Afleveringen

  • Inside a “Greater Israel” Real Estate Expo at an NYC Synagogue

    Inside a “Greater Israel” Real Estate Expo at an NYC Synagogue

    · Infinite Jaz
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.infinitejaz.com

    Yesterday, I spoke with Noah Hurowitz, a reporter for The Intercept, about the Great Israeli Real Estate Expo held Tuesday at Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which promoted real estate in both Israel and the occupied West Bank. Noah was able to attend the event—helped, he believes, by his conspicuously Jewish name—and in our conversation, he describes the scene inside, including one attendee assuring him that international law doesn’t actually matter, another openly marketing Israel’s apartheid policies as a security benefit, and maps in which the Green Line had disappeared altogether.

  • Hasan, what do they want from you?

    Hasan, what do they want from you?

    · Infinite Jaz

    The media and political world has been utterly, bizarrely fixated on the streamer Hasan Piker over the past six weeks. He’s been leading coverage on both left- and right-wing outlets, turned into a kind of litmus test for Democratic politicians, and has become the subject of seemingly endless think pieces. Hasan is, to be sure, an influential and charismatic figure in our politics—and his worldview is “radical” as far as the mainstream goes—but the scale and intensity of this obsession has been genuinely bewildering to me.

    So I wanted to talk to him directly and ask: Hasan, why is this happening? What do these people actually want from you? What does it feel like to suddenly be treated as a political issue on par with healthcare or affordability? What did you do in a past life to deserve this? Are you okay?

    We get into the mechanics of the smear campaign against him, including a breakdown of Olivia Reingold’s now-infamous fabrication in The Free Press, before widening out to other questions: coalition politics vs. leftist purity; whether there’s a place for “recovering liberal Zionists” in the pro-Palestine movement; what actual antisemitism looks like right now; and what to make of figures like Tucker Carlson positioning themselves as anti-Israel voices.

    Finally, we turn to the West Bank, where the violence is constant and largely invisible—including a school shooting this past week—and discuss what it would take to make people here actually pay attention.

    Infinite Jaz exists because I believe reporting on Israel-Palestine, and the systems of power that shape it, should not be filtered through the priorities of billionaires and politically biased, risk-averse institutions.

    But all of my reporting is self-funded, and it cannot continue without your support. If you believe in the importance of independent journalism, please consider becoming a paid subscriber—you’ll gain access to the full archive of subscriber-only reporting and help cover my upcoming reporting trips to the West Bank. A one-year subscription comes out to just over a dollar a week.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitejaz.com/subscribe

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  • How the Iran War Exposed the Israelization of America

    How the Iran War Exposed the Israelization of America

    · Infinite Jaz
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.infinitejaz.com

    Upgrade to a paid subscription for the full, 90-minute interview.

    I sat down with my friend SĂ©amus Malekafzali—co-host of the Turbulence podcast and one of the sharpest analysts I know on the Middle East—to make sense of the war on Iran and what it reveals about the U.S.-Israel relationship.

    We recorded this on April 9th, at the start of a “ceasefire” that didn’t seem to exist on paper and a bombardment of Beirut that was still ongoing. In addition to providing a sweeping overview of the state of things, SĂ©amus offers a crucial intervention in the debate over whether the “tail is wagging the dog” or the “dog is wagging the tail,” laying out, instead, a feedback loop between the U.S. and Israel that generates a “collaborative impunity,” decades in the making.

    We also get into the psychoanalytic dimension of Zionist expansionism and what it means that America seems to be importing the same ideological structure without any of the scaffolding holding it up.

    Finally, SĂ©amus reveals what comes after American hegemony


  • A

    A "Peace Process" Insider Reckons With Decades of Failure

    · Infinite Jaz

    I sat down with Rob Malley—one of the chief American negotiators on Israel-Palestine over three decades—to discuss his book, Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel-Palestine, co-authored with Hussein Agha, who sat on the opposite side of the table, advising the PLO.

