Podcast
Understanding Israel Palestine
Hosted by KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio · EN
This show is inspired by Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, a local group that has advocated for 20 years for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. Our program offers interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to offer multiple perspectives, and to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by headline news.
13episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
From Oslo to Gaza: Mideast Peace Negotiator Rob Malley on the Revenge of History
2w ago00:28:30Tap to summarizeLongtime Mideast peace negotiator Robert Malley talks about his and Hussein Agha's recently published book, Tomorrow is Yesterday: Life, Death and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine. Malley discusses how diplomatic illusions, blunders and deceptions undermined the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, created an endless, unproductive peace process and led to the atrocities of Oct. 7 and Israel's calamitous war on Gaza. The book's title refers to the authors' contention that Oct. 7th and Israel's subsequent onslaught on Gaza represented not a rupture with the past but a re-enactment of it. Malley served as a senior advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and president of the International Crisis Group. He is now at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs.
Transcribe →Arts and Culture in a Palestinian Refugee Camp
3w ago00:28:30Tap to summarizeAbdelfattah Abusrour, founder and director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine, joined the show this week to discuss his life's work. We discussed how he came to found Alrowwad and the many inspirational students and works of art that have come of it.
Transcribe →The Structural Origins of AIPAC & The History of Israeli Espionage in the U.S. (with Grant Smith)
4w ago00:28:30Tap to summarizeUnderstanding Israel Palestine: A Beyond the Walls Edition Episode: The Structural Origins of AIPAC & The History of Israeli Espionage in the U.S. Guest: Grant Smith, Research Director at the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) Host: Jeremy Rothe-Kushel Episode Overview In this deep political analysis of US-Israel relations, we examine the foundational architecture and historical continuity of the modern Israel lobby within the United States. Grant Smith, a leading investigative researcher and author of America's Defense Line, Foreign Agents, and Divert, joins the program to unpack the counterintelligence history and covert networks that have shaped American foreign policy in the Middle East. This conversation moves beyond standard political discourse to conduct a forensic examination of the structural immunity surrounding historical espionage and unregistered foreign lobbying in America. From suitcases of campaign cash on presidential whistle-stop tours to the covert smuggling of highly enriched uranium and nuclear triggers, Smith details the intricate, multi-decade efforts to subvert U.S. regulatory and defense frameworks. Key Historical & Structural Topics Explored The Origins of AIPAC & FARA Subversion: How Isaiah Kenen and the American Zionist Council (AZC) navigated the Justice Department's efforts to force them to register as foreign agents under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), ultimately restructuring into the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to bypass compliance. Truman & Whistle-Stop Campaign Financing: The pivotal role of Abraham Feinberg in securing a $2 million suitcase of cash to save Harry S. Truman's floundering 1948 presidential campaign, effectively cementing early executive support for the Israeli state. NUMEC & Nuclear Espionage in the U.S.: The diversion of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium from the NUMEC facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania, under Zalman Shapiro, which was covertly funneled to the early Israeli nuclear weapons program. Project Pinto & The MILCO Smuggling Ring: The covert procurement network that successfully smuggled 810 nuclear-triggering krytrons out of the United States, utilizing operatives like Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and involving current political figures like Benjamin Netanyahu. Political Immunity & Quashed DOJ Investigations: The systemic political pressure that successfully shut down Department of Justice and FBI investigations into these smuggling networks, resulting in a distinct lack of prosecutions and quiet pardons for the few operatives who were caught. Resources & Links Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep): irmep.org The Israel Lobby Archive: israellobby.org KKFI Show Page (archives): Understanding Israel Palestine Beyond the Walls (full length audio): https://beyondthewalls.substack.com/
Transcribe →Deja Vu: Israel Wages Another War on Lebanon
Apr 1600:28:30Tap to summarizeSonya Meyerson-Knox spent 16 years in Beirut, Lebanon working as a journalist and for U.N. agencies before becoming communications director of Jewish Voice for Peace. She discusses the new war in Lebanon that began after the United States and Israel attacked Iran February 28, 2026, describing it within the context of previous Israeli wars in Lebanon. She views the current war as not just an attack on Hezbollah but on Lebanon's pluralistic social fabric and says Israel has long coveted Lebanon's land and resources.
