Avi Shlaim on Zionism's Victims and Genocide in Gaza

The New Historians and Israeli History Revision

• 💡 The New Historians are a group of Israeli historians who emerged in 1988, challenging the traditional Zionist narrative of Israel's founding.
• 🎯 Key figures like Benny Morris, Elan Pape, and Avi Shlaim re-examined the 1948 war, questioning the established myths surrounding the birth of Israel and the Palestinian refugee crisis.
• 🔑 Benny Morris's work demonstrated that Israel was largely responsible for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem, contradicting the narrative that Palestinians left voluntarily.
• 🧩 Elan Pape's research, particularly his PhD thesis, focused on Britain's role in preventing the birth of a Palestinian state rather than a Jewish one.
• 🔍 Shlaim's own book, "Collusion Across the Jordan," revealed King Abdullah's secret dealings with Zionists to partition Palestine at the expense of the Palestinians.

The Dual Exodus Theory and Arab Jews

• ⚠️ Shlaim introduces the concept of the "dual exodus theory," which posits that both Palestinians and Jews from Arab lands were victims of Zionism.
• 🧠 While the Zionist narrative claims Jews were driven out of Arab countries by antisemitism, Shlaim's research suggests this is a misrepresentation.
• ✈️ He argues that the establishment of Israel created a hostile environment, leading to the exodus of Jews from Arab lands, with evidence suggesting Israeli involvement in inciting this departure, particularly in Iraq.
• 💥 In Iraq, bombings of Jewish premises, allegedly orchestrated by the Mossad, precipitated the exodus of 125,000 Jews to Israel.

Britain's Colonial Role and Zionist Settler Colonialism

• 📜 The Balfour Declaration of 1917 is identified as the foundational colonial act, granting national rights to Jews while disregarding the Arab majority.
• ✊ Britain's suppression of the 1936 Arab revolt and its policies ensured that Jews would eventually become a majority through ethnic cleansing.
• 🌍 Shlaim asserts that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "made in Britain" and that Israel is a settler colonial state, a continuation of British colonial tactics.
• 🤝 Western powers, particularly Britain and the United States, have provided crucial support for Zionism and Israel's actions, making them active partners in alleged war crimes and genocide.

Israel's Linear Trajectory and Palestinian Self-Governance

• 📈 The Zionist ambition has consistently been to create a Jewish state in as much of Palestine as possible with as few Arabs as possible, a linear and expansionist trajectory.
• 🚧 Since 1967, Israel has actively built settlements in occupied territories, and current Israeli governments explicitly reject an independent Palestinian state.
• ⚖️ While Arabs within Israel had procedural democracy and voting rights, they were under military rule until 1966 and faced systemic discrimination.
• 🚫 Since 1967, with control over occupied territories, Israel cannot be described as a democracy, with organizations like B'Tselem labeling it an apartheid state.
• 📉 The Palestinian Authority is described as an incompetent, corrupt subcontractor for Israeli security, lacking legitimacy after the last elections in 2006.

The Charge of Genocide in Gaza

• 🔬 Shlaim explains his gradual shift to concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a serious charge given Jewish history as victims of genocide.
• 🆘 The stopping of humanitarian aid and the use of starvation as a weapon of war are key indicators of genocidal intent.
• 🗣️ He cites numerous quotes from Israeli leaders expressing genocidal rhetoric.
• 💥 The destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, forcible displacement of civilians, and the high death toll, including tens of thousands of children, constitute actions amounting to genocide.
• 📺 The ongoing events in Gaza are unusual because they are openly declared and live-streamed, with the aim of making Gaza uninhabitable and wiping it off the map.