I am Roberto Mazza and this is Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast.
Jerusalem Unplugged is the only podcast dedicated exclusively to Jerusalem, its rich history, and its diverse people. Through in-depth conversations with scholars, activists, politicians, artists, journalists, religious figures, and community members, the podcast explores the complex layers of one of the world's most significant cities.
Our conversations are designed to be intellectually challenging, moving beyond surface narratives to examine the nuanced realities of Jerusalem's past and present. Each episode provides substantive material for serious discussion, encouraging listeners to engage with the city's multifaceted stories from historical, political, cultural, and social perspectives.
From archaeological discoveries and urban development to religious practices and daily life, Jerusalem Unplugged uncovers the Jerusalem you may never have heard of—offering fresh insights into a city where ancient history and contemporary life intersect in extraordinary ways.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I am Roberto Mazza and this is Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast.
Jerusalem Unplugged is the only podcast dedicated exclusively to Jerusalem, its rich history, and its diverse people. Through in-depth conversations with scholars, activists, politicians, artists, journalists, religious figures, and community members, the podcast explores the complex layers of one of the world's most significant cities.
Our conversations are designed to be intellectually challenging, moving beyond surface narratives to examine the nuanced realities of Jerusalem's past and present. Each episode provides substantive material for serious discussion, encouraging listeners to engage with the city's multifaceted stories from historical, political, cultural, and social perspectives.
From archaeological discoveries and urban development to religious practices and daily life, Jerusalem Unplugged uncovers the Jerusalem you may never have heard of—offering fresh insights into a city where ancient history and contemporary life intersect in extraordinary ways.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Following the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine, Jews across the British Empire—from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, London to Calcutta—found themselves at the heart of global Jewish political discourse. As these intellectuals, politicians, activists, and communal elites navigated shifting political landscapes, some envisioned Palestine as a British dominion, leveraging imperial power for Jewish state-building, while others fostered ties with anticolonial movements, contemplating independent national aspirations. Uncertain Empire considers this intricate interplay between British imperialism, Zionism, and anticolonial movements from the 1917 British conquest of Palestine to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
My guest highlights diverse and sometimes conflicting visions of Jewish political futures, offering detailed case studies of key figures including Chaim Arlosoroff, Moshe Shertok, Helen Bentwich, Rachel Ezra, and Hermann Kallenbach. She explores a "politics of uncertainty" in which Jews engaged with both imperial stability and the rise of anticolonial mobilization, when many were likewise forced to reconsider Palestine as a viable refuge and political solution.
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today I had the pleasure to interview two wonderful writers, Michael Kinnamon and Philip Graubart. Michael is the author of A Rooftop in Jerusalem: When Daniel Jacobs decides to spend his junior year abroad in Israel, he never dreams he'll fall in love with both Jerusalem's Old City and an Israeli woman, Shoshana. It's the year religion becomes a part of his identity, from the heights of a simple rooftop. A year he encounters the tragic complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. A year that begins a four-decade-long love affair, as complicated and heartbreaking as the political conflict with which it's intertwined. As Daniel moves through life-through marriage and divorce, career and travel-he returns periodically to Jerusalem, where his heart faithfully remains.
Philip is the author of Here There is No Why: Did Chaim Lerner, acclaimed Israeli author and Holocaust survivor, kill himself in 1983, thirty-eight years after surviving Auschwitz? If so, was it traumatic memories finally catching up to him? Or despair over Holocaust denialism? Or ordinary, difficult health issues-an aching hip, a damaged knee? Or simply a deadly episode of depression?
Enjoy the conversation.
Or was it murder?
In 2005, Judah Loeb, Lerner's former student and now a struggling American journalist and single father, travels to Jerusalem to investigate Lerner's death. He drags along his fifteen-year-old daughter, Hannah, and they team up with Charlie, Judah's former Hebrew University roommate, now a Jerusalem homicide detective. Their investigation takes them through the darker corners of the Israeli psyche, where they uncover secrets that threaten to destroy Lerner's reputation and alter Jewish history. While probing the mysteries of Israel's past, they encounter personal betrayal, heartbreak, and the fragile possibilities of forgiveness and redemption.
