Shows / Real Talk
Real Talk
Real Talk is a Middle East Eye interview series hosted by Mohamed Hashem that explores the unique stories and experiences of a diverse range of guests — from artists, to musicians, to politicians and more.
Episodes
Real TalkDid the US nearly invade Saudi Arabia over oil? | Real Talk: Explained
'You will lose everything.' That was Saudi King Faisal's warning to American oil executives in 1973. But Washington didn't listen. Months later, Saudi Arabia…
Real TalkHow did the pro-Israel lobby shape Obama's Middle East policy? | Eli Clifton
'Obama’s first term was sort of a hinge moment. It was when the old bipartisan pro-Israel consensus... began to visibly crack.' How did the pro-Israel lobby…
Real Talk'Iraq had no Jewish problem': As an Arab Jew, Israel made me feel inferior | Avi Shlaim | Real Talk
'Iraq didn't have a Jewish problem.' Avi Shlaim is one of the most celebrated historians on Israel-Palestine. The Oxford Emeritus Professor was born into an…
Real TalkHe was born into Israeli ‘privilege’. Now his life's work is to abolish it | Eyal Weizman
"It's my burden. I was born into it." Eyal Weizman is a leading architect, author, and the founder of Forensic Architecture, whose evidence has fed directly…
Real TalkShe was asked to defend America's Gaza policy to Arabs. She quit instead | Hala Rharrit
'Nothing for me is worth selling my soul.’ Hala Rharrit spent 18 years as a US diplomat, most recently serving as the State Department's Arabic language…
Real TalkAIPAC spent millions to unseat me. Here’s why they’re now losing: Ex-congressman | Jamaal Bowman
'You cannot run in a Democratic primary as a pro-Israel candidate and not get destroyed.’ AIPAC poured nearly $15 million to unseat Jamaal Bowman in 2024…
Real TalkWhy the US pro-Israel lobby wants Trita Parsi out of America | Real Talk
'That pro-Netanyahu, pro-Likud crowd have been gunning for me for 25 years’ Trita Parsi, political analyst and executive vice president of the Quincy…
Real TalkHe's one of the world's most celebrated photographers. Then he spoke on Palestine | Misan Harriman
"I am now getting death threats from registered Telegraph readers." Misan Harriman is a widely celebrated photographer and activist. He’s also the first Black…
Real TalkI tried cooking for London's top Palestinian chef. And interviewed him in the process | Fadi Kattan
Fadi Kattan is a renowned Palestinian chef from Bethlehem and the co-founder of Akub, one of London's most celebrated Palestinian restaurants. In this…
Real TalkI was an Israeli peace negotiator. Here’s what I later realised about Zionism | Daniel Levy
"You got me to talk about things I don't talk about normally." Daniel Levy is a former Israeli negotiator who served under two prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin…
Real TalkMolly Crabapple spent 7 years recovering the Jewish history Zionism tried to erase
'Hundreds of people are coming to my events, many of them Jewish, and they tell me I gave them their ancestors back' Molly Crabapple is an Emmy Award-winning…
Real TalkArsenal fired me on Christmas Eve for opposing Israel | Mark Bonnick
‘I regret losing my job. Not what I said’ Mark Bonnick worked at Arsenal for 22 years. Then on Christmas Eve 2024, the former kitman was fired over posts he…
Real TalkWhy Ana Kasparian is ready to work with the right on Israel
"The left loves to lose. They can't get enough of it." Ana Kasparian has been an influential and prominent voice in US independent media for nearly two…
Real Talk‘Mom, I’m at our house’: How this war reporter covered the horrors of Sudan’s war | Yousra Elbagir
"Mom, I'm at our house." Yousra Elbagir is Sky News UK's Africa correspondent. She has been highly praised for her reporting on a war that's been largely…
Real TalkDid the US military turn a blind eye to recruiting neo-Nazis? | Matt Kennard
"My commanders liked the fact I was a Nazi. They saw it as making me a better warrior." Matt Kennard is a British investigative journalist who co-founded…
Real TalkWhy this lifelong Conservative turned on the British establishment | Peter Oborne
Peter Oborne spent decades at the heart of the British establishment. The award-winning journalist and author of ‘Complicit’ sits down with Mohamed Hashem on…
Real TalkShe spoke against the Iran War. Her community turned on her | Ariana Jasmine | Real Talk
"I don't feel safe with my own people." Ariana Jasmine is one of the biggest Iranian-American political content creators, whose videos on Iran's history, the…
Real TalkHasan Piker: Making sense of a world going to sh*t. Epstein, Israel, & US decline | Real Talk
“Can I curse on this?” Hasan Piker is one of the most influential political streamers in the world, followed by millions across platforms who tune in daily to…
Real TalkInside Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Israel | Murtaza Hussain | Real Talk
What was Jeffrey Epstein doing for Israeli intelligence? A new series of reports by Drop Site News has been examining this very question. Drop Site journalist…
Real TalkShe's an insider now exposing OpenAI. Here's why you should be concerned | Karen Hao | Real Talk
