Makdisi Street

Patron-only livestream: Latest on Iran, Lebanon and US policy

**Please join our Patreon for access to our next livestream and to submit your questions/comments**   Come and join the brothers for another patron-only livestream discussion of the situation in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We look forward to your questions and comments! Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2026 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet    

"Their appetite grows with every war" w/ Aslı Ü. Bâli

The brothers welcome back Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for an intense and wide-ranging discussion of the state of the Middle East in the aftermath of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran.  They discuss the potential geopolitical outcomes the apparent US strategic defeat, examine the nature and assumptions of what had been American primacy over the Gulf, the liability and costs to the US and the Middle East of the decades-long American political embrace of an Israel drunk on borrowed power and impunity, Turkey's role in the regional realignment, the question of pipelines and resources, and the importance of international law in the context of the Gaza genocide. Check out her recent article, "Object Lessons" https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/object-lessons/ Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: June 23, 2026 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet  

"FIFA is a racket" w/ Abdullah Al-Arian

With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome Abdullah Al-Arian, Chair of History at Georgetown University Qatar and editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game. We talk about how football shapes Arab identity, including the role of diaspora, and how it is instrumentalized by Arab states. We also talk about the controversies and politics of the World Cup, including the journey of Team Palestine during a genocide, and discrimination against Iran's team and fans from across the global south. We wrap by discussing the question of FIFA Eurocentrism, corruption, and double standards, including FIFA's cowardice in not banning Israel. For the record, we all try to predict who will win the World Cup! Date of recording: June 19, 2026 Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet  

Makdisi Street Reviews w/ Eyal Weizman

In anticipation of the publication of Eyal Weizman's new book, Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide, which will be released in the US next month, the brothers hosted a livestream with Eyal to which our Patreon supporters had access, including the opportunity to ask questions of Eyal either via the livestream chat (which we will moderate) or in advance via email. Watch the livestream edition https://youtu.be/EInAD1Utpgw Date of recording: June 16, 2026 Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet

"We should not become our own worst enemy"

The brothers discuss the latest developments in the regional war, with a special focus on Lebanon and the nature of Israeli bombardment of civilian homes, which is tied to the destruction of homes on different scales across historical Palestine since 1948. The brothers also discuss co-existence in the Mashriq region and the Zionist challenge to that. Check out Ussama's article https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/opinion/lebanon-israel-iran-war.html Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: June 8, 2026 Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the show for access to the first Makdisi Street Reviews livestream!