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With George we discuss his latest book that offers a comprehensive anthropological study of lived Christianity in Jerusalem’s Old City, with a special focus on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Church of the Anastasis. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, the study explores the experiences of the Rum Orthodox community, examining their internal dynamics and relationships with other Christian groups. Within the Church of the Anastasis, complex interplays emerge, as fragile legal agreements intermingle with ethnic and theological considerations, resulting in a complex reality of shared spaces and coexistence. A materialist lens is employed to study these dynamics, suggesting that the material aspects of religious practices play a crucial role in shaping borders and influencing perceptions of similarities and differences across them. Outside the Church's confines, in the Old City of Jerusalem, lay Christians, especially the local Palestinian Orthodox, engage in 'border-crossing practices', which often deviate from the Orthodox Church's approved practice. These practices reflect the flexible strategies local Christians adopt in their everyday lives in Israel, challenging established norms and boundaries. By capturing these dynamics, the book provides valuable insights into shared sacred spaces and offers a significant contribution to debates in the anthropology of Christianity and its material culture.
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I had the pleasure to engage in a very interesting conversation with Micaela Sahhar while we were sitting at the opposite end of the world.
What does the daughter of a Nakba survivor inherit? It is not property or tangible heirlooms, nor the streets and neighbourhoods of a father’s childhood and the deep roots of family who have lived in one place, Jerusalem, for generation upon generation.
Fixing her gaze on moments, places and objects – from the streets of Bethlehem to the Palestinian neighbourhoods of the New Jerusalem – Micaela Sahhar assembles a story of Palestinian diaspora. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is a book about the gaps and blank spaces that cannot be easily recounted, but which insists on the vibrant reality of chance, fragments and memory to reclaim a place called home.
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Here we are, the first episode after the long break. The first interview is with Toine van Teeffelen, a Dutch anthropologist and a Bethlehem resident. The Birthplace of Jesus Is in Palestine is a narrative of a Christian family in Bethlehem in the West Bank. Based on diary entries and interviews from 2000 to 2023, the Dutch author--an anthropologist and peace activist--chronicles the spontaneous reactions of his Palestinian children and wife navigating the challenges posed by curfews and checkpoints. Problems of Palestinian school life are shown from the perspective of teachers and students. Against the background of Israeli occupation and settlement building, the intricacies of Palestinian culture in its daily rhythms and domestic spaces come to life. Throughout the pages, the key Palestinian concept of sumud, or steadfastness, is explored. The memoir details acts of creative nonviolent resistance, individual protests, affirmations of cultural identity, and inspiring examples of Muslim-Christian community. The book also reveals unexpected connections between Palestinian culture in the Bethlehem area and broader Christian values and traditions. An afterword reflects upon implications of Israel's war in Gaza.
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Dead Sea is a place of many contradictions. Hot springs around the lake are famed for their healing properties, though its own waters are deadly to most lifeforms—even so, civilizations have built ancient cities and hilltop fortresses around its shores for centuries. The protagonists in its story are not only Jews and Arabs, but also Greeks, Nabataeans, Romans, Crusaders and Mamluks. Today it has become a tourist hotspot, but its drying basin is increasingly under threat.
In this panoramic account, Nir Arielli explores the history of the Dead Sea from the first Neolithic settlements to the present day. Moving through the ages, Arielli reveals the religious, economic, military, and scientific importance of the lake, which has been both a source of great wealth and a site of war. *The Dead Sea *weaves together a tapestry of the lake’s human stories—and amidst environmental degradation and renewed conflict, makes a powerful case for why it should be saved.
Originally published on 04/03/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Until recently, Gaza attracted little attention in historical scholarship. This book innovates by examining late Ottoman Gaza’s diverse society, its built environment, and its political dynamics. The introduction sets the stage to better understand the vital contexts impacting the role and status of Gaza as compared to other cities in the Eastern Mediterranean, provides analyses and new resources for the study of late Ottoman Gaza, and presents state-of-the-art methodology in urban history as applied to Gaza. Enjoy the interview with Yuval Ben Bassat.
Originally published on 03/20/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest in this episode is Dr Mkhaimar Abusada, He received his PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996 and is an associate professor at Al-Azhar University of Gaza and the former chair of the university's political science department. He has authored one book, and many academic articles in local and internationally recognized academic journals. He has also written for Project Syndicate, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Washington Institute for Near East Policy. We talked about his experience leaving Gaza at the beginning of the war and then we delved into international and Palestinian politics.
