How deep does racism run within the Labour Party? Since the start of the Gaza war, there's been a growing anger within British Muslim communities at Labour's perceived lack of leadership on the Palestinian issue, and on the calls for a ceasefire. Under Sir Keir Starmer, the opposition party has towed the government line, publicly supporting Israel's devastating war, despite the outcry of many Labour MPs - many who quit in protest. But some have remained to fight. This week on The Big...

This week on the Big Picture, we speak with British political activist, author and deputy chair of the Stop The War Coalition, Chris Nineham. Nineham was instrumental in organising the historic anti-war demonstrations in 2003 against the invasion of Iraq - which saw millions flood the streets in major cities across the globe - and is considered the largest protest in UK history. Now he's helping bring together another global call to action on January 13 - this time to call for an immediate...

It is impossible not to feel overwhelmed by the ongoing war in Gaza - the death toll, the horrific footage, the world’s inability to bring it to an end. That is compounded for Palestinians, many with family members directly impacted, who feel they’ve always been seen through a racist and islamophobic lens, and that speaking out is a political act with consequences. So how do Palestinians and Muslims navigate their feelings of anger with their faith? This week on The Big Picture, we sit...

What does it take to shift the UK’s position on Palestine? One lawmaker, Layla Moran, has a deeply personal drive to fight for change. Her relatives have been trapped in a Gaza Church for days, surrounded by Israeli snipers and tanks and running out of food and water. Moran has been fighting to change the position of her Liberal Democrats Party for years, to introduce policies about recognizing a Palestinian state by bringing together Israeli and Palestinian voices. Her efforts led to...

Can Western leaders be held to account for their role in the Gaza war? This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we sit down with one lawyer determined to do just that, and who has already put many of them on public notice. Tayab Ali is Solicitor Advocate, a partner at the London Law firm Bindmans LLP and the director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). For years, Ali fought to bring Israeli politicians before British courts on charges of war crimes. These...

Joe Biden has pursued a ‘no red lines’ policy in his support for Israel’s war in Gaza, despite it being deeply unpopular among his own voters. The growing anger in Arab and Muslim American communities in key swing states has pushed many to vow they won’t vote for him in the 2024 Presidential elections.  While only making up 1% of the population - it’s where they live that could make all the difference - and it’s something the Democrats are starting to really worry about. This week on The...

Josh Paul created a big stir when he resigned from the US State Department in protest of the sale of weapons to Israel.  In a highly publicised letter, he said the rush to arm Israel’s war in Gaza was “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory”  The former arms trade expert, who helped the US train the Iraqi police and the Palestinian Authority, and oversaw weapons deals to a number of controversial regimes, says he’s now speaking out in the hopes he can pressure the US into...

Is there a path back from the brink for Israel and Palestine? Under the blinding influence of fury and revenge after the October 7 attack, Israel has waged a relentless war in Gaza which killed more than 11,000 Palestinians and displaced more than 1.5 million people. But beyond its stated aim to eliminate Hamas, there seems to be no plan for what happens the day after, or what would stop the wheel of violence from continuing to spin. This week on The Big Picture podcast, we sit down...

Are there Hamas tunnels under hospitals? Did Israel give up Gaza in 2005? Did the Palestinians reject their own state? This week on The Big Picture, we examine a widely shared interview with Hillary Clinton, praised as informative and illuminating.  Except most of what she says about Gaza isn’t true - so why is she misleading the public? It could be her financial ties to Israel, and influential Israeli lobbies in the United States. She’s not the only one. We'd love to hear your thoughts on...

Are Western leaders sleepwalking into a disaster in the Middle East? As regional tensions surge amid Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, its allies in the US and Europe have refused calls to de-escalate the conflict and prevent the staggering toll on human life from spiralling further.  Western countries vowed to stand by Israel as it responds to the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas, with many invoking the language of the ‘War on Terror’ and a ‘Clash of Civilisations’. But unlike conflicts...

On Wednesday, the world woke up to newspapers plastered with a horrific headline about ‘40 Israeli babies decapitated by Hamas’.  But was the story true? We dig into the dizzying, circular debate around the darkest story of an already devastating week and ask whether journalists fulfilled their duty to fact-check it, or instead helped Israel justify its policy of ‘collective punishment’ in Gaza. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our...

The history of Palestinian liberation movements is paved with setbacks, betrayals and bitter rivalries. What began as an attempt to unify the resistance against Israeli occupation has over time been undermined by regional and global political interests, ideological differences and disagreements over the justification, and use, of guerilla tactics. Today the question of who represents Palestinian interests is hotly contested, with Hamas and Fatah vying for control, and a wave of...

What is the fate of Imran Khan? After more than a year of political turmoil following his ousting, the embattled former Pakistani leader is in prison, fighting dozens of charges from corruption to sedition to selling state secrets. He’s also been barred from taking part in the country’s upcoming elections, and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is slowly being dismantled. Senior leaders have been arrested or pushed into exile, and his supporters accused of terrorism. Pakistan’s...