    The book is, in large part, a reckoning with failure. Malley and Agha describe a process that continually reinforced a terrible status quo, never imposed meaningful consequences on Israel, and ultimately set the stage for October 7 and the genocide that followed. The last 2.5 years have not been a rupture, they argue, but a return to the conflict’s more “primitive form,” now stripped of “the pretense of a hollow peace process.”

    The interview is long, but we cover a tremendous amount of ground. I highly recommend listening in full if you want to cut through the myths and false narratives that pervade the discourse and hear from someone who was actually in the room.

    Infinite Jaz exists because I believe reporting on Israel-Palestine, and the systems of power that shape it, should not be filtered through the priorities of billionaires and politically biased, risk-averse institutions.

    But all of my reporting is self-funded, and it cannot continue without your support. If you believe in the importance of independent journalism, please consider becoming a paid subscriber—you’ll gain access to the full archive of subscriber-only reporting and help cover my upcoming reporting trips to the West Bank. A one-year subscription comes out to just over a dollar a week.

    We start with the foundational mismatch between the political objectives of the peace process and actual Palestinian aspirations, unpacking how it benefited elites on all sides, regardless of the outcome. We deconstruct the two-state solution—a foreign concept with little connection to realities on the ground—and how it became a convenient shield for American politicians to feign concern for Palestinians without ever acting on their behalf.

    We talk about the U.S.’s role more broadly, of which he writes: “Far from improving the situation, its involvement in Israeli-Palestinian affairs and stranglehold on the peace process often made things worse
 It is worth pondering where things would stand if the United States had not bothered with the conflict at all.”

    Malley provides a firsthand account of the Oslo Accords, whose failure “may be the least surprising thing about it, given the deceit on which it was built.” We go deep on Camp David and how the summit has been mythologized, including by both Bill and Hillary Clinton in viral clips over the last several years, claiming the Palestinians squandered a once-in-a-lifetime peace opportunity.

    We examine the Palestinian Authority as a mechanism for depoliticizing Palestinian nationalism—transforming the PA into a security subcontractor for Israel and a “giant ATM” for a class of functionaries dependent on Western money. We discuss the fragmentation of the Palestinian national movement and the 2006 election of Hamas, which many have used to assign collective blame to Palestinians for October 7, and imagine the alternate history in which Hamas is diplomatically engaged.

    We cover the dĂ©jĂ  vu of the Biden administration’s post-October 7 failures—“criticizing with one hand Israeli policies it enabled with the other”—as well as his sudden invocation of the two-state solution, as though the conditions for it had somehow emerged from genocidal violence.

    We discuss Trump—hopelessly ignorant, corrupt, and cruel, but at least a relief from “America’s moral vanity, feckless expressions of empathy, and convictions devoid of courage. If you are not going to lift a finger for the Palestinians, have the decency not to pretend to care.”

    And we close on what new frameworks might actually be useful for thinking about what comes next: “The days that lie ahead will be more instinctive and raw than cerebral or logical. They will be inhospitable to ready-made grand solutions. This is not a world built by or for Americans. They will be at sea.”

    PS — I reached 1,000 paid subscribers last week, which means I was granted a little orange checkmark, and the Substack algorithm will now recommend Infinite Jaz to a wider audience. Thank you to everyone who believes in my work. It is the honor of my life to do it!



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitejaz.com/subscribe
  • Ro Khanna: “The U.S. Should Treat Israel as an Occupying Nation Violating Human Rights.”

    Ro Khanna: “The U.S. Should Treat Israel as an Occupying Nation Violating Human Rights.”

    · Infinite Jaz

    Congressman Ro Khanna has been making a lot of noise lately—pushing for the release of the Epstein files, challenging the administration over war powers in the escalating conflict with Iran, and positioning himself on the front lines of the Democratic Party’s internal debate over Israel and Palestine. Plenty of people suspect he’s trying to carve out a lane for a presidential run. On Israel-Palestine, that lane is clearly to the left of most national Democrats: sharply critical of Israel, willing to call Gaza a genocide, and increasingly explicit about the occupation.