Originally published on 02/27/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode I have interviewed Erik Freas that recently has edited a volume published by Routledge looking at Palestinian Christians and the nationalist cause through the late Ottoman and Mandatory periods.
This book provides an historical overview of Palestine's Christian communities and their role in the Palestinian nationalist movement during the late Ottoman and British mandatory periods. More than being a history of Palestine's Christian Arabs, the book focuses on Palestine's Christians during the formative period of Palestinian Arab national identity, attentive to the broader topic of the relationship between nationalism and religion--in this case, between Arab identity and Islam. Whereas until recently historians have tended to assume that national and religious identities are distinct and mostly mutually exclusive things, more recent scholarship has addressed the fact that often there exists considerable overlap between the two, though it should be noted, often in ways that are not by any means inherently exclusive of those not belonging to the majority faith, as is the case here.
Originally published on 02/13/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today I had the pleasure to talk to Christopher Burhnham who recently published Sir Ronald Storrs Personality and Policy in Mandate Palestine, 1917-1926 with Routledge. While some may say that we already know enough on Storrs, the reality is that his legacy in Jerusalem is not only fully understood and neglected, but given the lengthy rulership, we still have to uncover more.
It builds upon Edward Said’s work on the Orientalist ‘determining imprint’ by arguing that Storrs took a deeply personal approach to governing the city; one determined by his upbringing, his education in the English private school system and his service as a British official in Colonial Egypt. Burnham recognises the influence of these experiences on Storrs’ perceptions of and attitudes towards Jerusalem, identifying how these formative years manifested themselves on the city and in the Governor’s
interactions with Jerusalemites of all backgrounds and religious beliefs. It also highlights the restrictions placed on Storrs’ approach by his British superiors, Palestinians and the Zionist movement, alongside the limitations imposed by his own attitudes and worldview. Placing Storrs’ personality at the centre of discussion on early Mandate Jerusalem exposes a nuanced and complex picture of how personality and politics collided to
influence its everyday life and built environment.
Originally published on 01/30/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today it's with great pleasure that I recast and interview that took place on October 2024 between Hawad Halabi and Ilan Pappe, both friends and guests of Jerusalem Unplugged. Ilan Pappe discussed his latest publication Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic.
A special thanks goes to the Friends of Sabeel North American as they allowed me to republish the interview and also the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace.
The full conversation, with more comments and questions from the audience can be found on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODub0s-oMLQ
Originally published on 01/16/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this first episode of the new year, I had the opportunity and pleasure to talk to Howard Eissenstat who currently is is an Laurentian Associate Professor of Middle East history and History Department Chair at St. Lawrence University and non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington. With Howard we first looked at the legacy of President Carter in the Middle East and from there we unpacked the long and complex relations between Israel and Turkey. Lastly, as we are approaching the transition from the Biden to the Trump administrations we tried to understand what this means for Turkey.
Originally published 01/02/2025
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There is so much talking about Israel, the war on Gaza, Lebanon and now Syria, but what about Palestinian politics? In this episode I talked to Dana El Kurd a Palestinian political scientist with a deep knowledge and understanding of Palestinian politics. We started our conversation discussing her book published in 2020 Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine, from there we move to talk about the incoming Trump administration, the role of Saudi Arabia but more importantly how politics is experienced and imagined in Palestine.
Originally published on 12/19/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the first episode of season 6 I have interviewed Maurcio Lapchik, the Director of External Relations at Peace Now (Shalom Akshav), the largest
and longest-standing Israeli movement advocating for peace through public pressure. While we briefly introduced Peace Now to those who don't know yet
this organization, we then discussed the current standing of the peace camp in Israel. While the picture is rather grim, Mauricio keeps hoping for the
best.
12/05/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is Gaza – a place of humanity and creativity, rich in culture and industry. A place now utterly devastated, its entire population displaced by a seemingly endless onslaught, its heritage destroyed. Daybreak in Gaza is a record of an extraordinary place and people, and of a culture preserved by the people themselves. Vignettes of artists, acrobats, doctors, students, shopkeepers and teachers offer stories of love, life, loss and survival. They display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and the breadth of its history.