Ireland’s fight for independence from British rule has defined how it sees itself in the world - as a liberated people compelled to fight against oppression everywhere. This sentiment formed its proud stance of ‘neutrality’, which saw it refuse to engage in World War II, and defines its strong and vocal support for the fight against Apartheid - first in South Africa, and today in Palestine. But under pressure from NATO to join the fight against Russia, is that ‘neutrality’ under...

How far would you go to protect a client? When Muhammad Rabbani, a human rights advocate, was stopped and interrogated on his way back to the UK after working with a high profile client, it was an experience he was familiar with.  As a Muslim and an activist, he'd been stopped at the airport many times before. This time however, when he refused to give up the passwords to his personal devices, he was arrested, charged and convicted under the Terrorism Act. His fight to clear his name has...

Has the Labour Party turned its back on the Left? Following the disastrous election loss to Boris Johnson in 2019, the party emerged from the ashes promising to shed itself of its past and the image of one man - Jeremy Corbyn. His successor Sir Keir Starmer has  instead defined his leadership directly in opposition to Corbyn, leaning towards the centrist ideals of another former leader, Tony Blair. So what remains of the Labour that once promised revolutionary reforms to Britain’s...

How do you challenge the might of the Chinese state? For decades, the Uyghur Muslims have fought to preserve their culture, their language and their religion in the face of China’s rising power and control. Since 2013, sweeping crackdowns have turned the once-autonomous region which calls itself ‘East Turkestan’ into a heavily militarised zone, where high tech surveillance systems were installed and thousands of ordinary people disappeared. What China calls ‘anti-terrorism’ measures have...

Can we trust the AI to watch over us? Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology have entered into a new era, advancing at a rate none of us can comprehend or keep up with.  Tech companies, governments and police forces are racing to own and turn these advances into cutting edge security and mass surveillance systems, while legislators and human rights voices desperately try to build the guard rails that will keep it from getting out of control. What’s at stake is the real...

For thousands of years, Jewish communities lived and thrived in the Arab world, and were integral to shaping its history, culture and economy. But when Israel was established, more than 260,000 Arab-Jews fled their homes, and their history has largely been forgotten. So what happened in the 1950s that forced the vast majority of them to leave? This week on The Big Picture podcast, we sit down with Israeli historian and Oxford fellow Avi Shlaim, who himself was born in Iraq and left as a...

Putin, NATO and the threat of nuclear war - has the world entered a new reality? More than a year and a half ago, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked the world, destabilising energy markets, food security and diplomacy.  But attempts by the US to rally the world behind Ukraine have failed, with many former allies choosing instead to sit on the sidelines and bide their time - signalling a fissure after decades of unchallenged Western hegemony. This week on The Big Picture podcast, we...

What happens when a dictator uses drug trafficking as a tool of diplomacy? The psychoactive drug known as Captagon has exploded across the Middle East and Europe, leading many countries to clasify it as an ‘epidemic’. The highly-addictive pill used to be made in Turkey and Latin America, but that slowly changed after the Syrian Civil War.  Today, 80% of the global supplies come from Syria, and many have accused Bashar al-Assad of using the drug to generate billions in revenue for the...

Could the BDS movement soon become illegal in the UK? Under a new bill, the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, boycotting foreign countries will become illegal for public bodies, which would include councils, unions and student organisations. The law specifically protects Israel from being targetted, and bars public bodies from even voicing support for pro-Palestinian BDS initiatives even if they don’t take part. The bill, spearheaded by Secretary of State for...

Are we witnessing the beginning of a new Palestinian uprising? The Israeli raid on Jenin this week marked a sudden escalation of violence in an increasingly tense West Bank, with calls for armed insurrections in several Palestinian cities. 12 people, including three children, died in Jenin, adding to the toll of more than 100 Palestinians that have been killed since 2022. Israel’s far-right government vows the raids will continue, as the Palestinian Authority faces growing anger for...

On the frontlines of technological leaps are often people in power - governments, police, intelligence agencies and militaries - trying to use new research to advance the ways in which they operate. But what happens when these powers aren’t used for good? Who can keep the powerful in check in a global digital age? In this episode of The Big Picture, we sit down with architect and investigator Eyal Weizman to talk about how Israel uses urban planning to expand its control of the West Bank and...

Kurdish political groups and militias have been fighting for independence for more than a century, pitting them against the governments of four countries: Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq.  These groups rallied around the idea of a ‘Greater Kurdistan’, though critics say this romanticised homeland never really existed and that modern Kurds should accept their place in their adopted nation-states. In this episode of The Big Picture, we speak with lecturer and historian Dr Zeynep Kaya about the...