Welcome to the pod, Marc Lamont Hill! This week we had the opportunity to speak to a public intellectual famous (for years now!) for speaking out on Israel’s gross violations of human rights in Palestine, and for being penalized — professionally and in the public discourse — for doing so. Now, as Israel’s genocide continues on in Palestine, the U.S. vetoes a third ceasefire resolution, and the American political establishment stands against the will of the international working class, we check in with Marc to talk about the media’s role in this issue. Watch below:

Marc joins us to respond to a fiery exchange between Holocaust scholar and pro-Palestine advocate Norm Finkelstein and Shmuley Boteach, a Zionist rabbi, moderated by Piers Morgan. In this conversation, Boteach takes Finkelstein to task for citing Lula’s comments on Israeli violence in Palestine, and calls into question his credentials as a scholar of the Holocaust, implying, as so many of Finkelstein’s opponents have done, that he is a Holocaust denier. Boteach also cites the ICJ’s decision on whether to classify Israel’s actions in Palestine as genocide, and Norm’s response reveals how Zionists deliberately misread the historical record and engage in character assassination to take on their opponents.

Marc also delves into an analysis of Democratic messaging around the genocide in Palestine — and why phrases like “right-wing Netanyahu government” are used in place of more wholesale condemnations of the Israeli ethnostate. Marc’s point is that framings of the Israeli government as right-wing make the actions of this government seem more contingent, less systematic, than they would be within the framing of deliberate ethnic cleansing. It’s an insightful point that makes us think back on the reactions of establishment Democrats to months of violence in Gaza — and Marc makes some surprising comparisons when he points out which president of the last forty years has taken the most courageous stance on Israel-Palestine.

We talk about all of this and much more on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.