The Mideast Beast Podcast
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Did President Trump Just Kill Satire? (Episode 57)

Are our leaders evil, stupid… or both? Whatever the answer, the world of satire has its hands full like never before. The newest episode of our podcast series sees the Editor of The Mideast Beast in conversation with Professor Sophia A. McClennen, who’s literally written the book on satire. They discuss satire in the age of Trump, why you shouldn’t worry too much about stupid people, and how to handle satire in a region where you can get hung for a cartoon.

 

 

Prince MBS is a Hot Mess, But Damn He Looks Good on Tinder (Episode 56)

It’s hot in Saudi Arabia, but are there snowflakes this summer? The answer to that is of course not, and it won’t be snowing for a long time if ever, desipe the Fresh Prince of Riyadh and all his modern changes. On this week’s Mideast Beast Podcast host Molly Livingstone speaks with Perry Cammack, a fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussing the behind the scenes mess of human rights, potential wars, and the Canadian (yes, kind and friendly Canada) tweet that set off the Kingdom. Listen and get your Saudi Arabia for Dummies understanding of this hot mess.

 

 

Rudy Rochman’s Truth or Dare, and Trump’s Ramadan Diet (Add the Ketchup)

While the Mideast Beast Podcast is on summer hiatus, enjoy this classic episode from last year! (Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon with new stuff.)

Rudy Rochman, Founder and President of the Columbia University chapter of Students Supporting Israel, shares the BS about BDS, while Molly and Alex explore President Trump’s BDSM ketchup fetish that led him to cancel the annual Ramadan White House Feast.

 

 

Jerusalem Queer Eye for the Straight Rabbi (Episode 55)

Getting your ass flogged may sound like the latest sex trend, but in the Middle East, it most likely means you were caught being gay, and lucky you weren’t executed. So what is it like to be gay in Jerusalem, the epicenter of controversy and all that is holy (that’s what he said)? On this week’s Mideast Beast Podcast, Religious Gay Rights Activist, Nadav Schwartz, talks about the Rabbis who think gays are perverts destroying society, holding hands in public, and the Gay Religious community that you never knew about.

 

 

Homs Sweet Homs: Syria from a Syrian Who Lived Through It (Episode 54)

You work hard, buy your house, and get ready to settle down, so of course, all hell breaks loose. For Aboud Dandachi, life couldn’t have been better, until Syrian’s civil war stripped him of his new home in Homs, his promising future, and his hate for Israel. On this week’s Mideast Beast Podcast, hear about his transition from successful to refugee, and from team Hezbollah to supporting Israel, as well as whether the Mossad Shark had anything to do with this.

 

 

If You Can Read This, Then There Is Still Freedom of Speech Online… For Now (Episode 53)

Mark Zuckerberg might be Jewish, but Israel doesn’t want his social media monster online. Yep, turns out the government tried to pass a bill to take down freedom of speech one post at a time, which would make Israel the first democracy to enforce censorship on social media. But it was just a big mistake (add laugh track here), caught by Times of Israel’s Political Correspondent, Raoul Wootliff, who thought the legislation didn’t make sense and did a little digging. Listen in, while you still can, to hear from Wootliff himself on the behind the scenes, a #CensorFail, and if there is a Facebook Intifada.

 

 

Wounds of Terror, Laughter that Heals, and a Mr. Potato Head Fetish (Episode 52)

If you faked your own death and survived, what would your real life look like after that? On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone gets in bed (literally) with Kay Wilson, survivor of a brutal terrorist attack. Clearly using humor to cope with reality, Wilson is, no joke, fighting against western monies funding terrorist groups, friending the supposed enemy, and admittedly still playing with Mr. Potato Head. There’s no punchline, but you’ll want to listen to the end.

 

 

The Doctor is In… Scary is the New Sexy, or at Least for This Podcast (Episode 51)

He’s a doctor of terrorism, but that’s not even the terrifying part. On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast host Molly Livingstone gets in the mind of Dr. Matthew Levitt (his mom made us make sure we wrote DOCTOR), of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to discuss terrorism, countering that terrorism, and if this podcast is effectively doing both. Is Dr. Levitt a sane man, or has the research gotten to him? Or, is it Molly’s incessant questioning that is the real torture? Does he watch TV or is he watching you? For all the answers, you’re just going to have to listen.

 

 

Don’t Say Breast on the Radio, the Cancer of Inequality (Episode 50)

Is Erasing Women just code for the ultra-Orthodox religious gay tinder app? On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone speaks with Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll about erasing women (dirty or not), religious women’s battle for equality, and if you can say breast cancer on the radio. Jaskoll shares her insights as an advocate for religious Jewish women through her organization Chochmat Nashim (meaning women’s wisdom), discussing how she and her group fight for women’s voice, presence, and image.

 

 

People Porn: Israelis and Palestinians Tell Him the Naked Truth (Episode 49)

Look out – the unidentifiable white man is coming for you. He’s armed with a camera, translator, and questions, and demands the naked truth (sounds creepy, and yet you want to know more). On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone speaks with Corey Gil-Shuster, creator of the Ask an Israeli/Ask a Palestinian Project, asking the hard questions (that is literally what she said) to find out how he is able to speak to everyone and anyone on both sides of the conflict. Is Gil-Shuster a shit-stirrer? Does he ever get threatened? And does he have a Jewish mother who only cares about him still being single? Spoiler Alert: Yes to all of the above. But listen in to find out what he’s stirring, the threats he’s receiving, and if mom is right to be concerned.

