a war on Lebanon will be now that Israel has barely even gotten a slap on the wrist from its Western allies, especially the United States, for inflicting a full-blown genocide on Gaza!” Mehdi said.
Middle East expert Vali Nasr pointed out that a war in Lebanon with Hezbollah would also be a great danger for Israel themselves, even if Iran and the U.S. don’t get involved.
“Hezbollah has proven itself over 40 years to be a ferocious fighting force. It's the only fighting force that Israel has not been able to crack around it,” Nasir told Mehdi. “Hezbollah is capable of hitting northern Israel in a way that it would become uninhabitable for a long period of time, but if Israel's objective is to enable its population to go back [to Northern Israel], it [a war] will have the opposite effect.”
An interview with Rep. Greg Casar…
Earlier this month, in what was widely seen as an attempt to address his right-wing critics, US President Joe Biden implemented an asylum ban at the Southern border – one that critics say is straight out of Trump’s playbook. Mehdi asked Representative Greg Casar from Texas – a progressive and long-time advocate for immigration reform – what he made of Biden’s controversial move.
“Republicans have set this sort of trap, and it's the oldest trick in the book – distract from Republicans' failures to govern by picking on whichever vulnerable group… Right now, it's overwhelmingly Venezuelan and Haitian moms showing up desperate at the border,” Casar explained.
Mehdi also asked Casar about Representative Jamaal Bowman’s historic primary defeat on Tuesday night, after pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC spent 15 million dollars trying to unseat him.
“There is a clear message trying to be sent to progressives, but frankly to any member of Congress, that maybe infinite money can come into our elections,” Casar told Mehdi. “I think it's on the Democratic Party to stand up and say…no matter who's spending the money, this can't be allowed anymore because it would change our democracy in a fundamentally disastrous way if this happens at every primary.”
An Israeli historian accuses Israel of genocide…
Dr. Lee Mordechai, a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has become the latest Israeli academic to accuse their own country of genocide, after an extensive research process that led to an almost 100-page paper with over 100,00 footnotes.
“The amount of information that can come out of Gaza is limited. A significant amount of these journalists in Gaza are also being killed. So all this is limited. Nonetheless, I've seen enough evidence, whether by journalists over there, whether by regular people there, and that has convinced me,” Mordechai said.
Watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next!
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Over 70% of Americans believe lobbyists have too much influence – so why do Democrats and the media remain silent when it comes to the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in America, AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee?
In this episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, Mehdi not only calls out AIPAC for helping the GOP meddle with Democratic primaries, but also calls out his main interview guest, Democrat Congressman Dean Phillips, who recently voted to sanction the ICC for requesting an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Plus, Mehdi speaks with world-famous Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam on his protest against the war in Gaza and what it has cost him. Watch the full show above.
Pressing Rep. Dean Phillips on his vote against the ICC…
Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips says he stands for the rule of law. So why did he choose to vote for a bill that would sanction International Criminal Court officials – as well as their families – after the court requested an arrest warrant for Netanyahu’s role in the war on Gaza?
Phillips told Mehdi that he objected to the ICC’s decision because of the fact that Israel is not party to the ICC – a claim that Mehdi rebutted by pointing to last year, when Democrats praised the ICC arrest warrant against Putin for his war crimes in Ukraine, even though Russia is not party to the ICC either.
“Even if we were to agree with you that they're outside the purview, and they [the ICC] would say they're not, it didn't just go after ICC officials, but also quote ‘immediate family members’ of ICC officials. That is mob-like behavior – is it not? To go after family?” Mehdi asked Phillips.
“We have votes in Congress that we know will not end up going anywhere. We have votes that we know will probably be signed into the law. They have very different consequences,” Phillips responded.
“With respect, Congressman. It doesn't matter what your intent is. It matters what you voted for. You voted for a very mafioso bill,” Mehdi told Phillips.
They also debated U.S. complicity in war crimes, whether Democrats value Palestinian life, and Phillips’s own failed presidential bid earlier this year.
Let’s talk about AIPAC…
As AIPAC spends millions of dollars trying to unseat pro-Palestine progressive Jamaal Bowman, Mehdi begs the question: Why does AIPAC, a pro-Israel group that openly brags about their influence over elected officials, rarely get criticized?
“Anti-Semitic tropes about ‘rich Jews’, whether they’re Soros or the Rothschilds or the Jewish community in general, should absolutely be condemned. But that’s not what we’re talking about when we’re talking about AIPAC. We’re talking about a self-described powerful lobbying group,” Mehdi says, adding that the lobbying group, “should be rejected in the same way that we reject, say, the NRA.”
Watch his powerful and timely monologue above.
Artists speaking up on Gaza…
This past March, Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam was supposed to curate the first ever edition of the famous Biennale photography exhibition in Germany with three non-European curators. However, the exhibition ended-up being canceled in November due to Alam’s criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“We worked really hard to put together a show that would have been very different. The whole point in inviting initially me and me inviting the others was to bring about a change to the way they'd always done it,” Alam said of the exhibit. “But of course… what they needed was someone who would be non-European, but still follow the European scheme of things.”
Alam of course has not backed down from his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next!
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Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu might have expected the entire world to celebrate the news of four Israeli hostages being rescued from Gaza, and the entire world might have done - had it not been at the cost of hundreds of Palestinian lives.
Saturday’s bloody and brutal operation has raised new concerns among many of the Israeli hostage family members, who accuse Netanyahu and his far-right government of deprioritizing the safe return of all the hostages.
Enter Zahiro…
One hostage family member who believes that is Zahiro Shahar Mor, who says there is more reason to fear for the safety of his 79-year-old uncle, Avraham Munder, while he remains captive in Gaza.
