What is known about the Middle East from Western media and lack of education is biased and distorted. If you want to educate yourself on Middle Eastern politics and history, here are some great sources without reading hundreds of books. Of course, it’s worth looking into the top 10 book lists on understanding the Middle East. However, watching and listening to media can be an expedient way to grasp the basic concepts before diving in further for more knowledge.
The media recommendations below are viewpoints that include various sources and voices from the past to the present.
How Islam Saved Western Civilization
TikTok algorithm has Dr. Roy Casagranda floating through my timeline daily. The short clips on his lectures about the Middle East were so easy to understand I had to search for him on YouTube. It turns out he’s a professor at Austin Community College in Texas. He has a lot of lectures, but to start with, one of his best is “How Islam Saved Western Civilization.” You can play the lectures while doing busy work, driving around and doing chores, or simply listen while relaxing.
What is so illuminating about this lecture is the evident conclusion that the Middle East had a tremendous influence on Western Civilization and vice versa. That makes sense, considering the location of the Middle East just south of Europe.
If you are craving more from Dr. Roy Casagranda, you can find many interesting history lectures on The Austin School YouTube channel. There is also an entire playlist just for lectures on the Middle East. The lectures on The Crusades were extremely compelling.
The Occupation of the American Mind
For a documentary that explains how media is manipulated to silence any criticism of Israel and its occupation of Gaza, The Occupation of the American Mind is mind-blowing. It’s not only an excellent analysis exposing how colonial powers took over Palestine with fascist nationalist antisemitic roots to create a Jewish ethnostate removing Jews from Europe. It also shows how flawed corporate Western media is. Much of what can be learned from this documentary can be applied to all political rhetoric, which tends to conclude that our dire issues are too big for our little minds to understand, so there is no point in creating progressive solutions.
Farha
Netflix has an entire genre set aside for Palestinian stories. One was strikingly beautiful yet brutal, a story about a young woman’s experience surviving the Nakba in 1948. Farha was released in 2021 but is more relevant now than ever in understanding the starting point of Palestinian’s experience with the Israel state experiment.
Israel is Born: Documentary on the History of Israel’s Establishment Narrated by Zionist
Recently, I ran into a 4 part-series documentary on YouTube called Israel: A Nation is Born. The documentary is from the old-school propagandized Zionist view and is reported in classic journalism style. What is profoundly interesting about his documentary is the historical marks of terrorism from certain Zionist groups. The desperation of starving Jews escaping Germany and concentration camps seeking “the promised land” as their salvation and future.
When it comes to understanding different views on a political issue, it is important to learn from both viewpoints, and I believe this documentary does a good job of explaining things from a Jewish Zionist viewpoint or even providing an understanding of why someone like Joe Biden, who is Catholic, is also a Zionist. It is important to also understand that hidden in the archives of history is evidence that the Zionists Militia had attempted to work with and recruit Nazis in 1942.
Watching this documentary gave me a good perspective on Zionist viewpoints. It also includes a somewhat thorough history lesson, including the United States president’s reluctance and role in upholding Israel as it grew. Noticeably missing from the story is mentioning the Palestinians in much of the narrative history. You can watch the documentaries below, or you can see all of them listed in my playlist “Middle East and World History.”
Stories about Israel and Palestine from the archives | 60 Minutes Full Episodes
From the YouTube channel’s description, “From 2009, Bob Simon’s report on Israelis and Palestinians who believe a two-state solution is impossible. From 2010, Lesley Stahl’s report on a controversial archaeological dig in Jerusalem. From 2012, Simon’s report on the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land. And also from 2012, Simon’s visit to Tel Aviv for an inside look at Israel’s largest city.”
October 7 | Al Jazeera Investigations
Al Jazeera investigative reporting reviews footage, stories, and forensic analysis to find the truth behind the human rights abuses by Hamas and the untrue claims by the Israel Defense Force that it found eight burned babies at a house in Kibbutz Be’eri.
