Sumud Podcast: Inspired by Palestine

In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with Noura Erakat for a powerful conversation about Palestinian liberation, international law, colonialism, and the importance of building solidarity across communities. A Palestinian American human rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor, Noura discusses her new book, Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew, co-authored with John Reynolds, and explains how history, law, and political ideology shape the realities Palestinians face today. The conversation explores her experience being arrested while advocating for divestment, the connections between Black and Palestinian liberation movements, and the role of international institutions in shaping political outcomes. Noura also discusses the history of Zionism, the relationship between racism and colonialism, and why understanding these systems is essential to imagining a different future. Through reflections on generations of Palestinian thinkers, grassroots organizing, and collective action, she emphasizes the importance of learning from history, challenging dominant narratives, and building meaningful coalitions across communities. Noura Erakat is Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019), which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs. Her forthcoming book, Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew co-authored with John Reynolds will be out with Haymarket in November 2025. In 2023, Noura co-chaired an Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, a report documenting how U.S. arms to Israel have been used in violation of U.S. and international law and which was submitted to the White House. She is co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and an editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies as well as Human Geography. She is a co-founding board member of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival. She has served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives, as Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, and as National Organizer and Legal Advocate of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Noura has also produced video documentaries, including "Gaza In Context" and "Black Palestinian Solidarity.” Noura completed a non-resident fellowship of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School as well as a Mahmoud Darwish Visiting Professorship at Brown University.  In 2022, she was selected as a Freedom Fellow by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. In 2025, the University of Ghent awarded the Amnesty International Chair in recognition of her contribution to human rights and scholarship. In 2026, the University of Antwerp awarded her an honorary doctorate for her scholarship and advocacy.  In this conversation, we explore → Noura Erakat’s arrest while advocating for divestment and the importance of protecting the right to speak → Her new book, Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew → The connections between colonialism, racism, and systems of power → The history of Zionism and how political narratives shape public understanding → The deep-rooted connections between Black and Palestinian liberation movements → The role of international law, the United Nations, and grassroots organizing in the struggle for justice Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com 🎬 Full episode on https://sumudpod.com 📲 Follow @dredhasan | @sumudpod | @nouraerakat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎙️ In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with Miko Peled for a powerful conversation about identity, family, history, and his journey toward standing with the Palestinian people. Born into one of Israel’s most prominent military and political families, Miko grew up surrounded by Zionism, military culture, and influential figures who shaped the country’s history. He reflects on his father, an Israeli general, his grandfather’s role in Israel’s founding, and the stories he heard growing up that shaped his understanding of the region. Miko also shares the experiences that challenged those beliefs, from his time in the Israeli military and the war in Lebanon to the death of his 13-year-old niece and the conversations that ultimately pushed him to reconsider everything he had been taught. The conversation also explores his book The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, the importance of confronting difficult histories, and why Miko believes standing up for what is right is a responsibility rather than an act of courage. 🌍 Miko Peled is the founder and President of Palestine House of Freedom, in Washington, DC. Born in Jerusalem in 1961, he is the author of “The General’s Son, Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.” For close to three decades Miko has been a public speaker, and human rights activist focusing on Palestine. He is considered by many to be one of the clearest voices calling for justice in Palestine, and the creation of a single democracy with equal rights for all, on all historic Palestine. Educated in Jerusalem, Japan and the United States, Peled is also a professional martial artist. For 23 years, Peled ran a martial arts school that was dedicated to teaching leadership skills and non-violent conflict resolution through martial arts. Peled has been working along with other, mostly Palestinian activists towards dismantling the apartheid regime in Palestine and transforming Palestine into a single democratic state with equal rights for all. Driven by the death of his 12-year-old niece Smadar in 1997, Peled embarked on a journey to explore Palestine, its people and their narratives. 🔑 In this conversation, we explore → Miko’s upbringing inside Israel’s political and military establishment → His father’s role as an Israeli general and his grandfather’s place in Israel’s founding → His mother’s decision to refuse a Palestinian family’s home in Jerusalem → How military service and the war in Lebanon challenged his worldview → The death of his niece and the moment that pushed him to confront what he had been taught → How meeting Palestinians and learning their history transformed Miko’s understanding of Palestine → His journey from a two-state framework toward advocating for equal rights and a shared future Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com 🎬 Full episode on https://sumudpod.com 📲 Follow @dredhasan | @sumudpod | @mikopeled Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎙️In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with Salah Sarsour for a powerful conversation about immigration, free speech, advocacy, and the personal consequences of speaking out. Salah shares his experience spending 81 days in ICE detention, his work as a Palestinian community leader and president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, and the events that led to his detention and ongoing legal case. Salah and his attorney, Patrick Taurel, discuss the legal process surrounding his case, conditions inside detention, the impact on Salah’s family and community, and broader questions surrounding advocacy and protected speech. The conversation also explores Salah’s decades of community work, his experiences with detention in the past, and why he continues to speak publicly about issues affecting his community. 