Daybreak in Gaza humanises the people dismissed as statistics. It stands as a mark of resistance to the destruction and as a testament to the people of Gaza.
Originally published on 10/05/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this season 5 finale episode I had the pleasure to interview Oren Kroll-Zeldin, the author of Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine. Unsettled digs into the experiences of young Jewish Americans who engage with the Palestine solidarity movement and challenge the staunch pro-Israel stance of mainstream Jewish American institutions. The book explores how these activists address Israeli government policies of occupation and apartheid, and seek to transform American Jewish institutional support for Israel.
Oren identifies three key social movement strategies employed by these activists: targeting mainstream Jewish American institutions, participating in co-resistance efforts in Palestine/Israel, and engaging in Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns. He argues that these young people perceive their commitment to ending the occupation and Israeli apartheid as a Jewish value, deeply rooted in the changing dynamics of Jewish life in the twenty-first century. By associating social justice
activism with Jewish traditions and values, these activists establish a connection between their Jewishness and their pursuit of justice for Palestinians.
In a time of internal Jewish tensions and uncertainty about "&"peace prospects between Palestine and Israel, the book provides hope that the efforts of these young Jews in the United States are pushing the political pendulum in a new direction, potentially leading to a more balanced and nuanced conversation.
Originally published on 08/31/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this very moving and heartwarming interview I had the opportunity to discuss with Fida Jiyris her work, a beautifully written memoir that tells the story of her and her family journey, which is also the story of Palestine, from the Nakba to the present—a seventy-five-year tale of conflict, exodus, occupation, return and search for belonging, seen through the eyes of one writer and her family. Fida reveals how her father, Sabri, a PLO leader and advisor to Yasser Arafat, chose exile in 1970 because of his work. Her own childhood in Beirut was shaped by regional tensions, the Lebanese Civil War and the 1982 Israeli invasion, which led to her mother’s
death. Thirteen years later, the family made an unexpected return to Fassouta, their village of origin in the Galilee. But Fida, twenty-two years old and full of love for her country, had no idea what she was getting into.
Stranger in My Own Land chronicles a desperate, at times surreal, search for a homeland between the Galilee, the West Bank and the diaspora, asking difficult questions about what the right of return would mean for the millions of Palestinians waiting to come ‘home’.
Originally published on 07/18/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What is cultural memory? How do settlers use it in East Jerusalem to dispossess Palestinians? In this episode I interview film maker and scholar Yair Agmon. Known for short movies like Once Upon a School (2023), Like a Beating Heart (2022) and Our Heroes (2016), Yair is now working on his PhD at UCLA 'Dwelling on The Past: Memory, Discard, and Dispossession at The City of David National Park,” which explores how settlers in East Jerusalem use memory to give purpose and meaning to a territorial project in Palestinian East Jerusalem'.
We discussed his work, the question of memory and how the City of David has
become more than an archeological site.
Originally published on 07/04/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today the guest of Jerusalem Unplugged is Asaf Elia/Shalev the author of I*srael's Black Panthers* that tells the story of the young and impoverished Moroccan
Israeli Jews who challenged their country's political status quo and rebelled against the ethnic hierarchy of Israeli life in the 1970s. Inspired by the American group of the same name, the Black Panthers mounted protests and a yearslong political campaign for the rights of Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern ancestry. They managed to rattle the country's establishment and change the course of Israel's history through the mass mobilization of a Jewish underclass. Most of the leaders of the Black Panthers were located in Musrara, a previously Palestinian inhabited neighborhood of Jerusalem that in 1948, due its proximity with the Green Line became a sort of no man's land taken over by poor Mizrahi jews who had nowhere else to go.
Originally published on 06/06/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For the series dedicated to current events, today we have the privilege of speaking with John Lynden, executive director of ALLMEP - the Alliance for Middle East Peace. ALLMEP is an impressive coalition, bringing together over 160 organizations and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis. Their mission is to build cooperation, justice, equality, a shared society, mutual understanding, and ultimately lasting peace between their communities.
In times of crisis, ALLMEP works to add stability. They foster cooperation initiatives that increase impact on the ground. And they cultivate an environment more conducive to peace over the long term through their tireless efforts.
Originally published on 05/16/2024
Welcome to Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast. This is the new link and home of Jerusalem Unplugged, all old and new interviews will be published through the new link.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.