Transcribe →The Israel-Silicon Valley Nexus and the Penetration of U.S. Critical Infrastructure (with Mary Silva)
Apr 1000:28:29Tap to summarizeBeyond the Walls: The Israel-Silicon Valley Nexus and the Penetration of U.S. Critical Infrastructure (with Mary Silva) Episode Overview: While public discourse naturally gravitates toward the physical realities of the occupation and destruction in Palestine, a parallel, largely invisible architecture of control operates far beyond the checkpoints of Gaza and the West Bank. This digital infrastructure has actively penetrated our personal devices, corporate networks, and municipal utilities. In this episode of Understanding Israel Palestine: Beyond the Walls, host Jeremy Rothe-Kushel investigates the technological front lines of geopolitics and cyber warfare. Joining the broadcast is independent researcher and former Congressional candidate in Washington State, Mary Silva, who helps map the massive concentration of U.S. technology research and development within Israel and analyzes the deep penetration of foreign espionage networks into American sovereignty. Bridging the gap between the surveillance systems deployed on Palestinians and the espionage vulnerabilities faced by American citizens, this conversation examines the geopolitical outsourcing of U.S. national security. Silva details how major tech conglomerates—including Microsoft, Google, and Intel—have functionally outsourced core development to veterans of elite Israeli military intelligence cohorts, such as Unit 8200 and the IDF's Talpiotprogram. The analysis moves past surface-level electoral politics to expose the strategic dangers of embedded hardware backdoors, the proliferation of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, and how algorithmic suppression operates as a tool for narrative control in the current "information war." Crucially, this technological penetration is not restricted to federal intelligence networks. Silva highlights how local U.S. infrastructure—from smart-meter utility grids to public transit systems—is actively being compromised, often subsidized and locked in by legislative frameworks buried within the NDAA. Key Episode Insights: The Intelligence-to-Corporate Pipeline: How elite IDF veterans shape the core architecture and penetrate the supply chains of American government and civilian technology. Legislating Dependency: The federal frameworks mandating the integration of foreign surveillance tech into local U.S. municipal grids. The Export of "Combat-Proven" Systems: Unpacking how biometric and cyber-control tools, initially field-tested under military occupation, are repackaged as essential global security products. The Information Battleground: A critical look at algorithmic suppression on platforms like X, and the mechanisms used to manage public perception during global multipolar realignments. Upcoming Event: Field Testing Israeli Occupation Tech This broadcast serves as a vital primer for the upcoming online salon, Field Testing Israeli Occupation Tech: The Palestine Lab. Co-sponsored by Voices From the Holy Land and Nonviolence International, this panel features experts examining how Israel exports drones, cyber-weapons, and biometric systems to over 130 countries worldwide. When: Sunday, April 19, 2026 | 3 PM ET • 12 PM PT • 10 PM Jerusalem RSVP: Register on the front page at VoicesFromTheHolyLand.org Listen & Subscribe: Radio Archives: Listen to past broadcasts of Understanding Israel Palestine on demand at KKFI.org. Extended Cuts & Deep Dives: For the longer form audio of this interview subscribe to the Beyond the Walls Substack.
Transcribe →The War on Iran is About Palestine
Mar 3100:28:30Tap to summarizeJournalist, author, academic and editor of the news site The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud discusses the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and how it relates to Israel's war in Lebanon and Israel's effort to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the Occupied West Bank. He says Israeli actions in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere in the region are all part of a coherent strategic plan to quash Palestinian resistance and establish regional hegemony in the Middle East.
Transcribe →The War on Iran is About Palestine
Mar 3000:28:30Tap to summarizeJournalist, author, academic and editor of the news site The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud discusses the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and how it relates to Israel's war in Lebanon and Israel's effort to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the Occupied West Bank. He says Israeli actions in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and elsewehre are part of a coherent strategic plan to quash Palestinian resistance and establish Israeli regional hegemony.
Transcribe →Genocide 2.0, the Iran Assassinations, and the Architecture of Regional Chaos (with Richard Silverstein) [Radio Edit]
Mar 2000:28:30Tap to summarizeAs the devastation in Gaza threatens to be spilled over into a full-scale annihilation of Beirut, the Middle East crossed a Rubicon the morning this episode was recorded. With Israel’s sudden announcement of high-level assassinations targeting the upper echelons of Iranian leadership, the region faces an unprecedented era of engineered chaos. Is this a sudden escalation, or the culmination of a decades-old geopolitical strategy? This week on Understanding Israel Palestine: Beyond the Walls, Jeremy Rothe-Kushel is joined by independent journalist and Tikun Olam publisher Richard Silverstein to unpack the terrifying realities of this active multi-front war. We dive deep into Richard's latest reporting, beginning with the delusional Trump-Netanyahu attempts to decapitate Iranian leadership. We analyze the harrowing collateral realities of this "War of Annihilation," including the deliberate ecocide of burning oil raining down on the Iranian populace and the calculated destruction of ancient Islamic historical sites. Pivoting to the Levant, we examine the IDF's psychological and physical warfare in Lebanon, breaking down the chilling leaflets dropped on Beirut that explicitly threaten the city with a Gaza-style "Genocide 2.0." Finally, we begin to address the underlying psychological framework of Israeli state terror—a calculated mechanism designed not only to frighten the West into compliance, but to deliberately terrorize the global Jewish community into a state of reactive Zionism. Please note: Due to terrestrial broadcast time constraints, this radio edit omits our extended deep-dive into the 1996 neoconservative "Clean Break" strategy, the deeper history of the Israeli state, and the beginning of an urgent conversation about critical disentanglement of and reckoning with Jewish religion and identity in direct relationship to Israeli state violence. For that complete, raw analysis, listeners are encouraged to seek out the Full Raw Cut of this interview here: https://beyondthewalls.substack.com/p/breaking-the-realm-the-iran-assassinations Resources & Links mentioned in this episode: Tikun Olam Blog: richardsilverstein.com Article: Beirut: 1,000 Dead as Israel Threatens Gaza-Style Genocide Article: Iran: Trump’s War of Annihilation Article: Israeli Cultural and Environmental Genocide in Iran Article: Zionism, Genocide and Jews: Which Side Are You On?
Transcribe →War Escalates as Energy Prices Climb
Mar 1400:28:30Tap to summarizeCivilian casualties continue to climb in the region, especially in Iran and Lebanon, as the US and Israel intensify their assault on Iran. Iran retaliates by using its array of drones and missiles to hit US and Israeli military targets in the region, oil infrastructure, and other civilian targets. Hundreds of ships continue to be unable to transit the Strait of Hormuz, raising global energy prices. Dr. Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft joins the show to discuss these developments.
Transcribe →Building Hope with Nonviolent Communication and Action
Mar 600:28:29Tap to summarizeMai Shaheen is a Palestinian peace activist and therapist who uses nonviolent communication in her work with victims of trauma. She talks to Margot Patterson about how nonviolent dialogue brings Israelis, Palestinians and internationals together for healing, solidarity and nonviolent action. A founder of the Satyam Homeland Peace Center in the Occupied West Bank, she discusses the growing number of Palestinians and Israelis taking action together even as conditions in the West Bank worsen for Palestinians.
Transcribe →