Contributing Writers

As the Biden administration faces accusations of being too slow to help Palestinian Americans and their families trapped in Gaza, we speak with Narmin Abushaban in Detroit whose mother died from lack of medical care while waiting to leave Gaza. She is working now to rescue the rest of her family members. This comes as calls grow for the U.S. to grant temporary protected status (TPS) to Palestinians already in the United States.

We are joined in Cairo by Fadi Abu Shammalah, the head of Gaza’s General Union of Cultural Centers, who describes the inhumane conditions he was able to escape in Gaza. “Every city in the Gaza Strip is beyond our imagination,” says Abu Shammalah. He notes that in just the last 36 hours, at least 170 civilians were killed. “Witnesses say that the Israeli bulldozers buried the injured people in Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The Israeli military this week raided the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a renowned cultural institution whose mission is to fight for Palestinian justice, equality and self-determination. It’s part of a wave of violence Israel has unleashed across the occupied West Bank since October 7, killing 58 people in Jenin alone even as the country intensifies its assault on Gaza. We speak with Freedom Theater artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, who was just released after being held for 24 hours.

We speak with the acclaimed Russian American writer Masha Gessen, whose latest article for The New Yorker looks at the politics of Holocaust commemoration in Europe. Gessen was scheduled to receive the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize in Germany on December 15, but the ceremony was postponed after some award sponsors withdrew support over Gessen’s comparison in the article of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. A smaller award ceremony is set for Saturday.

After some 200 countries at COP28 agreed to phase down fossil fuels, nations are facing pressure to block new oil and gas projects. A growing number of Democrats are calling on President Biden to stop massive new fossil fuel developments, and climate groups in the U.K. filed a lawsuit to block a massive new oilfield in the North Sea, saying it violates obligations to target net-zero carbon emissions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing calls for another ceasefire in Gaza after Israeli troops mistakenly shot dead three Israeli hostages who were shirtless and waving a white flag. This comes as Israel continues to target hospitals, refugee camps and journalists in Gaza. On Friday, Samer Abudaqa, a reporter from Al Jazeera, bled to death after being injured in an Israeli drone strike on a U.N. school.

The Israeli military this week raided the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a renowned cultural institution whose mission is to fight for Palestinian justice, equality and self-determination. It’s part of a wave of violence Israel has unleashed across the occupied West Bank since October 7, killing 58 people in Jenin alone even as the country intensifies its assault on Gaza. We speak with Freedom Theater artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, who was just released after being held for 24 hours.

We speak with the acclaimed Russian American writer Masha Gessen, whose latest article for The New Yorker looks at the politics of Holocaust commemoration in Europe. Gessen was scheduled to receive the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize in Germany on December 15, but the ceremony was postponed after some award sponsors withdrew support over Gessen’s comparison in the article of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. A smaller award ceremony is set for Saturday.

We look at student protests nationwide calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, including 41 students at Brown University arrested Monday at a sit-in demanding the school divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers like Raytheon and United Technologies, and a weeklong sit-in at Haverford College.

We discuss President Joe Biden’s “full support for a scorched-earth campaign” in Gaza with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill, who says the U.S. is providing “political cover and rushing weapons there and giving support to the most pernicious lies that Israel [is] telling.

The Israeli military this week raided the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a renowned cultural institution whose mission is to fight for Palestinian justice, equality and self-determination. It’s part of a wave of violence Israel has unleashed across the occupied West Bank since October 7, killing 58 people in Jenin alone even as the country intensifies its assault on Gaza. We speak with Freedom Theater artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, who was just released after being held for 24 hours.

We speak with the acclaimed Russian American writer Masha Gessen, whose latest article for The New Yorker looks at the politics of Holocaust commemoration in Europe. Gessen was scheduled to receive the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize in Germany on December 15, but the ceremony was postponed after some award sponsors withdrew support over Gessen’s comparison in the article of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. A smaller award ceremony is set for Saturday.

We look at student protests nationwide calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, including 41 students at Brown University arrested Monday at a sit-in demanding the school divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers like Raytheon and United Technologies, and a weeklong sit-in at Haverford College.

We discuss President Joe Biden’s “full support for a scorched-earth campaign” in Gaza with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill, who says the U.S. is providing “political cover and rushing weapons there and giving support to the most pernicious lies that Israel [is] telling.