If AI is an empire, Karen Hao is saying you can resist it. “We don’t need empires to benefit from AI.” Hao is an investigative journalist and author of Empire…
Real TalkCan this pod save the UK? (Feat. Mamdani win & Nando’s) | Nish Kumar | Real Talk
Does the UK need its own Zohran Mamdani? “It’s not The Office,” says British comedian Nish Kumar. “You can’t remake it from one country to another.” The…
Real TalkFacing Ben Gvir: I was stripped, beaten and detained in Israel | Yasemin Acar | Real Talk
“Ben Gvir came to me and said, ‘You are a terrorist, and you will be treated as a terrorist’.” In her first media testimony since leaving Israel, Yasemin Acar…
Real Talk‘I believed I could save her’: Inside the making of The voice of Hind Rajab | Motaz Malhees | Real Talk
“I hear her voice in my dreams.” Israel’s killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in 2024 sent shockwaves around the world, sparking global outrage and…
Real TalkHave Democrats lost to MAGA on Gaza? | Ayman Mohyeldin | Real Talk
On this week’s Real Talk, MSNBC host and veteran reporter Ayman Mohyeldin joined Mohamed Hashem to discuss the US political rhetoric on Gaza. For over two…
Real TalkValerie Zink: Why I quit and cut up my Reuters press card over Gaza | Real Talk
“One voice message I got from a journalist in Gaza… that’s worth more to me than anything I did with Reuters.” For eight years, Valerie Zink worked as a…
Real TalkHas Gaza made the UN irrelevant? | Jeffrey Sachs | Real Talk
"The overwhelming will of the world is for a state of Palestine now… I want it to be imposed on Israel, pure and simple." Jeffrey Sachs joins Real Talk to…
Real Talk‘They don’t care about Jewish safety’: Mahmoud Khalil slams US government & Columbia after detention
“The existence of a Palestinian student or pro-Palestine students on campus is an issue for [Columbia].” Mahmoud Khalil became the face of the US government’s…
Real Talk‘They used my chain to choke me’: Chris Smalls speaks out after Israeli prison assault | Real Talk
“What I experienced is a glimpse of what Palestinians have to go through.” Prominent labour activist Chris Smalls speaks out after returning to his home in the…
Real Talk‘Gross betrayal’: My agents left me for speaking out on Gaza | Indya Moore | Real Talk
“I haven’t worked in a very long time.” What are the repercussions of speaking out for Gaza in Hollywood? In this Real Talk interview, US model and actor Indya…
Real TalkForget Starbucks. Boycott the New York Times | Mona Chalabi | Real Talk
‘These journalistic institutions have done far more to support the genocide than… Starbucks or McDonald’s’ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mona Chalabi joins…
Real TalkWilliam Dalrymple: ‘Britain’s education system sold me a lie about Palestine’ | Real Talk
“I was sold a lie.” One of Britain’s most acclaimed historians slams the country’s education system - which he feels has distorted the history of Palestine…
Real Talk'I have no business with genocidaires': Actor & poet Saul Williams speaks out on Gaza, Hollywood, & the US empire | Real Talk
“I have no business with genocidaires.” That’s how artist, poet and activist Saul Williams describes his refusal to stay silent on Israel’s war on Gaza. In…
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Pakistani influencer on India, partition & the language of ‘dehumanisation’ | Bilal Hassan | Real Talk
Bilal Hassan is a Pakistani doctor who also happens to be one of the most popular travel storytellers from his country. He is a content creator whose work…
Real TalkI called out Microsoft’s complicity in Gaza. They fired me | Vaniya Agrawal
“The point was to make people aware… The world knows now who [Microsoft] truly are, and what they’re doing.” As Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary with…
Real TalkHow does western media ‘whitewash’ genocide? | Assal Rad
‘The crimes [in Gaza] are so egregious that are being carried out... The attempt to cover them up and whitewash them is failing’ Since 7 October, western media…
Real Talk‘You’re Palestinian. No one will care’: Cherien Dabis on ‘Mo’ and making space in Hollywood | Real Talk
"You can’t be a filmmaker. You’re Palestinian - no one will care." Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian-American filmmaker and actress constantly working to break…
Real TalkPankaj Mishra: How the West assists & enables Israel’s war on Gaza | Real Talk
In The World After Gaza, acclaimed Indian author Pankaj Mishra reckons with Israel’s war on Gaza and its far-reaching moral and geopolitical consequences. He…
Real TalkInside Trump’s crackdown on Columbia University | Prof. Bruce Robbins | Real Talk
"The more they offer the Trump administration, the more the Trump administration is going to ask - and the demands in that letter [sent to Columbia] are…
Real TalkThis Jewish academic shared an anti-Zionist post. She was then fired | Maura Finkelstein | Real Talk
Over a year ago in January 2024, Jewish-American academic Maura Finkelstein found herself placed on administrative leave by her institution at the time…
Real TalkHow Jewish scholars are attacked in the US for calling out Gaza genocide | Raz Segal | Real Talk
