Real Talk

About Real Talk

Real Talk is a Middle East Eye interview series hosted by Mohamed Hashem that explores the unique stories and experiences of a diverse range of guests — from artists, to musicians, to politicians and more.

Publisher

Middle East Eye

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

18 Sept 2024

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

57 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   How did the pro-Israel lobby shape Obama's Middle East policy? | Eli Clifton

   'Obama’s first term was sort of a hinge moment. It was when the old bipartisan pro-Israel consensus... began to visibly crack.' How did the pro-Israel lobby shape Obama's Middle East policy during his two terms in office? Mohamed Hashem speaks to Eli Clifton, co-founder of the Quincy Institute and co-author of Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

2. 

   28 Sept 2026

   'Iraq had no Jewish problem': As an Arab Jew, Israel made me feel inferior | Avi Shlaim | Real Talk

   'Iraq didn't have a Jewish problem.' Avi Shlaim is one of the most celebrated historians on Israel-Palestine. The Oxford Emeritus Professor was born into an Arab Jewish family in Baghdad, Iraq. At five years old, his family moved to Israel, where he felt he was treated as a second-class Israeli due to his Arab background. In this Real Talk interview, Avi sits down with Mohamed Hashem to speak about his life story, growing up as an Arab Jew inside Israel, his journey from Zionist to 'fierce' anti-Zionism, and why he now believes the two-state solution was never even born.

3. 

   7 Sept 2026

   He was born into Israeli ‘privilege’. Now his life's work is to abolish it | Eyal Weizman

   "It's my burden. I was born into it." Eyal Weizman is a leading architect, author, and the founder of Forensic Architecture, whose evidence has fed directly into South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ. His new book, Ungrounding, traces the destruction of Gaza back to the Nakba of 1948 and argues that what's happening there today isn't a rupture, but a continuation of decades of dispossession. In this Real Talk interview, Eyal sits down with Mohamed Hashem about the founding of Forensic Architecture, the argument at the heart of his new book, and how he holds all of it against his own Israeli identity.

Who has been a guest on Real Talk

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• William Dalrymple
• Hoda Katebi
• Saul Williams
• Jamaal Bowman

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

35,061

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

11 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 39 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

34

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

32

Contact Real Talk

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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