Avi Shlaim: Gaza War Pushed Me Closer to Judaism and Further From Zionism
October 3, 2026
British-Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, one of Israel’s prominent “New Historians,” is drawing a sharp distinction between Judaism, Jewish identity and Zionism in a new interview with Mohamed Hashem.
Shlaim says Israel’s conduct in Gaza has deepened his rejection of Zionism while, paradoxically, bringing him closer to his Jewish identity and values. His central argument is blunt: actions carried out by a state should not automatically be equated with Judaism or Jewish identity.
Shlaim has been critical of Israeli policy for decades. Born in Baghdad and raised in Israel, he served in the Israeli army before becoming an academic historian and later describing his political evolution away from Zionism.
It’s a quiet but devastating statement, not from an outside critic, but from someone who has lived inside the history he’s now watching repeat itself.
Source: @middleeasteye
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English Script:
Avi Shlaim: Killing children is not Jewish. Killing civilians is no Jewish. Ethnic cleansing is not Jewish.
Interviewer: You said that the actions of the Israeli government, the actions of the Zionist government, has actually pushed you more towards Judaism?
Avi Shlaim: Yes, because Zionism and Judaism are two different things. The leaders of the Zionist movement were all secular, but they suited them to draw on Judaism. So though they were secular and atheist. They turned God into a land agent who allocated Palestine to the Jews and, in the Israeli response to the Hamas attack on the 7th of October 2023 as being so horrendous, it’s broken every rule of the international humanitarian law. It has brought Israel into disgrace. It’s done irreversible damage to Israel’s reputation. But Israel’s genocide in Gaza has also created a crisis between Israel and World jewry, because Netanyahu claims to speak on behalf of, well, jewelry. But he only has a mandate to speak on behalf of Israelis and more and more Jews around the world. Disgusted by what Israel is doing, because killing children is not Jewish. Killing civilians is not Jewish. Ethnic cleansing is not Jewish. Genocide is most emphatically, not Jewish. The core Jewish values, altruism, truth, justice and peace. The Netanyahu government is the antithesis of these core Jewish values. The essence of Judaism is nonviolence. This is the most violent and aggressive government in Israel’s entire history, and therefore, I feel more alienated from Israel than ever, the more and closer to Jews in this country.
