Discourse around last year’s celebrated film The Zone of Interest, portraying the idyllic life of a Nazi commandant and his family right next to the horrors of Auschwitz, gives us an opportunity to reflect with brilliant political commentator Katie Halper on the harmful narratives equating Jewish identity with Zionism, why the film is actually such a brilliant depiction of the banality (and celebration) of brutality, and why IOF soldiers TikToking their crimes against humanity is an important facet of Israel’s deeply evil campaign of annihilation. Watch below:

In case you missed it, Jonathan Glazer’s recent movie The Zone of Interest became a target for Zionists, who have taken issue with Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech. Glazer was the only awardee to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza in his speech, in which he rebuked the co-optation of Jewish identity and the trauma of the Holocaust by violent supporters of an ethnostate. The movie, as we note, has clear and resonant parallels to modern-day violence: it presents the idyllic life of oppressors shadowed by the ever-present but never-quite-seen suffering of their victims.

For Zionists to take issue with this film tells us everything we need to know about their absolute dismissal of Palestinians’ humanity and complicity in the violence that Israel’s very existence is currently premised on. Humiliation and cruelty are part of the system. Many of us have seen TikToks of IOF soldiers proudly brandishing the signs of their destruction of Palestinians’ lives. While one might think that this particular humiliation is incidental, we re-frame it as an essential aspect of Israeli apartheid and genocide. These acts of mockery and celebration of annihilation remind us of the central project of Zionism: outright destruction of the Palestinian people.

We talk about much more in this episode, including Katie’s debunking of the oft-said statement that Israel protects Jews and why that statement is so harmful. You can listen to it tomorrow when it’s released on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.