Alan Hart

I have made a discovery. Informed and honest debate with Zionists and other supporters of Israel right or wrong is impossible. I have long suspected this to be the case but a recent experience gave me the irrefutable proof.

On Friday 12 June, I presented and chaired, for recording and first television transmission by Iran’s PressTV, two programmes with the title ANTI-SEMITISM RISING. WHY? The format for both programmes was an all-Jewish panel discussion followed by debate with an invited audience of all faiths and none.

As I explained in my studio introduction, … continue reading

Between October 2008 and January 2009, Press.TV aired a 13 part series called “Hart of the Matter” – a programme committed to telling viewers the truth – the truth about who must do what and why if the Palestine problem, the cancer at the heart of international affairs, is to be cured before it consumes us all.

Now that my new blog has gone live, each episode has been published and back-dated to the date at which it went on-air. However, as the series is very important for people to see, this post and a dedicated sidebar widget have been created to ensure the videos don’t disappear into the history of the blog’s archives.

Be sure to watch these videos, but if you’re too stretched for time (approx 20 minutes for each video), then at least download the conversations in MP3 format and listen to them on your way to work etc. Each video has an audio link below it or you can download them all zipped up: 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 & 10-13
… continue reading

My guest this week is recognised throughout the world of academia as a man with one of the best minds of our time. He is Lord Bhikhu Parekh. He has held many academic posts and is currently the President of the Academy of Social Sciences.

His academic interests include political philosophy, the history of political thought, social theory, ancient and modern Indian political thought, and the philosophy of ethnic relations, which includes consideration of what determines whether peoples can or cannot … continue reading

My guest this evening is a former, long-serving MI6 officer. In 2004, and partly because he was frustrated by the refusal of Western governments to talk to Hamas and Hezbollah, he founded Conflicts Forum. He is Alastair Crooke. He is driven by … continue reading

My guest this week is Steven Rose, a neuroscientist and biologist who has spent more than 40 years studying the brain and how it works. Unusually for a scientist, Steven is outspoken on some political issues. He was politicised by growing up in a Jewish family in World War II Britain … continue reading

My guest this week is Ghada Karmi, a leading Palestinian academic and writer who was born in Jerusalem and brought up in England where she still lives. Today she describes herself as becoming more and more angry … continue reading

My guest tonight is a Jewish American political scientist and author who Jewish supporters of Israel right or wrong love to hate. He is – Norman Finkelstein.

Norman Finkelstein grew up in New York City where, before he obtained academic employment, he was a part-time social worker with teenage dropouts.

He completed his undergraduate studies at New York’s Binghampton University in 1974. After studying in Paris, he went on to get his Master’s degree in political science, and later his PhD in political studies, from Princeton University. He has held faculty positions at five American universities.

The reason why Finkelstein is vilified by Jewish supporters of Israel right or wrong can be simply stated. In his writing and public speaking, as in his doctoral thesis, he is committed to exposing books which present Zionism’s version of history. … continue reading

My guest tonight is a Palestinian Arab. On one occasion when he was stopped at a checkpoint and asked if he was carrying a weapon, he answered “Yes”. He was then ordered by tense Israeli soldiers to move to a safe distance and … continue reading

My guest tonight is a member of the House of Lords, the un-elected, Upper House of the British parliament. Lady members of it have the title Baroness. My guest, Baroness Jenny Tonge, is a politician who paid a price for offending the Zionist lobby … continue reading

My first guest for this series, the Israeli historian, Professor Ilan Pappe, told us that he had taken his leave of Israel because the lives of his two young sons as well as his own life were being threatened.

My guest tonight is another man who receives death threats from supporters of Israel right or wrong for daring to tell the truth they want suppressed. He is one of the world’s best, most courageous and distinguished journalists … continue reading

My guest this evening the Reverend Stephen Sizer.

He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of Christian Zionism and evangelical Christian fundamentalism in all of its forms … continue reading

My guest for this week’s programme is Abdel Bari Atwan.

He is the Palestinian editor-in-chief of Al Quds Al Arabi, which is published here in London and is the only Arab newspaper free to criticise the regimes of the existing Arab Order.

Abdel Bari is respected and admired by many in the mainstream Western media, but … continue reading

This evening we have the second part of my conversation with Professor Ilan Pappe, the truth-telling Israeli historian whose latest book is The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

In last week’s programme … continue reading

Last week, in the first programme of this series, viewers were invited to get to know me and how it was that I became aware of the difference between the lies and truth of history as it relates to the making and sustaining of conflict in and over Palestine.

My first guest is an Israeli who now lives in reluctant exile here in the UK. He is … continue reading

Press.TV is airing a 13 part series called “Hart of the Matter” – a programme committed to telling viewers the truth – the truth about who must do what and why if the Palestine problem, the cancer at the heart of international affairs, is to be cured before it consumes us all.

The programme’s mission is to set a new agenda for informed and honest debate by addressing questions which the mainstream media and almost all politicians are too frightened to ask. My guests for the first series’ conversations are men and women of all faiths and none, most of them voices which powerful vested interests would prefer citizens not to hear.

In the first part of this 13 part series, I invite you to get to know me because I believe you have a right and a need to know what a presenter’s experience is and how it has shaped his thinking.
… continue reading

Dr. Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian at Haifa University who writes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of the 1948 war. He was interviewed on 11 Sept 2002 before addressing a public meeting and open debate at the University of Manchester.

Its an excellent interview and you can watch the video here or read the script here.

This is a video of me speaking at a public meeting of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). The original venue, St Peter’s Chaplaincy, informed PSC that it was unwilling to host the meeting – 2 days before the event – despite the fact that the booking had been paid for many weeks in advance. Anticipating this, the PSC booked a reserve venue – the Friends Meeting House.

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