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

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 about 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, are 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. Listen to the audio version of the podcast: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjV... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: / thethinkingmuslim

The Thinking Muslim  web site can be found at the preceding link, it's excellent.

Israeli Cabinet Members Join Event Calling for Ethnic Cleansing & Resett...

We speak with an Israeli reporter who covered a major conference in Jerusalem calling for Palestinians to be removed from Gaza in order to rebuild Jewish settlements. The conference was attended by about a third of the Israeli Cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom have long been involved in the extremist settler movement in the West Bank. Conference-goers were greeted by a huge map of planned illegal settlements in Gaza, and the atmosphere was joyful and celebratory, in contrast to what Israeli journalist 

 

 

Oren Ziv with +972 Magazine says is a somber atmosphere in Israeli public life following the October 7 Hamas attack. 

 

“This is not just a bunch of extremists; it’s the government,” adds Palestinian physician and activist Mustafa Barghouti in Ramallah. 

 

 

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Meet Meital Yaniv, Former Israeli Soldier Turned Anti-Zionist Organizer

We speak with anti-Zionist organizer and former IDF soldier from Tel Aviv Meital Yaniv, who joined hundreds of Jewish activists and their allies to shut down the California state Capitol in Sacramento Wednesday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and condemn the roughly $600 million in California taxes that is used annually for U.S. military aid to Israel. Yaniv recalls how they were raised "extremely Zionistic," their experience in the Israeli Air Force and eventual turn to fight for Palestinian rights. 

 

 

"What Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with antisemitism. What Israel is doing right now is a genocide. What Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is apartheid, is occupation," Yaniv says. 

 

"There is no need for any one of us to serve in the IDF. 

The IDF should not exist. The state of Israel should not exist." 

 

 

 

 

 

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.