Rebecca Gould | Erasing Palestine – Free Speech, Censorship, and the Gaza Debate

In this episode of Frontlines & Backrooms, Professor Rebecca Gould examines how erasure operates beyond physical destruction - through language, institutions, and the regulation of speech.Drawing from her book Erasing Palestine, the conversation explores how free speech becomes a terrain of political control, how legal frameworks shape public discourse, and how knowledge itself can become a target in times of war.From self-censorship in Western academia to the IHRA definition as a quasi-legal mechanism, from prison hunger strikes to the filtering of Palestinian testimony in legacy media, this episode looks at the epistemic dimension of conflict - where law, language, and memory intersect.00:00 Introduction02:32 “Erasing Palestine” - Free Speech and Erasure09:16 Self-Censorship and Silencing Pro-Palestinian Voices12:31 Epistemicide - Destroying the Future18:07 IHRA as a Quasi-Law27:08 Regulating Political Speech Without Formal Law31:30 The Normalization of Self-Censorship35:04 Hunger Strike - The Body as Resistance40:14 Filtering Palestinian Testimony46:11 The Role of Legacy Media51:09 Dehumanization and One-Dimensional Narratives59:08 Breaking the Frame of Erasure01:01:31 ConclusionThis episode is part of our ongoing, long-form archive on Gaza, examining not only events but also the structures behind them.Explore the full series in the archive.Thank you for listening.