Between the US and Iran’s shaky ceasefire agreement, unrelenting bombing in Lebanon, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it’s clear that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have taken the chaos and confusion in the Middle East to a whole new level.
But in this special ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ conversation, Mehdi brings in two of the most well-respected Middle East scholars in the US to help cut through the noise.
Recorded in New York City in front of a live audience, Palestinian-American activist, academic, and author Noura Erakat, of Rutgers, and Iranian-American writer, filmmaker, and professor Narges Bajoghli, of Johns Hopkins, engaged in a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation on the US-Israeli war on Iran, the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and the future of the Middle East.
Their passion, eloquence, and fascinating insights were on full display, and they took questions from both Mehdi and the 500-strong audience at the SVA Theater in Manhattan.
Some key points from their discussion include:
Israel’s deadly bombing campaign in Lebanon (“In order for Israel to feel safe, everyone else must be subjugated, torn apart, and weak,” Erakat says)
Increasing divisions among the Iranian diaspora surrounding the war (“I have family members who won’t talk to me anymore,” Bajoghli says)
The double standards when it comes to war crimes in Gaza versus war crimes in Ukraine (“The objective here is to turn these Palestinians into mere bodies,” Erakat says)
How the US’s involvement in the Iraq-Iran war back in the 1980s prepared Iran for this moment (“Embedded within both its military strategy, political strategy, and infrastructure,” Bajoghli says)
The need for people to recognize Israeli-style injustices, such as mass incarceration, here in the West, too (“There’s also POPs. You’re progressive only on Palestine,” Erakat says)
Mehdi and Erakat also discussed the Democrats’ response to the war on Iran and their role in the genocide in Gaza. And the panel took a variety of questions from the live audience, on everything from the role of Gulf countries in this current conflict to the fallout from the 1953 CIA coup in Iran.
***Special thanks to Salaam Cola and Kaafi by Chaiguy for providing refreshments at the event.
Paid subscribers can watch the full discussion above without any paywalls. Free subscribers can watch a 9-minute preview. Do please consider becoming a paid subscriber today, or donating to Zeteo, to support independent journalism in a time of war, misinformation, and propaganda.
Editor’s Note: This conversation took place on Thursday, April 9th before the latest round of US-Iran talks over the weekend.
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