In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Palestinian American journalist and writer Jennifer Zacharia about the treatment of Palestinian journalists and reporting by Israel and Western media, building on Zacharia’s recent Boston Review piece,”Can Anyone Hear Me? Palestinians are only allowed to exist if we don’t cause discomfort for those who seek to erase us.” They discuss the lack of accountability for Israel killing Zacharia’s cousin, Shireen Abu Akleh, in 2022; how Western media elides truth and suppresses information in reporting on Palestine; and the choices of words, including descriptors for sexual violence, that Western media uses to describe some victims.

Jennifer Zacharia is a lawyer and writer who holds a JD from Columbia Law School, and an MIA from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, she has worked as a journalist and with various human and civil rights organizations. For more, see her recent piece in the Boston Review, “Can Anyone Hear Me? Palestinians are only allowed to exist if we don’t cause discomfort for those who seek to erase us.”

Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a 2025 Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University.