GAZA

Since October 7th, 2023, Unsettled has featured the voices of different people affected by the devastating violence in Israel and Gaza, as well as expert context and analysis.

ANNIVERSARY OF OCTOBER 7th, 2023

Unsettled will be releasing short pieces that return to some of the stories, topics and guests that we heard from in the past year. We wanted to ask — How are they thinking about the anniversary of October 7th? What, if anything, has changed in the past year? And where do we go from here?

Matt Duss: “It is not a war of self-defense. It is a war of choice.”

Unsettled followed up with previous guest Matt Duss to ask him about President Biden's approach to foreign policy, military escalations in Lebanon, and what the upcoming U.S. presidential election may mean for the U.S.' policy towards Israel. Matt is a past president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and he was the foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders for five years. He is currently the Executive Vice President of the Center for International Policy.

Shahd Safi's fight to reclaim hope

For the past year, Shahd Safi, a university student and freelance journalist from Gaza has had to make impossible calculations in order to survive. By December 2023, her family was running out of their basic needs, waiting on long lines for water at mosques and from UN aid workers. In February 2024, after hearing about a possible Israeli invasion of Rafah, Shahd started to think seriously about leaving Gaza. One year later, her circumstances are very different: she's now is in the U.S., pursuing a bachelor's degree in human rights and written arts. Unsettled has been in touch with Shahd throughout the year, following her journey. In this episode of Unsettled, Producer Ilana Levinson speaks with Shahd about the last year of her life: where she's been, and what she had to do to get where she is now.

Rabbi Abby Stein: "There's a long, long road ahead"

It’s currently high holiday season, the holiest time in the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah was last week and Yom Kippur begins tonight at sundown. The one year anniversary of October 7th fell in between. This year, there's a new resource — a High Holidays directory created by Rabbis for Ceasefire. Unsettled Producer Emily Bell reached out to one of the founding members of Rabbis for Ceasefire, Abby Stein, to learn more about the Rabbis for Ceasefire High Holidays directory, and how spiritual leaders like her are approaching this sacred time of reflection and interpreting Torah during this confluence of dates.

Asaf Calderon: “The problem as we understand it is Zionism”

Today is October 7th, 2024. One year ago, thousands of militants led by Hamas launched a multi-front attack on Israeli towns and military bases, killing over 1,100 people and abducting over 250. Israel responded to the October 7th attack with one of the most destructive military campaigns in history, displacing most people in the already poverty-stricken, besieged Gaza Strip. To date, Israel has killed at least 41,000 people in Gaza– but experts say the numbers are likely higher.
How should we make sense of this anniversary? How should we mark it? Many Israelis and those whose sympathies lie with them will grieve, and make space to remember what was, for many, one of the worst days of their lives. But for thousands of Palestinians – and now Lebanese people, too– they’re still fighting for their survival. How can we stop and remember if the horror persists for so many?
Shortly after October 7th, 2023 Asaf Calderon left the Unsettled team as a producer, and started a new movement of anti-Zionist Israelis living in the United States. Last week, Unsettled Producer Ilana Levinson sat down with Asaf to talk about this movement, called Shoresh.

LEAVE UNSETTLED A VOICEMAIL

We also want to make space for our listeners, to reflect, too. How are you thinking about the anniversary of October 7th, and what's changed for you in the year since then? We encourage you to call in to our voicemail, which we’ve re-opened. You can call in with your name, or stay anonymous. Know that we may use your note in an upcoming episode of Unsettled or on our social media. Leave a message at 347-878-1359.

NEW RELEASES

The Columbia Encampment

On Tuesday April 30th, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik called the New York Police Department to clear the campus of students who had erected an encampment in solidarity with Palestine. Columbia's encampment was one of hundreds of similar campus demonstrations across the United States, many of which were also removed by the police. Unsettled visited Columbia's encampment the week before it was cleared, and spoke to some of those involved about what they hoped to achieve through their protest.

‘Ayeka’: A new song from Aly Halpert

For this episode of Unsettled, we premiered a new song from musician Aly Halpert called ‘Ayeka': the first time she has used her music to directly respond to the violence in Israel-Palestine.

Rabbi Miriam Grossman: “we act and we do not wait for hope”

Since the start of the Israel’s war on Gaza, grief and rage have brought thousands of people to the streets to demand a ceasefire. One of the many groups that have mobilized in the U.S. is Rabbis for Ceasefire. One of these rabbis is Miriam Grossman.

Voices From Gaza

An Update from Isam

Before October 7th, the population of Rafah was about 250,000. Now, it’s over a million, with many families living in tents and some on the streets. Isam lives in a three-story house with 46 other people. Recently, Isam Hamad was able to get a family reunification visa from Ireland, because one of his children was born there. But he’s still waiting for approval to leave.