🌍 Salah Sarsour is a longtime Palestinian community leader and green card holder who faces deportation for his advocacy against Israeli apartheid and genocide. He is a successful small business owner, community leader, father of six, and caretaker for his elderly mother. On March 30, 2026, Salah Sarsour was taken into custody by ICE because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights; he is one of many Palestinian Americans permanent residents who have been targeted by the Trump Administration for speaking out against the genocide of Palestinians, but his case represents an escalation in the administration’s attempts to shut down activists and organizations opposed to the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. 🌍 Patrick Taurel is Salah Sarsour's lead immigration attorney and a Partner at Grossman Young & Hammond. Ranked a top lawyer in the field of immigration law by Washingtonian magazine, he has over a decade of experience as an advocate for immigrants. He has worked for leading immigration firms and impactful non-profit immigrant rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Immigration Council. 🔑 In this conversation, we explore → Salah Sarsour’s 81 days in ICE detention and his ongoing legal case  → His leadership in the Milwaukee Muslim community and work with young people  → His advocacy and organizing around Palestinian issues  → The circumstances surrounding his arrest and the immigration process  → Conditions inside detention and Salah’s experiences supporting other detainees  → Free speech, advocacy, and the broader debate surrounding pro-Palestinian activism  → Salah’s commitment to his community, his family, and continuing to speak out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎙️ In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with Palestinian poet, translator, and physician Dr. Fady Joudah to discuss his newly released book, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs from Inside Gaza. Through poetry, photography, and personal reflection, Fady explores the realities of Palestinian life, the weight of distance and belonging, and the responsibility of telling stories without reducing people to their suffering. He shares the inspiration behind the book, his work with Palestinian photographers and writers, and the importance of preserving the humanity, history, and voices of those living through unimaginable circumstances. The conversation also examines the relationship between art, language, censorship, solidarity, and accountability, while reflecting on family history, displacement, grief, forgiveness, and the enduring strength of the Palestinian people. Fady offers a deeply personal perspective on what it means to live between worlds, to witness suffering from afar, and to continue creating in the face of loss. 🌍Dr. Fady Joudah is the author of '[…],' a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Exhibit G. His other poetic works include: The Earth in the Attic; Alight; Textu, a book-long sequence of short poems whose meter is based on cellphone character count; Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance; and Tethered to Stars. He has translated several collections of poetry from Arabic and is the co-editor and co-founder of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He was a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition and has received the Jackson Poetry Prize, a PEN award, a Banipal/Times Literary Supplement prize from the UK, the Griffin Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Arab American Book Award. He lives in Houston, with his wife and kids, where he practices internal medicine. 🔑 In this conversation, we explore → Dr. Fady Joudah’s new book Exhibit G and the inspiration behind its poems, essays, and photographs → How Palestinian photographers capture humanity, childhood, and everyday life beyond the headlines → The relationship between art, language, censorship, and the representation of Palestinian experiences → The emotional weight of living between the realities of Palestine and the United States → Family history, displacement, inherited memory, and the stories that connect generations → Solidarity, accountability, forgiveness, and the importance of listening to Palestinian voices → Finding tenderness, resilience, and humanity through art, grief, and the ongoing struggle for dignity Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com 🎬 Full episode on https://sumudpod.com 📲 Follow @dredhasan | @sumudpod | @fadyjoudah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, Dr. Ed Hasan sits down with filmmaker Colette Ghunim and actress, producer, and Palestine advocate Melissa Barrera to discuss ‘Traces of Home,’ Ghunim’s deeply personal documentary tracing her family’s roots in Palestine and Mexico. Together, they explore forced migration, intergenerational trauma, identity, family, and the difficult process of returning to the places their families were forced to leave. Barrera also reflects on her advocacy for Palestinian freedom and dignity, while Ghunim shares how making the film transformed her relationship with her parents and her understanding of home. At the heart of the conversation is Sumud: the resilience, dignity, and determination to remain rooted in who you are. As a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit co-founder, Colette Ghunim’s soul purpose is to use the power of film and storytelling for those oppressed around the world to be seen, to be heard, and to heal. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls (2016), received over 2 million views and won Best Short Documentary at the Arab Film Festival for its bold spotlight on street harassment in Egypt. In co-production with Kartemquin Films and funded by Latino Public Broadcasting, she is directing Traces of Home, her first feature-length film documenting her inner quest to find home through unearthing her parent’s forced migrations from Mexico and Palestine. Colette is also the co-founder of Mezcla Media Collective, a nonprofit organization aimed to cultivate a thriving landscape for over 700 women and non-binary filmmakers of color in Chicago. Her work has been highlighted on international outlets such as Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Univision, and TEDx. Colette was selected as a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader, 2024 Sundance Institute x ISF Fellow, and was featured on Arab America’s “30 Under 30” list. Melissa Barrera is a Mexican actress, singer, and producer known for her roles in Vida, In the Heights, Scream, Scream VI, and Abigail. She also serves as an executive producer of Traces of Home. Beyond her work on screen, Barrera has been outspoken in support of Palestinians and calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. In 2023, she said she would “continue to speak out” and “continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom.” She is also listed among the signatories of Artists4Ceasefire, a collective calling for a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, the return of hostages, and a just and lasting peace. In this conversation, we explore → The journey behind Traces of Home and Colette Ghunim’s search for home in Mexico and Palestine → Intergenerational trauma, family silence, and healing → Colette’s father returning to Palestine decades after the Nakba → Why Melissa Barrera joined the film and continued speaking out for Palestinian freedom and dignity → The cultural and emotional connections between Mexico and Palestine → How Colette came to understand home as something found within → The power of art, vulnerability, and Sumud to reclaim identity and heal across generations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices