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Does grassroots organising have the power to hold governments and corporations accountable for genocide? And where does the US labour movement stand today?

This week on Upfront Marc Lamont Hill speaks to labour organiser and activist Chris Smalls, who cofounded Amazon’s first US labour union.

Smalls has also been a vocal critic of the United States’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza and argues that labour unions in the country have a role to play to stop Israel:

“If our dock workers did the same as our brothers and sisters overseas, we wouldn’t see a genocide,” he says.

As Donald Trump tries to take credit for a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel continues to kill Palestinians. And as both Israeli and Palestinian captives are released, the glaring double standards in coverage lay bare how this genocide was allowed to go on for so long.

Contributors: 
Tahani Mustafa – Visiting Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations
Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya
Kenneth Roth – Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Oren Ziv – Journalist, +972 Magazine

On our radar

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, chose to dedicate her award to Donald Trump. Meenakshi Ravi reports on what motivated the Venezuelan opposition leader to pander to the United States president.

All the president’s women: the rise of the ‘womanosphere’

For years, the right-wing media space has been dominated by men. But the 2024 election shone a light on a rising parallel force within Donald Trump’s MAGA movement: the so-called “womanosphere”. Across YouTube channels, social media and podcasts, conservative women are rebranding right-wing politics for a female audience.

Featuring: 
Annie Kelly – UK Correspondent, QAA Podcast
Nicole Kiprilov – Republican Party strategist
Eviane Leidig – Author, The Women of the Far Right

Two years of Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians – including 20,000 children.

For now, the bombing campaign has largely halted after a ceasefire was agreed last week.

But the Israeli military’s actions in the past 24 months were livestreamed, documented and archived in unprecedented detail.

In September, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. And this week, South Africa said the ceasefire will not affect its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

But the ICJ lacks the resources to carry out arrests unless United Nations member countries decide to act.

So, will Israel be held accountable, or will impunity become the new norm?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Sawsan Zaher – Palestinian human rights lawyer

Dr Mads Gilbert – Researcher and medical doctor who has worked in Palestinian healthcare for more than 30 years

Neve Gordon – Professor of international law at Queen Mary University of London

Sixteen-year-olds now have the right to vote in all UK elections, as part of sweeping election reforms. Supporters believe this change will modernise democracy and say the young generation is already engaged with issues like climate change, education, and the economy. Opponents, however, argue that 16 is too young to make such weighty political decisions and warn that it could weaken the integrity of the electoral system.

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:

Cameron Holt – Member of Youth Parliament, Bassetlaw

Thomas Brochure – Co-director, Make It 16 NZ

Nuurrianti Jalli – Researcher, Oklahoma State University

Gaza is often referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison, trapped between Israel’s blockade, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Rafah border post is the only crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip: a strategic gateway to the outside world.

In 2007, Israel imposed an air, land, and sea blockade on Gaza.

Human Rights Watch says the closure of the Rafah crossing has devastated Gaza’s economy, contributed to the fragmentation of the Palestinian people, and enabled Israel’s system of apartheid – and that was long before Israel’s devastating war.

And despite the United States-brokered ceasefire, Israel has threatened to keep the crossing shut because of delays in returning the remains of its captives.

So, if and when the crossing reopens, how will it operate and who will be in charge?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Mustafa Barghouti – Secretary-General at the Palestinian National Initiative

Tahani Mustafa – Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Rob Geist Pinfold – Lecturer of International Security at King’s College London

From the air, it looks like a city erased. Entire neighbourhoods have vanished from the map two years since Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza began. What were once homes, schools, hospitals, factories and power plants have been reduced to debris and dust. Thousands of Palestinians are now returning to ruins or rubble in a place that has lost the very fabric of daily life.

Economists estimate the cost of rebuilding at tens of billions of dollars – far beyond the capacity of Gaza’s shattered economy.

What is behind the $20bn lifeline to Argentina?

Plus, the European Union invests $13bn in South Africa.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners – most of them detained without charge – have been released from Israeli jails as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Reunions saw a mix of joy and sadness after people heard about the conditions and mistreatment their loved ones endured.