Avraham was taken by Hamas on October 7th, along with his wife, daughter, and grandson, all of whom were released during a hostage deal between Hamas and Israel in November - with the exception of Avraham.
His nephew Zahiro tells Mehdi: “Ever since October 8th, everything they [the Israeli government] do is directed at not getting the hostages back,” and that Netanyahu’s government is actively “sabotaging their own initiatives” by rejecting deals that would have secured the release of all the hostages much earlier in the war.
Betrayed by his own country’s officials, Zahiro says Israel’s government “is being taken hostage by the diehard, right-wing, extremist fundamentalists.”
Also on the show, more betrayal …
Zahiro isn’t the only one who felt betrayed on this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered.’ Palestinian Pastor Munther Isaac of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church accuses Christian evangelicals in the U.S. of abandoning their fellow Christians in the Occupied Territories.
“They [US Christian evangelicals] have created a worldview in which support to Israel is integral to this American identity, American exceptionalism, American national Christian identity,” says Munther, a worldview that he thinks would change if they were to visit occupied Bethlehem, for Christians the birthplace of Christ, and see the situation on the ground for themselves.
Munther is no stranger to the apartheid rule of Israel, where government policy and a 708-kilometer separation wall disrupt the worship of thousands of Palestinian Christians.
Recalling conversations with fellow evangelicals from South Africa, Munther says they described the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as being “much worse than apartheid,” adding that “you would assume that people would respect what South African theologians, church leaders are saying.”
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While Joe Biden struggles to draw a red line for Israel in its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a handful of principled officials within the administration are making their red lines very clear.
This week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, Mehdi dives into the latest wave of resignations within the Biden administration over its handling of the war on Gaza, with one outgoing political appointee accusing the president of “making Jews the face of the American war machine.”
The exit interview…
The latest resignation from the Biden administration came into effect just this Monday for Major Harrison Mann. Formerly an official at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and an active-duty U.S. army officer, Mann made headlines for a resignation letter he shared last month to his Linkedin page criticizing the “nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel.”
In one of his first TV interviews since leaving his post, Mann explains to Mehdi the reasoning behind his decision, the role US agencies play in Israel’s ethnic cleansing, and how others in government share his views - but are afraid to air them.
“I also suspected and have increasingly learned even in national security circles that my views are not particularly uncommon or controversial,” says Mann.
Mann, who is Jewish-American, compared the treatment of Palestinians today to the way in which Jews were treated in the run-up to the Holocaust: “It was very easy for me to see in the Palestinians another unwanted population, the way that Jews were in Europe.”
Also on the show: a forgotten war…
One genocide overshadowed by another. This week Mehdi sheds light on the atrocities that are taking place in Sudan but are unable to reach the world. With more than 14,000 people dead, and more than 8 million displaced, the violence in Sudan is still going mostly unnoticed in Western media.
Mehdi is joined by Nesrine Malik, an award-winning British-Sudanese journalist with the Guardian, who has covered the story in Sudan for years. She explains how the lack of information from the ground there is making the situation much more dire, especially when paired with false stereotypes.
“We don't tend to think of war happening in countries like Sudan as a profoundly tragic, destabilizing thing, and more as business as usual.”
Watch both interviews above, and for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know what you think of the full show and who you think we should have on next.
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What has Israel’s relentless assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah revealed about the U.S.? That Joe Biden, has no red line, no pink line, no line whatsoever when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu.
This week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, Mehdi begins the show with a condemnation of the lack of condemnation for Israel’s deadly airstrikes in Rafah. A decapitated toddler, a massacre of Palestinians in tents, and a complete rejection of an order from the top U.N. court demanding Israel halt its operations in Rafah – none of it led to the U.S. saying much at all.
“We live in a world where non-existent images of imaginary beheaded Israeli children can help launch a genocidal war,” says Mehdi, in his opening monologue, “but actual images of real-life beheaded Palestinian children don’t force the entire world to bring an immediate halt to that war.”
Also on the show…
Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the current head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom and a member of Fatah spoke with Mehdi about the role of the U.S. in this decades-old conflict, saying it’s “not about Trump or Biden.”
“So far, the U.S. has failed miserably to bring itself to the level of an honest mediator, of a leading force in our international relations,” Zomlot says. “The US has remained, whether Democratic administrations or Republican administrations, has remained completely and utterly biased.”
Zomlot also talked about Nikki Haley signing Israeli artillery shells destined for Gaza, recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by three countries, and what the future of governance in Gaza could look like.
Biden and Black voters…
Recent polling shows Black voters are much less interested in Biden and the Democrats in 2024 than they were in 2020. From feeling that the president hasn’t done enough to earn their vote to complaints over the U.S.’s handling of Gaza, the reasons vary – and some Black voters are even turning to Donald Trump.
So, does Biden have a chance in November if he loses Black voters? Has he taken them for granted? And how big of a role exactly is Gaza playing in Black disillusionment? Don Calloway, a former Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives and now a Democratic Party strategist, and Pastor Michael McBride, a founder of Black Church PAC and the lead pastor of the Way church in Berkeley, California joined Mehdi for this debate.
“People do believe that the president and this administration, and by extension, the Democratic Party, has lost its way on this issue [Gaza],” McBride argues. “We believe there has to be a course correction.”
Calloway pushed back. “Black voters do not have and have never had the luxury of being single-issue voters. So, do we care about Palestine? Absolutely… Do we vote against Joe Biden and the interests of Palestine against reproductive freedom? Probably not.”
To hear McBride’s response and more of this exchange, watch the debate above.
Be sure to let us know what you think of the full show and who you think we should have on next.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe - Visa fler