Shahd Safi: "We need electricity, we need fuel, we need flour, we need bread"

On Friday, October 27th, Israel cut off internet in the Gaza Strip as it expanded its ground operations. This total internet blackout left Gaza without the ability to communicate, both internally and with the outside world. The internet was restored on Sunday October 29th. Unsettled spoke with writer, translator and human rights advocate, Shahd Safi, both before and after the internet blackout about the conditions inside Gaza.

Isam Hamad: “What sort of a life is this?”

Producer Ilana Levinson speaks to Isam Hamad: an organizer of 2018's Great March of Return, and manager of a medical equipment company in Gaza City.

Political Context

Tareq Baconi: “The Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh

On Wednesday, July 31st, Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran. Israel hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack, but they're widely believed to be responsible– especially given Israel’s history of targeted political assassinations.
Haniyeh was killed in the middle of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. With the death toll in Gaza nearing 40,000, and the family members of the Israeli hostages desperately calling for a prisoner exchange, the pressure to come to an agreement has been mounting. But Ismail Haniyeh was a chief negotiator in those talks– and now, the chances of arriving at a deal seem further than ever.
Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack on their soil. As of Thursday August 8th, that hasn’t happened yet, but many now fear that tensions could lead to a wider regional war.
In this collaboration between Unsettled Podcast and Jewish Currents, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson interviews Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance.

Matt Duss: “This is not a moment when people are making good policy”

The United States has always been Israel’s strongest ally, and President Biden has pledged his steadfast support for Israel since Hamas's surprise attack over the Gaza border on October 7. To better understand the U.S. role in this war, Unsettled producer Max Freedman speaks to Matt Duss: former foreign policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, and now Executive Vice President at the Center for International Policy.

Tareq Baconi: “There’s no going back”

Tareq Baconi is the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, billed as "the first history of the group on its own terms." Tareq gives his analysis of Hamas's recent moves. Why this kind of attack, and why now?

Personal Stories

TALKING TO OUR FAMILIES

We asked listeners to call in and tell us about how they’re navigating conversations with their families, friends, and communities in this moment. This episode is a collaboration between Unsettled and On the Nose, the podcast from Jewish Currents magazine.

NOAM SHUSTER-ELIASSI: “WE ARE BROKEN”

Despite public pressure, some Israelis voice opposition to the war - even people who have deep personal connections to the victims of October 7. One of these dissenting voices has been the comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi.

Arie Hasit: "Everybody has opened a situation room"

Producer Ilana Levinson speaks with Rabbi Arie Hasit in Israel. Ilana and Arie, who grew up going to the same synagogue and and summer camp, discuss what it was like to be in Israel on October 7th, and Israel's obligations toward its own citizens as well as the Palestinian people of the Gaza strip as the war continues.

Gaza, a series from unsettled (2019):

In 2019, Unsettled released a four-part series about the Gaza Strip. We set out to dive into these questions: Why did thousands of people risk so much to take part in the Great March of Return? Why does a majority of the population identify as refugees, even many who were born in Gaza? How are Gazans innovating in order to survive?

The Great March (Gaza, ep. 1)

American and Israeli politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries met in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 to mark the United States moving its embassy there. While they celebrated with songs about peace, thousands of Palestinians assembled at the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip for the Great March of Return. This mass demonstration was originally planned to last six weeks, but has continued to this day. How did it all begin, and who are the protestors that continue to risk their lives to participate?

Refugees (Gaza, ep. 2)

Hilmi Hammad was 18 years old in 1948 when Israeli forces entered his village. He became one of about 200,000 Palestinian refugees who ended up in the Gaza Strip at the end of the 1948 war. The site where Hilmi's village once stood is located today in the center of Israel, and though Hilmi has spent his life in Gaza, his home is still in that village, to which he hopes to return.

Hamas (Gaza, ep. 3)

Too many conversations about Gaza begin and end with one word: Hamas. And conversations about Hamas too often rely on reductive talking points.

Energy (Gaza, ep. 4)

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip shapes people’s lives in many different ways. In this episode, we focus on the chronic energy shortage. Because energy is needed for much more than turning on the lights; water, sewage, and hospitals, schools, farms, and factories — they all depend on a steady supply of electricity.

POLITICIZED PAIN

When violence erupts in Israel-Palestine, talking in public about Palestinian suffering is often met automatically with an assertion of Israeli suffering — as if one somehow cancels out, or even justifies, the other. It feels like compassion has become a scarce commodity. How do we grieve publicly without negating the experience of the “other side"? This episode originally aired in 2021.

CREDITS

Unsettled is made by Emily Bell, Max Freedman, and Ilana Levinson. Music in these episodes from Blue Dot Sessions

RESOURCES

Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Tareq Baconi)
Gaza’s shock attack has terrified Israelis. It should also unveil the context (Haggai Matar, +972 Magazine, 10/7/23)
“We cannot cross until we carry each other” (Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents, 10/12/23)