Hundreds more were forced into exile by Israel.

And the majority return to rubble in Gaza, and others risk being arrested again in the occupied West Bank.

So, is it possible for former Palestinian prisoners to embrace freedom with life under occupation and the scars of Israeli detention?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Milena Ansari – Israel and Palestine Researcher at Human Rights Watch

Basil Farraj – Assistant Professor at Birzeit University, specialising in political prisoners and carceral violence

Fadia Barghouti – English Supervisor at the Palestinian Ministry of Education

United States President Donald Trump says his Gaza ceasefire deal will bring peace to the Middle East.

Some 20 world leaders, including Trump, signed the agreement at a special summit in Egypt on Monday.

The deal outlines the steps both Hamas and Israel must take to maintain the ceasefire and end the war in Gaza.

But it does not quite address the bigger question of what will happen in the Palestinian territory beyond the next few months.

What about Israel’s larger occupation? And the establishment of a viable Palestinian state?

How will Trump’s plan address these important issues?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Ori Goldberg – political commentator

Phyllis Bennis – fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies

Muhammad Shehada – visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

US President Donald Trump has made a last-minute trip to the Middle East in the wake of the Gaza ceasefire deal. 

He landed in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh late on Monday after flying in from Israel, where he addressed the Israeli Knesset.

The first phase of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan has now been completed, with Hamas releasing all 20 living Israeli captives in Gaza and Israel freeing Palestinian prisoners in the occupied West Bank.

So will this deal finally bring peace to the region?

And what does Trump’s plan mean for the broader Middle East?

Presenter: Neave Barker

Guests:

Sarah Eltantawi – Professor at Fordham University in New York City; political analyst and writer

Yezid Sayigh – Senior fellow at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut

Kenneth Katzman – Senior fellow at The Soufan Center and former senior analyst with the US Congressional Research Service

In a shifting world order, New Zealand’s foreign policy faces new tests, from Gaza to the Pacific.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters speaks to Talk to Al Jazeera about why his government has stopped short of recognising a Palestinian state, how small nations can stay neutral amid the United States-China rivalry, and whether multilateralism still protects the weak from the will of the powerful.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli jails – most of them without charge.

And as the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel is centred on the release of detainees, about 2,000 of them are due to be released.

But the mistreatment of detainees by Israeli forces has been documented for decades.

So in addition to international law, is Israel breaking its own laws in its arrest and treatment of prisoners? Why did it arrest and torture so many people during its war on Gaza? And is it using mass detention to maintain its occupation?

Presenter: Neave Barker

Guests:

Naji Abbas – Director of the Prisoners & Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights-Israel

Ubai Aboudi – Executive director at Bisan Center for Research and Development, held in administrative detention in Israel without trial

Milena Ansari – Israel and Palestine assistant researcher at Human Rights Watch

Arguing that some places in the United States – primarily those governed by Democratic officials – are rampantly crime-infested, President Donald Trump has been deploying military forces to cities from Los Angeles to Washington, DC.

Former National Security Council official Kori Schake tells host Steve Clemons that Trump is trying to enlist the US military to get involved in his culture war issues, such as immigration and political dissent.

She warns that US forces should be kept out of politics “so that the American public continues to have confidence and trust in the military”.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are streaming back to their land in northern Gaza – a right of return included in the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Multiple attempts to remove the population have failed.

Many Palestinians say they have avoided another Nakba, or catastrophe – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 – and defeated Israel’s forced displacement policy.

But the land they are returning to is unrecognisable.

Is Gaza uninhabitable? Or can it be rebuilt under the interim authority that next governs the strip?

And does the ceasefire allow for this complex and lengthy task?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Ines Abdel Razek – co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy

Ilan Pappe – chairman of the Nakba Memorial Foundation

Ghada Karmi – academic and the author of Return: A Palestinian Memoir

For the past couple of months, the billionaire father-son duo of Larry and David Ellison have been making deals involving major media brands. Having acquired Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, they appointed Bari Weiss – an outspoken supporter of Israel – as the network’s editor-in-chief. The moves by the Ellisons are not just about growing their media empire, but about shaping the narrative around Israel in the US, where public support continues to decline.

