The Israeli anti-Zionist historian and academic, Avi Shlaim - in the second part of his interview with the "Interview" program - revealed the lies of the Zionist narrative regarding the Palestinian Nakba and the first Arab-Israeli war, in addition to his talk about the role that Britain played in stealing Palestine and giving it to the Jews, and his opinion on the Arab armies that confronted Israel in 1948.

The new historians of Israel have spread the lies promoted by the Zionist narrative, the first of which - as the Jewish historian confirms - is that small-sized Israel confronted 7 organized Arab armies during the 1948 war, while the truth is that the number of Israeli forces was greater than the number of Arab forces, especially in the Palestinian arena where the battle took place. In addition, Israel violated the first cease-fire agreement sponsored by the United Nations and brought in heavy weapons, which made the balance of power in its favour.

He focused on the role played by Britain in the tragedy of the Palestinians, and said that the British during the mandate period (1920-1948) stole Palestine from the Palestinians and gave it to the Zionists, and crushed the Arab revolution in 1936 that broke out against them, expressing his belief that Palestine was not lost at the end of the forties, but in The end of the thirties, due to the brutal method that Britain used to eliminate the Palestinian resistance.

He said that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a racist and supporter of the Jews, and he declared in 1937 that "the Palestinians lived in Palestine, but they have no right to own Palestine, and they must step down and be replaced by a wiser and more knowledgeable people."

Optional wars

The Israeli historian - who was born in Iraq and belongs to the elite of the new Israeli historians - acknowledged that the Palestinians faced a Zionist colonial settlement project, and were victims of the practices of British imperialism starting with the Balfour Declaration in 1917, when the number of Jews was no more than 10%, while the number of Palestinians was estimated at 90%. However, the British granted rights to the minority and denied them to the overwhelming majority.

The guest of the episode (1/15/2023) of the “The Interview” program touched on the relationship of some Arab rulers with the Zionist movement, and the Arab force that Israel faced in 1948, and said that this force was one of the most “chaotic, divided, and least organized armies in history.” And that the Arab coalition that confronted the Zionist gangs did not have an agreed goal and project, but rather there were conflicting interests, and each country had a different goal than that declared, which is the liberation of Palestine.

On the other hand, he referred to the role of the new historians in Israel, who said that they found 5 errors in the Zionist narrative, including those related to the balance of military power in 1948 and the role of Britain, stressing that the political opposition in Israel appeared after the wars of choice that Israel waged, such as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. And the Suez War, in contrast to the previous wars that marketed it as wars that were forced upon it.

It is noteworthy that Shlaim is considered one of the new Israeli historians who refuted the Zionist narrative on some aspects of Palestinian history.

Likewise, the historian and academic, Benny Morris, who refuted what this novel said, that the Palestinians left their land voluntarily and in compliance with orders issued by their leaders, and confirmed that the Palestinians were uprooted by brutal and ferocious operations carried out by the Zionist gangs.