November 28, 2023
SHARE
The Backbench
#78 Roots of Tension in Canada’s Israel-Palestine Discourse
In Canada, the political discourse on the news coming out of Israel and Palestine has given Backbench host, Mattea Roach, some “serious whiplash.”
Noor Azrieh
Producer
Aviva Lessard
Senior Producer
Caleb Thompson
Audio Editor
Karyn Pugliese
Editor-in-Chief

Editor’s note: For additional context Hamas emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch. The group is committed to armed resistance against Israel and the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel’s place.  For more: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284721219710#:~:text=A%20spotlight%20was%20cast%20on,Ashley%20Fraser%20explores%20its%20origins.

Discussions happening online seem extremely polarized, making it difficult to have productive and nuanced conversations. In this episode, Mattea sits down with Muhannad Ayyash, a Palestinian Professor of Sociology, and Jeremy Appel, a journalist and author, to get to the root of this contention. They unpack the role of lobby groups, the conflation of anti-semitism and anti-zionism, the role of grassroots organizing, and the rising incidents of alleged hate-motivated attacks. 

 

Host:  Mattea Roach

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Guests: Muhannad Ayyash, Jeremy Appel

 

Background reading:

 

Sponsors: oxio, Athletic Greens

 

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
And we’re off to the races! It’s time for the matchup, and election, of a generation.
March 25, 2025
Is AI slop the ultimate weapon for foreign interference? Or are we spiraling into another internet-fueled moral panic?
March 18, 2025
Canada is deep in the trenches of a trade war with the United States
March 11, 2025
For the first time since 2021, the Liberals are beating the Conservatives in a recent poll.
March 4, 2025
The Arctic is quickly becoming the center of a geopolitical shitstorm.
February 25, 2025
Jagmeet Singh has taken a lot of shit: his nice watch, his ambivalence on taking down the Liberals, and of course his polling. But he says he’s not giving up. He says he’s here to win.
February 18, 2025
The government hired 110,000 workers over the past 10 years, did we get 110,000 times more efficient?
February 11, 2025
A trade war is bad, but some businesses might fare better than others.
February 4, 2025
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
The Backbench