The Truth Is Easy (Conversations on Palestine and Freedom)

A vital resource for understanding the ongoing calamity in Gaza, through a chorus of fiercely intelligent and principled voices, speaking from inside the struggle for justice

In 2023, against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal campaign, Karim, Saree, and Ussama Makdisi launched the Makdisi Street podcast. Over the following months, leading figures joined the brothers to situate the genocide within the necessary contexts of history, law, politics, and culture―on the local, regional, and international levels. In this authoritative and carefully curated collection, the Makdisi brothers distill key moments from interviews, providing a depth and breadth of analysis on Palestine otherwise unseen in the Western media landscape. The result is a kaleidoscopic work that provides readers with an understanding of the struggle for freedom in Palestine and the global history of which it forms a part.

Featuring interviews with Salman Abu-Sitta on surviving the Nakba and the right of return, Mohammed El-Kurd on the politics of appeal and the role of resistance, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Black American and Palestinian culture, Noura Erakat on the end of the international rule-based order, Peter Beinart on the generational schism within Jewish communities caused by the genocide, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian on the affirmation of love and life that lies at the heart of the Palestinian struggle, and more.