Contributors: 
David Klion – Columnist, The Nation
Danielle Moodie – Host, The Danielle Moodie Show
Ryan Grim – Reporter, Drop Site News

On our radar:

Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, ending two years of genocide. It’s a moment that brought relief to Palestinians in Gaza. But for Donald Trump, it was an opportunity for self-congratulation – with both he and his allies emphasising how pivotal he was in making things happen. Tariq Nafi has been following the story.

In Portugal, the far-right party Chega, once on the fringes, is leading the polls, and its leader, Andre Ventura, has become one of the country’s most recognisable political figures. Ventura’s rise has been spurred by his television background and carefully crafted media persona. The onetime football pundit has become a political showman. And he’s been amplified by the country’s mainstream media, who have been chasing ratings over accountability.  Ryan Kohls reports.

Featuring:
Miguel Carvalho – Journalist
Ines Narciso – Disinformation researcher, Iscte-Iul
Anabela Neves – Journalist, CNN Portugal

A ceasefire agreement for Gaza – and cautious hope among Palestinians for an end to two years of genocide.

US President Donald Trump announced the deal after putting pressure on Israel to agree.

What impact has the war had on Israeli-United States relations?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Yossi Mekelberg – Senior consulting fellow at Chatham House

Rami Khouri – Distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut

Tahani Mustafa – Visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

A United States military build-up and strikes on boats near Venezuela.

President Donald Trump says he’s targeting drug gangs – without presenting evidence.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he’ll stand up to Washington, with his country now on high alert.

So, what’s next?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Elias Ferrer – Founder of Orinoco Research, a consulting company in Caracas

Paola Bautista de Aleman – Politician, member of the Venezuelan opposition in exile

Temir Porras– Managing Director at Global Sovereign Advisory

France is facing political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron’s fifth prime minister in less than two years quit after just 27 days.

There are growing calls for new elections and Macron is facing increasing pressure to resign.

So, what’s next for France?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Thierry Mariani – Member of the European Parliament for the far-right National Rally Party

Eleonore Caroit – Member of Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and French National Assembly deputy

Eric Bocquet – Mayor of Marquillies and a member of the French Communist Party

Hamas and Israel appear to have agreed to most of the conditions of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan, which means there may be an end in sight to Israel’s devastating war on Gaza.

But there is a lot that is not yet agreed upon, including how the withdrawal of Israeli troops will take place; the presence of an Israeli security buffer zone inside Gaza; and what the interim governing authority will look like.

The ultimate question has also not been asked: When will Israel end its illegal occupation of all Palestinian territory?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom

Guests:

Andrew Gilmour – Former United Nations assistant secretary-general for human rights

Victor Kattan – Assistant professor in Public International Law at the University of Nottingham and author of the book The Palestine Question in International Law

Simon Mabon – Professor of Middle East and International Politics at Lancaster University and author of The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East

The US plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza is designed, supervised and administered “primarily by people who are very staunchly pro-Israel,” and has little chance of delivering peace, argues Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard University.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” Walt tells host Steve Clemons. According to the terms announced by US President Donald Trump, Israel can argue at any time that the Palestinian side isn’t fulfilling its obligations and thus resume the war.

Increasingly seen as a threat by other countries in the region, Israel “is in for a very troubling future”, Walt says.

Negotiations are due to begin in Cairo, which US President Donald Trump says may bring an end to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has partially agreed to Trump’s plan to end the war, but with major caveats.

So has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the details have yet to be agreed upon, including how Israeli forces withdraw and who will govern the Strip after the war ends.

So, is it possible to draw up a plan that all sides can agree to?

What would an interim government look like?

And what does all of this mean for the Palestinian people?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Mouin Rabbani – Researcher, Analyst and Co-Editor of Jadaliyya

Yossi Mekelberg – Political Analyst and Senior Consulting Fellow at Chatham House.

Muhammad Shehada – Analyst and Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations