The Big Picture

We are living through a moment of social and political upheaval - one that has somehow aligned the Houthi rebels in Yemen, South Africa’s greatest legal minds and students across the wealthiest campuses in the world.

They’re all fighting for Gaza, and against an increasingly isolated Israeli government and its Western backers. So are we witnessing a historic tipping point?

Norman Finkelstein has documented the Israel-Palestine conflict for over 4 decades, with a particular focus on Israel’s actions in Gaza.

As the son of Holocaust survivors, he became particularly critical of Israel’s use of history as a propaganda tool to shut down critique - something he documents in his book ‘The Holocaust Industry’.

Since October 7, he’s been one of the most prolific voices speaking out - accusing Israel of carrying out a Genocide - and describing Gaza as a concentration camp.

In this episode of The Big Picture podcast, we speak to him about the value of international law, the historic turning point in Palestinian advocacy and his view on Israel’s moral argument for its own existence.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at [email protected] or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.
You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

“I was definitely raised to be a Jewish leader of some kind.”

With college campuses all over the US gripped by intense battles around free speech, antisemitism and Palestinian rights - the voices of young Jewish Americans have led the way.

One of the boldest and most prominent voices is that of Simone Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was raised in a conservative Zionist household, taught to idolise and support Israel as the highest aspiration of all young Jewish Americans like her.

But as she got older, she began to question whether there was another side to Israel she was being sheltered from - and when she sought answers, she was shocked at what she discovered.

Prompted by conversations with Palestinians under occupation and Jewish activists, she went home and began to organise in an attempt to stop her government’s military support for Israel, and as she puts it, “live out the values of justice I was raised on”.

On the frontlines of protests in campuses and halls of power, she suddenly found herself a target of accusations by pro-Israeli groups, who now called her “antisemitic” and a “jew hater” and threatening her online.

After October 7, she became more determined than ever to challenge the beliefs in her community about Israel, and the reluctance by many to see the horrific reality of what’s happening in Gaza.

This week on The Big Picture, we sit down with Simone Zimmerman to talk about her story, which has been documented in a provocative new documentary called ‘Israelism’, and whether we’re witnessing a turning point in how young Jewish-Americans see Israel, and how young Americans see their government’s support for the occupation.

Check out the trailer for Israelism here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bondvm3hvGM&ab_channel=TikkunOlamFilms

Check out Simone Zimmerman’s work with If Not Now here: https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at [email protected] or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.
You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

Is Europe ‘nostalgic for a racist past’ when it didn’t have to apologise for its colonialism?

In this week’s episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with renowned Australian anthropologist Ghassan Hage.

Hage is currently fighting against the prestigious Max Planck Society in Germany over accusations of ‘antisemitism’ over his critiques of Israel.
This week, Germany’s government had to defend its ongoing military support for Israel’s war in Gaza after a legal case was filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Nicaragua, who accused Germany of “facilitating the commission of genocide”.

We go in-depth and speak about Germany, antisemitism and the end of liberal Europe.

Hage was invited to a placement at a Max Planck institute last year, but soon became the target of attacks by right-wing media in Germany, who lobbied the Max Planck directors to fire him. They did.
Despite being married to a Jewish refugee whose father fled Mussolini, and building a career in creating dialogue, Hage was denied a chance to defend the accusations.

Now he’s fighting back, and says his case is part of a wider trend in Germany and many western nations who are using ‘antisemitism’ as a cover to keep immigrants under control.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at [email protected] or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.
You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

Are Western leaders sleepwalking into a disaster in the Middle East?

As regional tensions surge amid Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, its allies in the US and Europe have refused calls to de-escalate the conflict and prevent the staggering toll on human life from spiralling further.

Western countries vowed to stand by Israel as it responds to the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas, with many invoking the language of the ‘War on Terror’ and a ‘Clash of Civilisations’. But unlike conflicts in the past, these countries have increasingly found themselves isolated on the world stage, at the United Nations and on the streets of major cities.

This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we sit down with Palestinian thinker and political strategist Wadah Khanfar, the former director general of Al Jazeera.

Khanfar says Israel and its allies are desperately trying to maintain Western hegemony in the Middle East and beyond, but they cannot see that the world has already moved on.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at [email protected] or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.
You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

What happens when a dictator uses drug trafficking as a tool of diplomacy?

The psychoactive drug known as Captagon has exploded across the Middle East and Europe, leading many countries to clasify it as an ‘epidemic’. The highly-addictive pill used to be made in Turkey and Latin America, but that slowly changed after the Syrian Civil War.

Today, 80% of the global supplies come from Syria, and many have accused Bashar al-Assad of using the drug to generate billions in revenue for the government, bypassing sanctions, and to put pressure on his neighbours to resume diplomatic ties.

That gambit seems to have paid off in May when, after more than 10 years, Syria was welcomed back into the Arab League.

In this week’s episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with Dr Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East Institute at SOAS University. Dr Khatib says despite years of sanctions and political pressure, Assad has emerged feeling victorious.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at [email protected] or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.
You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG