Gaza: Cruel Zionism, Past and Present with Professor Avi Shlaim

28 snips

Jan 16, 2024

Professor Avi Shlaim, an expert on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, untangles historical facts from fiction. Topics include the historical narrative of Israel, Israeli involvement in bombings and false flag operations, the concept of 'cruel Zionism', nationalism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, policy guidelines of the Netanyahu government, the Balfour Declaration, the Palestinian refugee problem, and Israeli policies and settler influence.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Historical Narrative of Israel in the Middle East

01:49 • 18min

Israeli Involvement in Bombings and False Flag Operations

20:02 • 14min

Cruel Zionism and the Post-Ottoman Middle East

33:48 • 4min

Nationalism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

38:12 • 6min

Policy Guidelines, Palestinian Identity, and Colonial History

43:52 • 4min

The Historical Context of Zionism and the Balfour Declaration

47:24 • 19min

The Palestinian Refugee Problem

01:06:38 • 19min

Israeli Policies and Settler Influence

01:25:32 • 14min

Today, we are confronting nothing short of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians of Gaza, not seen since the Nakba or Catastrophe of 1948. Yet many in the Western world are silent to the suffering. Much of what justifies Israel and its actions in the West is premised on history, and many European and American historians have been ready to present a compelling argument for Zionism and the case for Israel in the heart of the Middle East.

This historical justification, based on persecution and antisemitism, gives the story of Israel a potency that has for many years served to find acceptance in the West – of impunity to act without restraint - that is not offered to any other state. At the same time, the Palestinian story has been undermined by these same historians. They were a Bedouin community, readily able to vacate their land – it is said. Palestinians, according to leading Israeli politicians, is a mythical people.

Today, we are honoured to have Professor Avi Shlaim with us to untangle historical facts from fiction. Avi Shlaim is an eminent historian. He is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2014) and Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (2009). Professor Shlaim is a dual Israeli British citizen who lived in the country as a child. His family originated from Iraq and migrated to the newly founded state in 1950.

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