Real Talk

Fadi Kattan is a renowned Palestinian chef from Bethlehem and the co-founder of Akub, one of London's most celebrated Palestinian restaurants.
In this conversation on Real Talk, Fadi invites Mohamed Hashem into his restaurant to talk about Palestinian food,Israel's appropriation of Palestinian cuisine, and why food is one of the most powerful tools of cultural survival.
All while Mohamed attempts to cook musakhan for the first time, under Fadi's supervision.

"You got me to talk about things I don't talk about normally."
Daniel Levy is a former Israeli negotiator who served under two prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak.
Today, the British-born analyst and president of the US Middle East Project is one of the most prominent voices heavily critical of Israel's actions against Palestinians.
But in this conversation on Real Talk, Daniel Levy speaks to Mohamed Hashem about his own journey. From an Orthodox Zionist upbringing in North London, to sitting at the negotiating table with Palestinians, to where he stands today.

'Hundreds of people are coming to my events, many of them Jewish, and they tell me I gave them their ancestors back'
Molly Crabapple is an Emmy Award-winning artist, author and journalist. Her new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country, tells the largely forgotten story of the Jewish Labour Bund, a secular, socialist, anti-Zionist mass movement founded in 1897 that at its peak was the largest Jewish political organisation in Eastern Europe.
The Bund believed that Jewish people had the right to stay in their homes, and refused to accept that the answer to antisemitism was a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine.
In this conversation on Real Talk, Molly sits down with Mohamed Hashem to talk about her Jewish identity, her 2015 reporting trip to Gaza, seven years of archival research, and what the Bund's story means during this time.

‘I regret losing my job. Not what I said’
Mark Bonnick worked at Arsenal for 22 years. Then on Christmas Eve 2024, the former kitman was fired over posts he made on X criticising Israel over the genocide in Gaza.
Arsenal accused him of bringing the club into disrepute. The case was quickly framed by media outlets as one of antisemitism. But reports later revealed that the Football Association told Arsenal his posts had not breached any of the governing body's rules.
Mark is now suing Arsenal for unfair dismissal.
In this conversation on Real Talk, he sits down with Mohamed Hashem outside the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal prepare for the Champions League Final, to tell his story for the first time.

"The left loves to lose. They can't get enough of it."
Ana Kasparian has been an influential and prominent voice in US independent media for nearly two decades.
The co-host and executive producer of The Young Turks speaks with Mohamed Hashem on Real Talk to make the case for a left-right coalition on Israel, and why she believes the establishment of both parties has failed the American people.
Kasparian calls out AOC for being outflanked by Marjorie Taylor Greene on Gaza, and explains why she's willing to work with anyone, regardless of politics, to "stop a genocide."
She also opens up on the personal cost of speaking out: lost jobs, death threats, and Israeli soldiers sending her weapons imagery.