Israeli historian Avi Shlaim: The war on Gaza is senseless and the West is biased against Israel

Correspondents of Al Jazeera

London – The anti-Zionist Israeli historian Avi Shlaim does not stop asking what has been happening in Palestine since October 7. On the contrary, he claims that what happened has its roots in 1967.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Shlaim stressed that the only way to understand Israel’s war on Gaza is to understand the historical context, before explaining the reasons that make him believe the war is “pointless”.

A professor of international relations at Oxford-affiliated St. Anthony’s University has confirmed that the “revenge” approach used by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “will not yield any results”, presenting his expectations for Netanyahu’s political fortunes, as well as his vision for a retaliatory war by the West for overwhelming support for the Gaza Strip.

Historian and academic Shlaim belongs to an elite of new Israeli historians who are working to re-read Israel’s origins and challenge the narratives it has propagated. He believes that Israel has become a brutal colonial power since 1967, with an army whose mission is to protect the security of the occupation, and which operates a system of apartheid. He expressed his ideas in his books, including The Politics of Partition, A Brief History of War and Peace in the Middle East (1995) and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. (2001).

• What do you think are the real reasons behind the situation we live in?

I want to emphasize that this conflict did not start on October 7. People are not asking why Hamas carried out this attack. The answer lies in the historical context, and everything that happens is answered in history, which takes us back to 1967, the date of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Israelis claim that they have allowed the Palestinians to turn the Gaza Strip into the Singapore of the Middle East, which has not happened. They turned the Gaza Strip into an open prison.

Media attention focused on the Hamas attack. However, in my opinion, Israel’s reaction is completely disproportionate. I condemn both issues. I condemn the attack by Hamas. Because it also targeted civilians, and killing civilians is wrong, but on the other hand, Israel’s response was cruel, brutal, and completely disproportionate. Then revenge is not a policy and is not considered a solution. What Israel is doing is state-sponsored terrorism, and it is far more dangerous than attacking Israel.

How do you assess this war by Netanyahu and the West?

I expect that Netanyahu will not survive politically, and then there is the Western handling of this crisis, characterized by hypocrisy and double standards.

A clear example of Western hypocrisy is what happened in January 2006, when Hamas won free and transparent elections, but Israel refused to recognize the Hamas government, and the European Union and the United States decided to support Israel in its decision by imposing economic sanctions to weaken Hamas and force it to voluntarily cede power in Gaza.

In 2007, Israel laid siege to the Gaza Strip. This siege is illegal and illegitimate as it is considered a form of collective punishment against civilians. Now Israel is taking more dangerous steps akin to a medieval siege when it says it will cut off access to water, food, medicine and fuel to more than 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip.

Until now, the Western powers are still completely biased towards one side. On the one hand, they condemn Hamas and describe it as a terrorist organization, but on the other hand, they do not look at Israel’s reaction or criticize it, and therefore are complicit in the attack on Gaza and civilians. In practice, instead of calling for a ceasefire, they gave Israel the green light to do the most horrible things.

• Will what is happening lead to more controversy and conflict?

  It should be noted that Jewish hostility towards Arabs in Israel is not what it once was, but has increased significantly over the past 20 years, since Israel began to move more to the right politically.

  The current government, which has the forces of religious Zionism, is the most extreme right-wing, most chauvinist (fanatic) and most racist government in Israel’s history, and the ongoing war in Gaza will shift society further to the right and more hostile to Arabs.

• What do you think about attempts to suppress all voices critical of the occupation under the pretext of anti-Semitism?

Israel and its friends around the world confuse “anti-Semitism” with anti-Zionism. I define “anti-Semitism” as the hatred of Jews simply because they are Jews and it has nothing to do with Israel.

As for anti-Zionism, this is a different matter. It is a critique and opposition to the Zionist ideology, which is the official ideology of the State of Israel, especially in relation to policies that affect the Palestinians, including the occupation, the apartheid regime, and the brutal and violent use of force as we are experiencing these days in Gaza.