Episode 156: Chef Reem Assil, Gaza and Hospitality For Humanity
Chef Reem Assil joins The Checkout for a conversation about Israel, Palestine, peace and self-determination. Chef Assil and dozens of other food industry leaders have signed a statement calling for a ceasefire and solidarity with Palestinian civilians.
Reem Assil is a California based chef of Syrian and Palestinian heritage. Over 20 members of her family in Gaza have been killed by Israeli bombings. Thousands more Palestinian civilians have been killed in October 2023 and in the recent years before the Hamas attacks in southern Israel. For Chef Assil, “from the river to the sea” holds promises of self-determination, multicultural democracy and freedom for her family and community after 75 years of exile.
The host of The Checkout, Errol Schweizer, is Jewish and has been a secular non-Zionist for over 25 years.
Website: https://www.hospitality-for-humanity.com
Take action: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/
How does Israel respond to civil disobedience and non-violent protest? Participants in the Great March of Return in 2019 were shot dead by the hundreds and critical injured by the thousands: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/10/gaza-great-march-of-return/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/30/gazas-great-march-of-return-protests-explained
Israel as an apartheid state:
https://apnews.com/article/israel-apartheid-palestinians-occupation-c8137c9e7f33c2cba7b0b5ac7fa8d115
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/
How Israel helped create Hamas: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/30/how-israel-helped-create-hamas/
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/20/divide_and_rule_how_israel_helped
Rabbis and Jewish activists calling for a ceasefire: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/28/1208980580/for-some-jewish-peace-activists-demands-for-ceasefire-come-at-a-personal-cost
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/28/protesters-shut-new-yorks-grand-central-station-demanding-gaza-ceasefire
Other readings by Jewish and Palestinian authors:
Ilan Pappe: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57540.The_Ethnic_Cleansing_of_Palestine
Rashid Khalidi: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41812831-the-hundred-years-war-on-palestine?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9UA0omxAhV&rank=1
Noura Erakat: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43154949-justice-for-some?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=doL7DdbEFR&rank=1
Norman Finkelstein: https://bookshop.org/p/books/gaza-an-inquest-into-its-martyrdom-norman-finkelstein/10557134?ean=9780520295711
Edward Said: https://bookshop.org/p/books/after-the-last-sky-palestinian-lives-edward-said/12861749?ean=9780231114493
Gideon Levy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7513285-the-punishment-of-gaza?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=RmBTxourqK&rank=1
Jewish Currents (newsletter): https://jewishcurrents.org
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