UNAPOLOGETIC with Ashfaaq Carim

Brazilian activist and one of the organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla Thiago Avila joins UNAPOLOGETIC.
He recounts his detention by Israeli forces after being aboard one of the flotilla boats intercepted by Israel in international waters while en route to break the siege of Gaza.
Avila describes the moments leading up to the interception at sea and his arrest, and details the conditions he and other activists faced while held in Israeli detention.
He reflects on nightly raids inside prison cells, the use of intimidation and fear, and the psychological tactics used against the activists.
UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:10 The Gaza flotilla mission
06:45 Interception at sea and arrest
13:30 First hours in Israeli detention
20:10 Prison conditions & interrogations
28:40 Shotguns, lasers & psychological warfare
34:20 The moment fear broke
38:50 Solidarity & resistance inside prison
43:30 Chanting “Free Palestine” after raids
48:40 'Nothing compared to what Palestinians endure'

In this conversation with UNAPOLOGETIC, Imam Omar Suleiman reflects on two decades of global politics, the Palestinian struggle, Islamophobia in America, and the meaning of justice in a collapsing world order.
Through personal stories of exile, family history, racism, 9/11, and spiritual grounding, he offers a deeply human account of how identity, faith, and political reality have shaped his life.
This episode moves between the intimate and the global - from his parents’ journey through displacement, to the trauma and resilience of Palestinians and Syrians, to the shifting political landscape in the US and the rising generational support for Palestine.
Omar Suleiman argues that despite oppression, people power is growing, Zionist propaganda is weakening, and justice - while it may take a while - in his view remains inevitable.
Chapters
0:00 Intro & Soundbites
2:03 Gaza & Global Indifference
8:11 Childhood & Exile
13:05 Media After 9/11
16:40 Family & Diaspora Roots
23:28 Homeland & Entry Denied
27:03 Syria’s Turning Point
36:42 U.S. Politics & Islamophobia
41:34 Final Reflections

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, we speak with journalist and historian Imran Mulla about his gripping new book The Indian Caliphate: Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince.

The conversation uncovers a forgotten plot to relocate the Ottoman caliphate to India after its abolition in 1924 — a story involving exiled Ottoman royalty, the fabulously wealthy but austere Nizam of Hyderabad, British imperial paranoia, and an audacious vision for a modern, post-imperial caliphate rooted in the subcontinent.

Imran walks us through the hidden alliances between Ottoman exiles and Indian Muslim thinkers, the astonishing marriage engineered to fuse two royal houses, the political stakes of Hyderabad’s autonomy under the British, and how the dream of an Indian-centred caliphate was ultimately crushed by partition and rising nationalism.

This episode is a sweeping look at empire, modernity, loss, cosmopolitanism, and the forgotten place of India at the centre of the Islamic world — and why recovering this history matters today.
UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

Chapters
0:00 Intro & Soundbites
2:00 Tomb in Rural India
9:00 How This Story Began
18:00 Reinventing the Caliphate
27:00 Hyderabad, Empire and Wealth
36:00 Archives, Travel and Tomb
45:00 Partition, Federation and Palestine
54:00 Empire, Freedom and Violence
1:03:00 Princes, Princesses and Exile
1:12:00 Modernist Pan-Islamic Politics
1:21:00 Anglicised Radicals at Oxford
1:30:00 What History Taught Imran
1:39:00 Writing the Book, Closing

In this UNAPOLOGETIC episode from the Doha Forum, investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill examines how Israel has carried out a campaign that many experts believe meets the legal and moral definitions of genocide in Gaza, while simultaneously insisting that Palestinians must not resist and that neighbouring states must demilitarise. Scahill situates Israel’s assault within a wider history of US militarism, privatised warfare, and the global security industry, showing how Gaza has become a testing ground for surveillance, weapons and siege tactics.

We also discuss the collapse of the 2025 cease-fire, the regional implications of Syria’s political shift, and the contrasting strategies of Gulf states as the war reshapes regional power.

Jeremy Scahill is co-founder of The Intercept and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army and Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield.

Recorded at the Doha Forum, this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC is in conversation with political scientist Dr. Omar Ashour examines the shifting landscape of the Middle East through three major developments: Syria’s transformation under Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the widening regional divide illustrated by the UAE’s military support for separatist groups versus Qatar’s increasingly active diplomatic strategy.
Ashour breaks down how these dynamics are reshaping alliances, security calculations, and narratives of power across the region. We explore for how long Syria’s new leadership scan continue to allow Israel to bomb it with impunity, how the genocide in Gaza has redrawn regional moral and political lines, and why Gulf states are pursuing sharply divergent approaches to influence.
Dr. Omar Ashour is the author of The De-Radicalization of Jihadists, Bullets to Ballots and How ISIS Fights and is a leading expert on military behaviour, armed groups, and security studies.