Oxford Historian Avi Shlaim: Israel Committed Genocide, Palestinians Have Right to Resist

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Jewish Oxford University historian Prof. Avi Shlaim has openly condemned Israel’s policies and praised Palestinian resistance. In an interview with Haaretz, Shlaim repeatedly stressed that Palestinians, including Hamas, have the right to resist occupation.

“Killing civilians is wrong, period,” he said. “But Palestinians live under occupation. They have the right to resist, including armed resistance. Hamas initially struck military bases and killed soldiers, police, and security forces. That is not a war crime.”

Shlaim criticized Israel’s assaults following the October 7 resistance operation as “completely insane and irrational.” He added: “Even if Israel has the right to self-defense, the response must be within the limits of international law. I condemn Israel’s response to the attack.”

He argued that Israel’s occupation has long violated Palestinian rights. “The establishment of the State of Israel involved a massive injustice to the Palestinians. During the 1948 war, Israel carried out ethnic cleansing in Palestine. In June 1967 Israel completed by military force the conquest of all historic Palestine. The Palestinians were the victims of the Zionist project.”

Shlaim also condemned Zionism itself. “In school, I learned the Zionist version of the conflict and accepted it without question. We thought of Israel as a small, peace-loving country surrounded by hostile Arabs. I believed we had no choice but to fight,” he said. Over decades, his view changed. “I used to justify my change of opinion by saying that I didn’t change; my country did. Israel began life as a settler-colonial movement.”

He stated that Hamas is a legitimate expression of Palestinian and Arab resistance. “Hamas is an integral part of Arab society. There’s no conceivable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that excludes Hamas… Hamas already says its issue isn’t with Jews – it’s with Israel and Zionism.”

Shlaim also criticized Israel’s blockade of Gaza. “Israel refuses to allow humanitarian aid to civilians and uses starvation as a weapon of war. If that’s not genocide, I don’t know what is. It’s about intent. In World War II, Jews were defenseless victims of Nazi Germany. Today, the Palestinians are defenseless victims.”

He extended his critique to Israeli society. “Benjamin Netanyahu is not a dictator. He was elected prime minister. Therefore Israeli society as a whole bears responsibility for these war crimes. Israeli society today has no inhibition about expressing racism. What used to be below the surface is now proudly voiced – by the leadership downward.”

Shlaim also highlighted the role of Western powers in the current situation. “The British laid the groundwork for the Nakba and betrayed the Palestinians. The Balfour Declaration ignored the rights of 90 percent of the population, who were Palestinian.”

The historian has actively supported removing Hamas from Britain’s terror list. “Hamas exercises its right under international law to resist the Israeli occupation. I don’t support Hamas in other ways, but I study its history and its struggle to restore Palestinian self-determination.”

Reflecting on his Iraqi heritage, Shlaim described his family as Arab first, Jewish second. “We experienced coexistence with Arabs. It wasn’t some distant dream. It was a daily reality before the rise of Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel.” He also condemned the Israeli state for marginalizing Jews from Arab lands. “Once in Israel, we were subjected to a systematic process of de-Arabization and catapulted into an alien, Ashkenazi-dominated country.”

“I now think there is no longer a meaningful distinction between Israel proper and Israel in the West Bank. It’s apartheid and Jewish supremacy. I’ve shifted from the center to a radical stance,” he said.

He concluded that Israel’s actions will backfire. “Israel will come to regret the war against Hamas because Hamas’ successors will be even more radical. Israel does not like moderate Palestinians; it sees them as a threat. It undermines them and paves the way for more extreme figures.”