Makdisi Street

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Latest Episodes:

Makdisi Street Reviews w/ Fady Joudah Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

The brothers host the award-winning Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah to discuss his newest work, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza (2026).

Watch the livestream on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnUPf7gMDSs

Consider supporting the show for access to the next livestream edition of Madisi Street Reviews! www.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"The UK government was definitely complicit" w/ Chris Doyle Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

The brothers welcome Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for British-Arab Understanding (CAABU) and leading expert on British policy to the Middle East. We discuss the context behind British complicity in the Gaza genocide under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and why he thinks the apparent shift in policy under new Foreign Minister Ed Milliband is genuine. We also talk about the power of the Israel lobby in the UK and the unprecedented crackdown on free speech and Palestine solidarity protests.

Date of recording: Sept 15, 2026

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/9pDWjlgUs40 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii

Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"Uncontained Malice" Sep 12, 2026

Show notes

The brothers regroup to discuss israel's ongoing campaigns of genocidal destruction in southern Lebanon and Gaza; the regional consequences of the apparent stalemate in the US war on Iran; continuing shifts in Western public attitudes toward the question of Palestine and the gap between public or voter sentiment on the one hand and actual policy making on the other, as well as an illustrative contrast between the consolidation of pro-Israel establishment politicians in the US (witness the recent bill to protect Israel by muzzling US universities) and possible signs of change in Europe, including the recent move to recognize the illegality of the 1967 occupation in its entirety.

Date of recording: Sept 8, 2026

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/GAIte4DE8ec X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"They've lost all the arguments" Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Two of the three brothers reflect on summer travels and discuss Ussama's recent visit to Australia, the extraordinary repression across the Western world intended to shield Israel from criticism or even analysis, the provenance of the so-called IHRA misdefinition of "antisemitism," and the replacement of a culture of denial by a culture of suppression.

Date of recording: August 25, 2026

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/9pDWjlgUs40 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"Surrender is not an option" Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

The brothers reunite in a special, in-person episode at their parents' mountain house in Dhour Choueir, Lebanon, to discuss their recent trip to southern Lebanon, what they saw on the ground, the wider regional implications, and where U.S. politics stands today.

Produced by Layla Makdisi

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd2P3lOkN8

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"Palestinians are wholly excluded from the room" w/ Ta-Nehisi Coates Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

The brothers welcome journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates back to the show to discuss Kamala Harris's ill-fated 2024 presidential campaign and the debacle of the Democratic Convention's exclusion of Palestinian-American voices (about which he's written recently for Vanity Fair), the betrayal of the radical Black tradition, tensions in the civil rights movement over the question of Palestine and the significance of the emerging break with Zionism on the American right.

Check out his article:

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/the-next-black-president?srsltid=AfmBOorwIn31nJd05iOQ99YVlFQ7ldQCrcpGKRpwpda8EBI4DZctwE7j

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/rZrXgODaPV4

Date of recording: July 13, 2026

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

Patron-only livestream: Latest on Iran, Lebanon and US policy Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

**Please join our Patreon for access to our next livestream and to submit your questions/comments** Come and join the brothers for another patron-only livestream discussion of the situation in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We look forward to your questions and comments!

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2026

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"Their appetite grows with every war" w/ Aslı Ü. Bâli Jul 05, 2026

Show notes

The brothers welcome back Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for an intense and wide-ranging discussion of the state of the Middle East in the aftermath of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran. They discuss the potential geopolitical outcomes the apparent US strategic defeat, examine the nature and assumptions of what had been American primacy over the Gulf, the liability and costs to the US and the Middle East of the decades-long American political embrace of an Israel drunk on borrowed power and impunity, Turkey's role in the regional realignment, the question of pipelines and resources, and the importance of international law in the context of the Gaza genocide. Check out her recent article, "Object Lessons" https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/object-lessons/

Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel

Date of recording: June 23, 2026

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet

Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"FIFA is a racket" w/ Abdullah Al-Arian Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome Abdullah Al-Arian, Chair of History at Georgetown University Qatar and editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game. We talk about how football shapes Arab identity, including the role of diaspora, and how it is instrumentalized by Arab states. We also talk about the controversies and politics of the World Cup, including the journey of Team Palestine during a genocide, and discrimination against Iran's team and fans from across the global south. We wrap by discussing the question of FIFA Eurocentrism, corruption, and double standards, including FIFA's cowardice in not banning Israel. For the record, we all try to predict who will win the World Cup!

Date of recording: June 19, 2026

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

Makdisi Street Reviews w/ Eyal Weizman Jun 20, 2026

Show notes

In anticipation of the publication of Eyal Weizman's new book, Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide, which will be released in the US next month, the brothers hosted a livestream with Eyal to which our Patreon supporters had access, including the opportunity to ask questions of Eyal either via the livestream chat (which we will moderate) or in advance via email.

Watch the livestream edition https://youtu.be/EInAD1Utpgw

Date of recording: June 16, 2026

X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

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