“From the moment Israel was created, there’s this idea that it is unimaginable that it can perpetrate any crime under international law, let alone genocide.”…
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Richard Wolff: Trump's victory & theatrics are just symptoms of US decline | Real Talk
Will Brics nations pose a real challenge to Donald Trump’s second term in office? And how do Trump’s tariffs stack up against this rising bloc? US economist…
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How Elon Musk is taking over the MAGA movement | Rick Perlstein | Real Talk
"Elon Musk has been given by Trump… almost dictatorial power” Today we’re taking on the MAGA ‘civil war’ that’s publicly erupted within Donald Trump’s own…
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Inside Gaza's health system: British doctor tell of harrowing experience amid Israeli bombardment | Victoria Rose | Real Talk
“I don’t believe this is about Israel’s security.” What’s it like to be a medic inside Gaza’s shattered healthcare system? British plastic surgeon Dr Victoria…
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Hind Hassan on western media & Gaza: ‘If you’re an Arab journalist, you’re political’ | | Real Talk
“If you’re an Arab, specifically a Palestinian journalist…you are political. Your identity is political.” We recently sat down with award-winning journalist…
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Assad took my father: One woman's fight to find her dad in Syria | Wafa Mustafa | Real Talk
Nearly 12 years after her father was arrested in 2013, and days after Bashar al-Assad was toppled, Wafa Mustafa is now going back to Syria driven by a…
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The rise of Syria's brutal Assad dynasty rule | Joshua Landis | Real Talk
How did Hafez al-Assad rise from an army officer to establish a dynasty that brutally ruled Syria for 54 years? From seizing power in 1970 to the Hama…
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How AIPAC unseated US congressman Jamaal Bowman over Israel | Real Talk
“AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobby and they need to be defeated for that reason. But they also represent white supremacy and everything that comes with that.” US…
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Ta-Nehisi Coates: Gaza genocide, witnessing Israel’s apartheid & the US elections | Real Talk
“I can’t watch a guy plugged up to an IV burned alive.” Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of America’s most celebrated writers. His latest book, The Message, took him to…
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Iran, Gaza, & Lebanon: How the pro-Israel lobby influences US policy | Stephen Walt | Real Talk
“The relationship with Israel is in a different league entirely” In light of Israel’s multi-front war in the region, including Gaza, Lebanon, and the…
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Why Humza Yousaf is sounding the alarm: Islamophobia, far right, & Elon Musk
“It happens because of years of anti-Muslim, anti-migrant hatred.” It’s been several months since Humza Yousaf stepped down in May 2024. Now, the Scottish…
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America’s Gaza policy failed. Now what? | Matt Duss, ex-Bernie Sanders adviser | Real Talk
“I now rage that my government is behaving the way it’s behaving.” As Israel’s war on Gaza, and now Lebanon, continues with no end in sight, we’re delving into…
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How Gaza exposed the US empire ‘like never before’ | Matt Kennard | Real Talk
‘They're not ready for the storm that's happening... The average Joe has Twitter and is seeing what's going on [in Gaza].’ On Real Talk, we sat down with…
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Chris Hedges: Is this the end of the American Empire? | Episode 5 | Real Talk
Today on Real Talk, we speak to Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author, about the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in…
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Francesca Albanese: Israel should be treated as a 'pariah state' | Episode 4 | Real Talk
“Israel should be treated as a pariah state,” argues Francesca Albanese. In this Real Talk interview, we speak with Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the…
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Rana Ayyub on Hindu nationalism, India-Israel relations & Modi’s anti-Muslim rhetoric | Episode 3 | Real Talk
Recorded: 24 April 2024 ‘The solidarity with Israel has never been stronger’ Voting has begun in the world’s biggest election in India, where Prime Minister…
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Alana Hadid: ‘Gaza gave me a greater understanding of the Nakba’ | Real Talk
Recorded: 28 January 2024 Alana Hadid belongs to one of the most recognisable Palestinian families in the world. So when she sat down with us on Real Talk, we…
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US presidential candidate Cornel West slams Joe Biden’s Gaza policy | Real Talk
Recorded: 12 March 2024 Our guest in this episode is US independent presidential candidate Cornel West, and we ask him why he called Joe Biden a “war…