Middle East and North Africa

Tuesday 15 October 2013, 7:00 PM

Insight with Paul Danahar: The New Middle East

Nearly three years after the start of the revolution in Tunisia, which was followed by uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, many are beginning to examine what has changed in the region. One of those that has had a front row seat of this recent history is the BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief, Paul Danahar. He will be joining us in conversation with BBC Arabic’s Samir Farah, to share his insight and analysis of events and what he feels the future holds for the region and it’s relationship with the West.


Thursday 13 June 2013, 7:00 PM

America’s Shifting Foreign Policy

As Barack Obama enters the second year of his second and final term in office, he faces considerable foreign policy challenges. Join us as we dissect Obama’s foreign policy ambitions, exploring the shifts in focus and how they are playing out. Will he achieve his second term goals? Can he successfully pull focus to Asia or will the conflict in Syria direct attention back to the Middle East?


Wednesday 12 December 2012, 8.15 PM

#FCBBCA Israel and Iran: Countdown to war?


Join us to discuss what the future holds for relations between Iran, Israel and the US in the year ahead.


November 14, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Jeremy Bowen: The Arab Uprisings

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on the past two years of game-changing moments in the history of the Middle East.


August 31, 2012 7:00 PM

Insight with Lydia Cacho: Slavery Inc.

The international sex trade criss-crosses the globe using a sinister network, in a ground-breaking new work of investigative reporting internationally renowned Mexican journalist and campaigner Lydia Cacho follows the trail of the traffickers and their victims from Mexico to Turkey, Thailand to Iraq, Georgia to the UK.

Lydia Cacho will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with executive director of Article 19, Dr Agnès Callamard to talk about her expansive investigation into this world and the work she does reporting on domestic violence, child prostitution, organised crime and political corruption, whilst teaching workshops on how to help victims of trafficking.


July 13, 2012 7:00 PM

Screening: It’s all in Lebanon

It’s all in Lebanon is a journey through modern Lebanon, a country torn between contradictions. Wissam Charaf explores the significance of the image in Lebanese society, showing opposing campaigns of political movements, Hezbollah videos of heroic martyred fighters and music videos of high-heeled, scarcely dressed pop stars.


June 25, 2012 7:00 PM

Screening: My Neighbourhood + extended Q&A with Julia Bacha

My Neighbourhood goes beyond the sensational headlines that normally dominate discussions of Jerusalem and captures the rarely heard voices of those striving for a shared future in the city.


April 27, 2012

Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution

Rasha Qandeel, a presenter with BBC Arabic was joined last night by Lindsey Hilsum to discuss her experiences in Libya and her new book Sandstorm Libya in the time of Revolution.


March 10, 2012

Jasad & the Queen of Contradictions

By Charlene Rodrigues   Popularly known as the Paris of the Middle East, Lebanon is said to be culturally liberal compared to most Arab countries in the Middle East. However, such is not the belief of Joumana Haddad, a Lebanese journalist and poet based in Beirut. She says, "I feel liberated but I wear a […]


February 15, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Rebuilding Libya

On 15 February 2011, inspired by their Tunisian and Egyptian neighbours, the people of Libya took to the streets in Benghazi calling for the end of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal regime.

Join us at the Frontline Club to discuss the task of rebuilding Libya a year after the uprising began. We will be looking at the work of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and the tensions that remain. What are the prospects of a peaceful future?


January 18, 2012 8:20 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Wadah Khanfar former director general of Al Jazeera

Former Director General, Wadah Khanfar, will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow to discuss the rise of Al Jazeera, the role he played in its development and where it can go from here.


December 17, 2011

#FCBBCA Part 2: Women of the Revolution

by Ivana Davidovic  Maryam Al-Khawaja from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights comes from a family of activists, many of whom have been on the receiving end of the police brutality in the Kingdom. So much so that she joked that “Bahrain should adopt family cells in prisons, so family members could spend some time […]


October 19, 2011

#FCBBCA: Should Israel fear the Arab spring?

Download this episode View in iTunes By Eva Dumontet Should Israel fear the Arab spring?  When asked the same question, the majority of the audience agreed that Israel should be concerned about the changes that were taking place across the region. Yitzhak Lior stressed the “physical and psychological vulnerability” of Israel, while Miri Weingarten argued that […]


October 19, 2011

#FCBBCA Israel and the Arab Spring: will democracy bring peace?

By Thomas Lowe The focus of this lively and at times tempestuous debate was whether democracy would be the endpoint of the Arab Spring and how this would impact Israeli relations in the region. “Who could speak against democracy”? asked former Israeli Ambassador, Yitzhak Lior, it’s “easy” to deal with dictatorships” but despite the dangers “we will […]


October 10, 2011 7:00 PM

In the Picture – Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line

A youthful Kate Brooks moved to Pakistan after September 11th 2001 to document the conflicts that flared in the region and make a name for herself as a photojournalist. Her new book, In the Light of Darkness, records the major conflicts in the Arab world in the past decade, from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan, to this year’s Arab Spring. The event will be moderated by freelance journalist Ramita Navai.


June 2, 2011 7:00 PM

THIRD PARTY: Revolution uplo@ded

Organised by BBC Arabic.

Followed by a panel discussion

At a secret rendezvous on the Tunisian border, a young man hands over to Libyan rebels a crate of medical supplies. He’s hoping for a precious cargo in return – memory cards and small video tapes that he will upload to the internet and show the world what is happening inside the Libyan capitol, Tripoli. In the revolutions of 2011, these are the new weapons of the internet age.


May 17, 2011 7:00 PM

Realignment in the Arab world – What does it mean for Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel?

Download this episode View in iTunes With a panel of experts and journalists we will be examining the political realignment taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. We will be asking what the shifts in Arab world mean for Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia: What is Israel’s likely response to the emerging democracies […]


Wednesday 23rd January, 2008

Insight with David Horovitz – editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post

David Horovitz, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, talks about the Middle East and the Israeli media.


January 9, 2007

In the picture with Alexandra Boulat: Women in the Middle East

Alexandra Boulat, co-founder of VII photo agency, speaks about working in war zones and her project on women in the Middle East.