    In January, his team reached out to me for input as they worked on a House resolution on the West Bank, and I agreed to share what I considered the most urgent issues. I was clear with them that the core problem was not just a few bad ministers or a temporary policy deviation, but a Zionist project with ever-expanding territorial aims and virtually no meaningful internal resistance within the Israeli political system—and that any real change would require a much more radical rethinking of the U.S.-Israel relationship than most Democrats have been willing to entertain.

    That same week, with the distinction between rhetoric and action—and between band-aids and cures—very much in mind, I noticed Khanna had voted for a spending bill that included billions more for Israeli security and cut UNRWA funding. I called him out publicly, and he responded quickly, saying the Israel provisions had been folded into a broader appropriations bill and had been “snuck in” by Republicans; when I asked directly whether he had known those provisions were in the bill when he voted for it, he replied, “I genuinely did not.” When the bill later came back amended, he reached out privately to tell me he’d be voting no. It was clear that he wanted to prove his mettle on the issue, and he agreed to an interview once the House resolution came out.

    Khanna introduced House Resolution 1092 this week, condemning Israeli settlement expansion, settler violence, and human rights abuses in the West Bank while calling for accountability and specific U.S. policy responses. In our conversation, he was quick to admit that it will not produce immediate material change; rather, it is meant to establish a clear Democratic policy framework and build pressure for future administrations to act.

    With that in mind, I wanted to use my conversation with Khanna to press him on the harder questions—the ones Democratic presidential hopefuls will increasingly have to answer if they want to occupy the left flank of this issue. In other words, the places where the rubber actually meets the road.

    Questions like:

    * Would he continue supporting Iron Dome funding even as Israel wages relentless aggression across the region with the knowledge that it is largely insulated from retaliation?

    * What does a “two-state solution” actually mean at this point, beyond ritual incantation, given the geography of the West Bank and the sheer scale of the settlement project?

    * How does one reconcile support for a “Jewish democratic state” with the reality that maintaining a Jewish-majority state in all likelihood requires the permanent subordination of non-Jews under its control?

    * Given that decades of American pressure and diplomacy have failed to restrain Israel’s expansion, occupation, and aggression, what new, harsher measures would he actually be willing to try?

    * At what point do we stop treating Israel as an ally in the normal sense of the term?

    Khanna’s answers were revealing. At one point, he said plainly that the United States should view Israel first and foremost as “an occupying nation violating human rights,” and that this lens should guide policy. That is stronger language than you hear from almost any major Democratic figure with national ambitions. He said he no longer supports renewing the existing Memorandum of Understanding on military aid when it comes up in 2028, and took a shot at fellow ambitious California Democrat Gavin Newsom, whose recent comments on Israeli apartheid generated headlines but, in Khanna’s view, remain too vague to mean much.

    He also made clear that, in his view, Congress is not where this will ultimately be decided: real change would have to come from a president, State Department, and national security apparatus willing to treat Israel as a state carrying out occupation and systematic rights abuses.

    Still, Khanna stopped short of the more fundamental break that many people, myself included, now believe the situation requires. From my vantage point, it seems that he is trying to define a Democratic position that is much harsher on Israel than the party establishment has been, but still recognizably inside the boundaries of mainstream electoral politics.

    In any case, I think the conversation was quite revealing about where the debate is headed, and I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

    All of my reporting is self-funded. If you want to help me keep doing this work, consider upgrading to a paid subscription—you’ll also get access to exclusive interviews, reporting, and essays. For a limited time, I’m offering 20% off all annual subscriptions.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitejaz.com/subscribe
  • How Mohammed Was Freed

    How Mohammed Was Freed

    · Infinite Jaz

    On November 27, Thanksgiving Day, Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, a 16-year-old Palestinian American kid from Florida, walked out of Israeli military detention after 9.5 agonizing months. Yesterday, I spoke with his uncle, Zeyad Kadur, who quarterbacked the sprawling grassroots effort to free Mohammed, to get the definitive account of how it actually happened.