 

 

Dancing on Tables in Jerusalem (Episode 48)

On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, Molly Livingstone sits down with Jerusalem City Council member and Head of the Yerushalmim (Jerusalemites) Party, Fleur Hassan Nahoum, to discuss the terrifying situation in Jerusalem. No, it has nothing to do with war or peace, it’s worse… politics and the upcoming mayoral elections. Find out her plan, her history of dancing on tables, and her future visions for the ever-so complicated city, Jerusalem.

 

 

The World Cup is Half Empty for Israel…Messi Messed it Up (Episode 47)

This week on the Mideast Beast podcast, host Alex Giles, a lightweight, sips his rosé wine, while Molly Livingstone could use something a bit harder (and that is what she said), and together the two discuss the football, the ladies, and the power. While it seems like Qatar Airlines doesn’t think a woman could run the company, Saudi Arabia has finally let women drive, even if only 10 have now received their licenses. Is it fair? Molly goes on a rant that involves planes, butts and obvious sexism – oh my. Alex tries to rile her up just a bit more with Argentina refusing to play their soccer match against Israel. So now what? You listen, and learn, or just listen.

 

 

Strike a Pose, The New Middle East Conflict, and Its Face lift (Episode 46)

Image is everything, and this week on the Mideast Beast Podcast hosts Molly Livingstone and Alex Giles discuss just how true that is when it comes to looking good in the Middle East conflict. The issues are not the standard ones, but more about gay couples, getting your face on for Ramadan, and how to cover up, so to speak. Is the peace talking finally being replaced by a picture that could say a thousand words?

 

 

Make Up Sexy Headline, Rinse, Lather, Repeat (Episode 45)

Reality is a lot like reality TV, the more fake it is, the more the truth sticks out. On this episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone has a deep conflicted conversation with Times of Israel Political Correspondent Haviv Rettig Gur. From his complicated name, to the complicated Middle East, to the complications of being a journalist when it comes to telling the story, the two battle it out to figure it out: reality. beliefs. emotions. And if Israel already supports gay marriage. Also, Iran. Gaza. Eurovision. There’s a lot to discuss. So start listening already.

 

 

Wag the Embassy… (Episode 44)

On this week’s Mideast Beast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone gives her firsthand account of the new US embassy, located in her remarkable neighborhood of Jerusalem (not unremarkable, as falsely reported by CNN). Host Alex Giles gets in a few words and speaks about the reaction to the embassy in Gaza, with the protest and death toll rising. Will it be an all out war between Israel and Gaza, or between Molly and Alex? Tune in.

 

 

From Stoned to Scotch: Sarah Tuttle-Singer Gets Real About Israel (Episode 43)

On this week’s Mideast Podcast, host Molly Livingstone digs in and deep (that’s what she said) with blogger and author of Jerusalem, Drawn and Quartered, Sarah Tuttle-Singer. Sarah shares her intimate moments, struggles, scotch and thoughts on the complicated Middle East, Israel and her time spent as an interloper in the Old City of Jerusalem. Girlfriend doesn’t hold anything back. Legit, there’s even a moment of karaoke.

www.facebook.com/JerusalemDrawnAndQuartered/

 

 

Dude, Where’s My Resort? (Episode 42)

There was a stabbing in Jerusalem, but don’t worry, it was only criminal. Yep, this is apparently life nowadays for host Molly Livingstone as she and host Alex Giles discuss the recent attack and why, if it’s not terrorism, it’s not scary – at least in the Middle East. And if modern day Israel wasn’t lame enough, listen in to find out how badass secret service agents of the Mossad set up a resort as a front in Sudan to rescue thousands of Ethiopian Jews. The hotel made beds by day, and once the tourists were tucked in at night, what may have seemed like a dream, was reality – undercover planes, and all – and all that on this week’s edition of The Mideast Beast Podcast.

 

 

Sisi’s Landslide, Kentucky’s Ark, & Saudi Princess Noura’s Catwalk: WTF (Episode 41)

On this week’s episode of The Mideast Beast Podcast, hosts Molly Livingstone and a slightly tipsy (one cup of rose after a long day) Alex Giles discuss the most important matters in the entire world: Uber drivers who act Israeli, creationist museums with humans riding dinosaurs, dictators who force people to vote – and then win, and fashion week with no gays. Also, is there more than one Jerusalem? It’s not the alcohol talking… it’s Alex. Listen already to find out.

 

 

Broadcasting Fake News From Jail (Episode 40)

This week’s Mideast Beast Podcast is being broadcast from jail, as it is now a crime to broadcast fake news. Or is this fake news? It is… for now. Hosts Molly Livingstone and Alex Giles discuss the real news about fake news and how it is affecting the world, the media and the people. From Malaysia, where fake news legislation will make it a crime to broadcast fake news, punishable up to six years in jail, to the Middle East where the recent events in Gaza have been distorted by hashtags, how will we know what the truth is and who will get to decide it? All that, and some freaky sh*t from Turkish President Erdogan (try saying that name out loud) that you definitely want to know about.

 

 

Saudi Arabia’s “It” Prince, D-Bag Bureaucrats, and La La Land’s Polite People (Episode 39)

With Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia and host Molly Livingstone both in the US on tour, it’s only a matter of time before their paths cross. Until then, the podcast covers the prince’s visit to the White House, his weird mommy issues, and co-host Alex Giles’s not-boy crush. The two also discuss the red tape around the red ribbon ceremony for the new impending Jerusalem US embassy (slated to open in May), polite Americans, and their desire to know what Israelis actually think about Trump.