The Big Picture

The Big Picture

di Middle East Eye

Società e cultura

Stagione 3

A British lawmaker fights for her Christian family in Gaza | Layla Moran

What does it take to shift the UK’s position on Palestine? One lawmaker, Layla Moran, has a deeply personal drive to fight for change. Her relatives have been trapped in a Gaza Church for days, surrounded by Israeli snipers and tanks and running out of food and water. Moran has been fighting to change the position of her Liberal Democrats Party for years, to introduce policies about recognizing a Palestinian state by bringing together Israeli and Palestinian voices. Her efforts led to the party calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on November 13, more than a month before other British parties budged on their blanket support for Israel’s military action. Now she wants the government to commit to joining the international community in pushing for an end to the war, and to uphold its “historic obligation” to recognising Palestinian independence. This week on the Big Picture, we speak to Layla Moran about her family, her Palestinian identity and her belief in dialogue as a tool to bridge the bitter divide. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

The legal team pursuing justice in the Gaza War | Tayab Ali

Can Western leaders be held to account for their role in the Gaza war? This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we sit down with one lawyer determined to do just that, and who has already put many of them on public notice. Tayab Ali is Solicitor Advocate, a partner at the London Law firm Bindmans LLP and the director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). For years, Ali fought to bring Israeli politicians before British courts on charges of war crimes. These included former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In 2009, he successfully applied for UK court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni following the brutal Operation Cast Lead, which killed more than 1000 Palestinians in Gaza. In 2011 the British government controversially issued diplomatic protection for Livni to allow her to visit London on a speaking tour. Following the Hamas attack on October 7 which led to Israel’s war in Gaza, killing more than 18,000 people including 7000 children, Ali and his team published a public letter to British politicians, informing them of their intent to prosecute any lawmakers “aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza”. They’re also supporting groups mounting a case at the High Court against the UK government over its arms exports to Israel. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

[BONUS] Biden needs the Arab vote to beat Trump | The Big Picture Explained

Joe Biden has pursued a ‘no red lines’ policy in his support for Israel’s war in Gaza, despite it being deeply unpopular among his own voters.The growing anger in Arab and Muslim American communities in key swing states has pushed many to vow they won’t vote for him in the 2024 Presidential elections. While only making up 1% of the population - it’s where they live that could make all the difference - and it’s something the Democrats are starting to really worry about.This week on The Big Picture, we examine what poll numbers say about Biden’s foreign policy decisions, and what it says about his hopes for defeating Donald Trump. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

Why a weapons expert is taking on the US government | Josh Paul

Josh Paul created a big stir when he resigned from the US State Department in protest of the sale of weapons to Israel. In a highly publicised letter, he said the rush to arm Israel’s war in Gaza was “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory” The former arms trade expert, who helped the US train the Iraqi police and the Palestinian Authority, and oversaw weapons deals to a number of controversial regimes, says he’s now speaking out in the hopes he can pressure the US into changing its foreign policy. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

Israel's fears, its delusions and its future | Daniel Levy

Is there a path back from the brink for Israel and Palestine?Under the blinding influence of fury and revenge after the October 7 attack, Israel has waged a relentless war in Gaza which killed more than 11,000 Palestinians and displaced more than 1.5 million people. But beyond its stated aim to eliminate Hamas, there seems to be no plan for what happens the day after, or what would stop the wheel of violence from continuing to spin. This week on The Big Picture podcast, we sit down with former Israeli negotiator and analyst Daniel Levy, who now heads the US-Middle East Project. Levy argues that despite the terrifying language now normal within Israeli society, there is still an offramp, and even a road to peace. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

[BONUS] Why American politicians are 'lying' about Gaza | The Big Picture Explained

Are there Hamas tunnels under hospitals? Did Israel give up Gaza in 2005? Did the Palestinians reject their own state?This week on The Big Picture, we examine a widely shared interview with Hillary Clinton, praised as informative and illuminating. Except most of what she says about Gaza isn’t true - so why is she misleading the public?It could be her financial ties to Israel, and influential Israeli lobbies in the United States. She’s not the only one. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

The fall of Western order, the rise of the Global South | Wadah Khanfar

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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

[BONUS] ‘40 beheaded babies’ : How media amplified an unconfirmed story | The Big Picture Explained

On Wednesday, the world woke up to newspapers plastered with a horrific headline about ‘40 Israeli babies decapitated by Hamas’. But was the story true? We dig into the dizzying, circular debate around the darkest story of an already devastating week and ask whether journalists fulfilled their duty to fact-check it, or instead helped Israel justify its policy of ‘collective punishment’ in Gaza. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

The history of Hamas, Fatah and Palestinian liberation movements | Azzam Tamimi

The history of Palestinian liberation movements is paved with setbacks, betrayals and bitter rivalries. What began as an attempt to unify the resistance against Israeli occupation has over time been undermined by regional and global political interests, ideological differences and disagreements over the justification, and use, of guerilla tactics. Today the question of who represents Palestinian interests is hotly contested, with Hamas and Fatah vying for control, and a wave of dissatisfied young factions on the rise in Gaza and the West Bank. This week on The Big Picture podcast, we speak with British-Palestinian academic and political activist Dr Azzam Tamimi. In the light of the ongoing violence in Gaza and Israel, and the devastating toll on civilian life, Dr Tamimi explains how these movements began, and why another Palestinian uprising is inevitable. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

Imran Khan, the army and Pakistan's broken politics | Zulfi Bukhari

What is the fate of Imran Khan? After more than a year of political turmoil following his ousting, the embattled former Pakistani leader is in prison, fighting dozens of charges from corruption to sedition to selling state secrets. He’s also been barred from taking part in the country’s upcoming elections, and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is slowly being dismantled. Senior leaders have been arrested or pushed into exile, and his supporters accused of terrorism. Pakistan’s caretaker government insists justice is taking its course, and that elections will be open and fair. Khan’s supporters say the opposition and the military have conspired to make sure the country’s most popular political figure can never reach the polls come January. This week on The Big Picture podcast, we sit down with Zulfi Bukhari, a former cabinet minister and special assistant to Imran Khan. Himself in exile, Bukhari has been lobbying governments to speak out about the climate of fear, censorship and intimidation undermining the country’s future. 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 mh@middleeasteye.org 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

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