    The interview is a long one (...again), but for good reason: we walked step-by-step through every phase of the fight, from the hours after Mohammed’s abduction to the moment he was freed. We talked through the legal maneuvering in Israel, the political pressure (and public shaming) in Washington, the relentless phonebanking campaign, the increased urgency after Mohammed’s cellmate—and then cousin—were killed, the strategic use of public statements from Israeli authorities against them, and the backchannel diplomacy. We also discussed the role that various US lawmakers played in the effort—including one AIPAC Democrat whose role has not been discussed until now—and named and shamed those who did nothing. Zeyad also explained the personal reasons he took on this fight, and the interview includes a cameo from his infant son, Sayfollah—named for his nephew who was beaten to death in July.

    What emerges is not a single winning tactic or turning point, but a sequence of overlapping pressures and contingencies that finally forced Israel to let him go. At a time when so many people feel helpless in the face of compounding Israeli injustices and U.S. complicity, I’d like to think this offers a playbook for how to organize on the ground to secure material wins in cases like this.

    If you’re looking for a meaningful holiday gift, might I suggest putting it toward independent journalism?

    November offered a reminder of what this work can actually do—especially with a mainstream media that refuses to hold power to account. The settler I documented clubbing a grandmother in a video that drew international outrage was indicted on terrorism charges. A few hours later, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim—whose case I’ve covered almost daily since July while most outlets ignored it—was freed from Israeli military detention.

    All of my reporting is self-funded. If you want to help me keep doing it, consider gifting a paid subscription to my newsletter—for yourself or for someone who needs it.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitejaz.com/subscribe
  • Joy and Grief: Kamel Musallet on Welcoming His Nephew Home—and Reliving His Son's Murder

    Joy and Grief: Kamel Musallet on Welcoming His Nephew Home—and Reliving His Son's Murder

    · Infinite Jaz

    The past week has been full of joy: 16-year-old Mohammed Zahir Ibrahim was released from Israeli military detention on Thursday after 9.5 months—and two days later, his three (non-American) friends arrested alongside him walked free too. In all the excitement, I realized I never actually posted about it here. Hopefully you’ve heard the news by now—if not, you can get the basic details from this thread on X, and I’ll share more about how it happened in an upcoming piece.

    If you’ve been following the story, one face you’ve probably seen in the reunion photos and videos—often the one texting me updates in real time—is Kamel Musallet, Mohammed’s uncle and the father of 20-year-old Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July. For Kamel, Mohammed’s return has been a whiplash of joy and fresh grief: welcoming his nephew home while also watching him learn—after nine and a half months cut off from the outside world—that his cousin had been murdered, a moment that ripped open wounds the family has been carrying ever since. (I wrote about Kamel and the broader community of Palestinian American families fighting for justice in Washington in a recent piece for The Paris Review: A Hill To Die On.)

    In our conversation, we talk about what this week has been like for him, the details of the day Saif was killed, the role the IDF played, and Ambassador Mike Huckabee’s initial expression of concern followed by months of silence. We also go deep on the specific struggle in Al-Mazra‘a al-Sharqiya, where settlers have taken over the private Palestinian olive groves that families have tended for generations, and are now using the hilltop as a strategic position to launch attacks and threaten nearby towns.

    It’s a long interview, but in my opinion, an important—and very moving—one, illuminating a real story about a town’s fight for survival in the West Bank and the human stakes of this moment. I hope you’ll watch the whole thing.

    Jasper

    PS — I talked about Mohammed’s release on The Majority Report (26:30) and Bad Hasbara (9:00) this week.

    If you’re looking for a meaningful holiday gift, might I suggest putting it toward independent journalism?

    Last week offered a reminder of what this work can actually do—especially with a mainstream media that refuses to hold power to account. The settler I documented clubbing a grandmother in a video that drew international outrage was indicted on terrorism charges. A few hours later, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim—whose case I’ve covered almost daily since July while most outlets ignored it—was freed from Israeli military detention.

    All of my reporting is self-funded. If you want to help me keep doing it, consider gifting a paid subscription to my newsletter—for yourself or for someone who needs it.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitejaz.com/subscribe